November 20, 2007 How did the U.S. promote war and attack civil liberties? What social changes were made? – Quiz on Section 2 – War Organizations and Selling the War Homework: “In Another Country” & “Returning Soldiers”
Congress Gives Power to Wilson Winning war was not a job for American soldiers alone
Secretary of War: Newton Baker The entire country had to refocus on the war effort.
Shift from consumer goods to producing war supplies too complicated private industry to handle – so business and government collaborated in the effort.
Government power greatly expanded Congress gave Wilson direct control over the economy – the power to fix prices – to regulate (even to nationalize) certain war-related industries
War Industries Board (WIB) Established 1917 and reorganized 1918 under Bernard M. Baruch (prosperous businessman)
What Baruch and WIB did: Encouraged mass-production techniques to increase efficiency Urged elimination of waste by standardizing products – by making only 5 colors of typewriter ribbons instead of 150
The WIB – industrial production in the U.S. increased by about 20% WIB applied price controls only at the wholesale level
Retail prices soared – in 1918 they were almost double what they had been before the war Corporate profits soared – especially in such industries as chemicals, meatpacking, oil, and steel
Other Federal Agencies The Railroad Administration controlled the railroads
The Fuel Administration monitored coal supplies and rationed gasoline and heating oil “Gasless Sundays” and “Lightless nights” to conserve fuel
March the Fuel Administration introduced another conservation measure: daylight saving time – first proposed by Ben Franklin in 1770’s as way to take advantage of longer days
Do We Need Daylight Savings Today?
War Economy wages in most industries rose during the war years hourly wages for blue-collar workers (those in the metal trades, shipbuilding, and meatpacking) rose by 20%
Household’s income undercut by rising food prices and housing costs Large corporations saw huge profits DuPont Company saw its stock multiply in value 1,600 percent between 1914 and 1918 The company was earning a $68 million yearly profit
Uneven pay between labor and management caused: – increasing work hours – child labor – dangerously “sped-up” conditions
Unions Boomed Union membership climbed from about 2.5 million in 1916 to ore than 4 million in 1919 More than 6,000 strikes broke out during the war months.
To deal with disputes between management & labor, President Wilson established the National War Labor Board
Workers who refused to obey board decisions could lose their draft exemptions “Work or Fight”
Food Administration Wilson set up the Food Administration under Herbert Hoover
Instead of rationing food, he called on people to follow the “gospel of the clean plate”
Declared one day a week “meatless,” another “sweetless,” two days “wheatless,” and two other days “porkless” Restaurants removed sugar bowls from the table and served bread only after the first course
Homeowners planted “victory gardens” in their yards
Schoolchildren spent their after- school hours growing tomatoes and cucumbers in public parks As a result, American food shipments to the Allies tripled
Hoover also set up high government price on wheat and other staples Farmers responded by putting an additional 40 million acres into production They increased their income by almost 30%
Selling the War War Financing and the Committee on Public Information
War Financing $35.5 billion on the war effort Raised 1/3 of amount through taxes – progressive income tax (tax high incomes higher rates than low incomes) – war-profits tax – higher excise taxes on tobacco, liquor, and luxury goods
Raised the rest through tens of thousands of volunteers – Movie stars spoke at rallies in factories, in schools, and on street corners – Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo: “a friend of Germany” would refuse to buy war bonds
Committee on Public Information Popularized the war by setting up the first propaganda agency: the Committee on Public Information (CPI) – Propaganda - biased form of communication designed to influence people’s thoughts and actions
Head of the CPI was a former muckraking journalist named George Creel
Creel persuaded nation’s artists & advertising agencies to create paintings, posters, cartoons, & sculptures promoting the war
– recruited 75,000 men to serve as “four-minute men” who spoke about everything relating to the war: the draft rationing bond drives victory gardens “why we are fighting” or “the meaning of America”
– ordered a printing of almost 25 million copies of “how the war came to America”
– distributed some 75 million pamphlets, booklets, and leaflets, many with the enthusiastic help of the Boy Scouts
His propaganda campaign promoted patriotism; it also inflamed hatred and violations of the civil liberties of certain ethnic groups and opponents of the war.
Attacks on Civil Liberties Increase Wilson expressed fears about war hysteria As soon as war was declared, conformity indeed became the order of the day Attacks on civil liberties, both official and unofficial, erupted
Anti-Immigrant Hysteria Main targets of this Americans who had emigrated from other nations Most bitter attacks were against those born in Germany, but those who were of German descent also suffered Many with German names lost their jobs
Orchestras refused to play music of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms
Some towns renamed themselves (if they had German names) Schools stopped teaching the German language Librarians removed books by German authors from the shelves
People even resorted to violence (flogging, smearing with tar, and feathers) A German was lynched while wrapped in his flag and the mob was cleared by a jury
German measles to “liberty measles” Hamburger named after the German city Hamburg became “Salisbury steak” or “liberty sandwich” Sauerkraut was renamed “liberty cabbage” Dachshunds named “liberty pups
Espionage and Sedition Acts June 1917 – passed the Espionage Act May 1918 – passed the Sedition Act A person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the government or the war effort
Laws violated the 1 st Amendment Led to over 2,000 persecutions for loosely defined antiwar activities (over half resulted in convictions) Newspapers & magazines that opposed the war or criticized any of the Allies lost their mailing privileges
House of Representatives refused to seat Victor Berger (socialist congressman from Wisconsin) b/c of his antiwar views
The Acts targeted socialist and labor leaders Eugene V. Debs was handed a 10- year prison sentence for speaking out against the war and the draft
Eugene V. Debs
Anarchist Emma Goldman received 2-year prison sentence & $10,000 fine for organizing the No Conscription League When she left jail, the authorities deported her to Russian
Emma Goldman
“Big Bill” Haywood & other leaders of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) accused of sabotaging war effort b/c they urged workers to strike for better conditions & higher pay
He was sentenced prison term, later skipped bail, and fled to Russia under federal pressure, the IWW faded away
The War Encourages Social Change African Americans and the War The Great Migration Women in the War The Flu Epidemic
African Americans and the War Black public opinion of war was divided WEB DuBois – should support war effort b/c it would strengthen calls for racial justice
William Trotter – victims of racism shouldn’t support racist government Favored protest & condemned accommodation approach
Despite the grievances over racial inequality, most African Americans backed the war.
The Great Migration Greatest effect of WWI on African Americans’ lives was that it accelerated the Great Migration The large-scale movement of hundreds of thousands of Southern blacks to the cities in the North
Began before the war when African Americans trickled northward to escape the Jim Crow South – but after the turn of the century, the trickle became a tidal wave.
Several factors contributed to the increase of black migration – Escape racial discrimination in the South – Boll weevil infestation, floods and droughts ruined much of the South’s cotton fields – More job opportunities (Henry opened his assembly line to black workers)
– WWI & drop in European immigration led to more jobs in steel mills, munitions plants, & stockyards – Recruiting agents sent to distribute free railroad passes – Black owned newspaper bombarded Southern blacks with articles contrasting Dixieland lynchings with the prosperity of African Americans in the North
Same Old Problems Racial prejudice existed in the North The press of new migrants to Northern cities caused overcrowding and intensified racial tensions Between 1910 and 1930, hundreds or thousands of African Americans migrated to such cities as NY, Chicago, and Philadelphia
Women in the War Women moved into jobs that had been held exclusively by men Railroad workers, cooks, dockworkers, and bricklayers Mined coal and took part in shipbuilding
Filled traditional jobs Worked as volunteers Encouraged sale of bonds and the planting of victory gardens
Active in the peace movement – Jane Addams who founded the Women’s Peace Party in 1915 (she remained a pacifist even after the U.S. entered the war)
Wilson acknowledge the services of women during the war but did not find that they were owed equal pay to man War helped bolster support for women’s suffrage In 1919, Congress finally passed the 19th amendment
The Flu Epidemic Fall of 1918, the U.S. suffered a home front crisis when an international flu epidemic affected about one-quarter of the population
The effect of the epidemic on the economy was devastating – Mines shut down – telephone service was cut in half – factories and offices staggered working hours to avoid contagion – Cities ran short of coffins – the corpses of poor lay unburied for as long as a week
Hit the healthy & death could come in a matter of days Doctors didn’t know what to do – cleanliness and quarantine
More than a quarter of the troops caught the disease In some AEF units, one-third died Germans fell victim in even larger numbers
Possibly spread around the world by soldiers, the epidemic killed about 500,000 Americans before it disappeared in 1919 Historians believed that the virus killed as many as 30 million people worldwide Epidemic like the war ended suddenly