1. The Impact of WWI on the USA
After 3 years of neutrality, the USA reluctantly entered WWI & played only a supportive role in the fighting
The American effort was far less than that of other Allied nations
America fought for only 8 months (not 4 years), had 7% casualties (not 52% like most Allied Powers)
But, the American commitment to “total war” had a huge impact on the U.S. home front

2. Use this slide to debrief student understanding of the placard activity

3. The Home Front During World War I
World War I had a huge impact on the United States; In groups examine how the war impacted Americans at home
Examine the fact sheets at each learning station & take notes on the chart provided in your notes
After examining the evidence at each station, create a 1 sentence overview that summarizes how America was changed by World War I

4. The following slides are the student placards

5. Women During WWI: Document A
Men went off to war, and women went to work in their place:
Women took jobs that were usually reserved for men, becoming railroad workers, coal miners, cooks, bricklayers, shipbuilders, & dockworkers.
At the same time, women continued to fill more traditional jobs as nurses, clerks, and teachers.
Women worked with the Food Administration & planted “Victory Gardens” so that more farm crops could be diverted to soldiers in Europe.

6. Women During WWI: Document A

7. Women During WWI: Document B
The army did not allow women to enlist as soldiers, but for the first time, the army did allow women to serve in noncombat roles.
Approximately 25,000 U.S. women served in the U.S. Army as nurses, telephone operators, typists, & ambulance drivers.
Many women worked as volunteers at Red Cross facilities or by encouraging the sale of war bonds.
Women in the War

8. Women During WWI: Document B

9. Women During WWI: Document C
President Wilson acknowledged the role women played in WWI: “The services of women during the supreme crisis have been of the most signal usefulness and distinction; it is high time that part of our debt should be acknowledged.”
While women were not paid the same as men, it helped build public support for woman suffrage.
In 1919, Congress passed the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. In 1920 the amendment was ratified by the states.

10. Women During WWI: Document C

11. African-Americans in WWI: Document A
WWI accelerated the Great Migration, the large-scale movement of hundreds of thousands of Southern blacks to cities in the North:
Many African Americans sought to escape racial discrimination in the Jim Crow South.
In the North, there were more job opportunities for African Americans in steel mills, munitions plants, and stockyards.
Northern manufacturers sent recruiting agents to distribute free railroad passes through the South to bring blacks into cities such as Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia.

12. African-Americans in WWI: Document A

13. African-Americans in WWI: Document B
During WWI, the U.S. military was segregated:
367,710 African Americans were drafted, but only 10% served in combat duty. Most blacks worked in Army Services of Supplies (SOS) units.
The 40,000 black soldiers who saw combat were part of the all-black 92nd or 93rd combat divisions.
When allowed to fight, they did so with honor. Several units fought Germans alongside French soldiers and 171 black soldiers were awarded the French Legion of Honor; By 1917, over 600 blacks were commissioned as officers in the U.S. Army.

14. African-Americans in WWI: Document B

15. African-Americans in WWI: Document C
African Americans who moved into the North faced discrimination & violent race riots:
In 1917, a race riot exploded in Illinois when white workers attacked blacks when African-Americans were hired as strikebreakers at a munitions plant; , 40 blacks and 9 whites died.
Another riot erupted in Chicago in 1919 after whites drowned an African American boy who swam at a white beach. African Americans retaliated, and several riots broke out in the city. Order was restored after several days of violence that involved about 10,000 people.

16. African-Americans in WWI: Document C

17. Socialism & the Red Scare: Document A
During WWI, Vladimir Lenin & the Bolsheviks overthrew the czarist regime of Russia & established the first communist nation, the USSR.
Communism is an economic & political system based on a single-party a dictatorship that strives for equality for all citizens. To equalize wealth, Communists seize private property & the government assumes ownership of factories, railroads, and businesses.
Waving their symbolic red flag, Communists hoped to inspire a worldwide revolution. Americans became swept in a “Red Scare.”

18. Socialism & the Red Scare: Document A

19. Socialism & the Red Scare: Document B
The Socialist Party of America formed in 1901 by Eugene Debs. By the First World War, the Debs had grown the Socialist Party to over 70,000 members
Debs was strongly against U.S. involvement in WWI & published a newsletter encouraging Americans to resist fighting in a “capitalists’ war”
Debs was convicted to a 10-year prison sentence for violating the Espionage & Sedition Acts by speaking out against the war & the draft
As a result of the highly nationalistic climate of America during the war, Socialism was seen as un-American & the party never recovered

20. Socialism & the Red Scare: Document B

21. Socialism & the Red Scare: Document C
By WWI, the Socialist Party had grown to 70,000 members including radicals & union workers who wanted a socialist revolution in America.
Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto called for workers to seize political power, take control of factories, & overthrow capitalism.
During WWI, factory workers were pushed to meet high production demands. Unions saw membership double & organized more than 6,000 strikes out during the war.
Every strike fueled the “Red Scare” & fears of a Bolshevik-style socialist revolution in America. .

22. Socialism & the Red Scare: Document C

23. Civil Liberties During WWI: Document A
President Wilson warned that WWI would require a redefinition of national loyalty, claiming "millions of [Germans] with native sympathies live amongst us.“
Congress passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts
Under these laws, a person could be fined up to $10,000 and jailed up to 20 years for interfering with or saying anything disloyal about the war effort. These laws clearly violated the First Amendment, guaranteeing freedom of speech.
Over 2,000 people were prosecuted, including newspaper editors, Socialists, anarchists, union leaders, & citizens who protested the draft
The Espionage and Sedition Acts targeted socialists and labor leaders. Eugene V. Debs was handed a ten-year prison sentence for speaking out against the war and the draft. The anarchist Emma Goldman received a two-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine for organizing the No Conscription League. When she left jail, the authorities deported her to Russia. “Big Bill” Haywood and other leaders of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were accused of sabotaging the war effort because they urged workers to strike for better conditions and higher pay. Haywood was sentenced to a long prison term. (He later skipped bail and fled to Russia.) Under such federal pressure, the IWW faded away

24. Civil Liberties During WWI: Document A

25. Civil Liberties During WWI: Document B
During WWI, the Supreme Court heard the case Schenck v US (1919) regarding free speech:
Charles Schenck, a Socialist, handed out anti-war leaflets that told Americans not to fight in WWI if they were drafted
Schenck was jailed under the Espionage & Sedition Acts, but he argued that his conviction violated his 1st Amendment right to free speech
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that under wartime conditions, his actions presented a “clear and present danger” to the U.S. and that his free speech was not protected

26. Civil Liberties During WWI: Document B
“ Protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting ‘Fire!’ in a theatre and causing a panic”
—Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the case Schenck v US (1919)

27. Civil Liberties During WWI: Document C
During World War I, nativism & strong anti-German feelings grew:
German-Americans were called “Huns,” lost their jobs, changed their names
Orchestras refused to play Mozart, Bach, & Beethoven; Schools stopped teaching German; Sauerkraut was renamed “liberty cabbage”; Saloons stopped offering pretzels
Vigilante groups attacked anyone suspected of being unpatriotic; In April 1918, German-born baker Robert Prager was lynched in Illinois; A jury found the defendants not guilty

28. Civil Liberties During WWI: Document C
“I remember when they smashed out store windows at Uniontown that said Kraut on it. Nobody would eat Kraut. I remember even the great Williamson store, he went in and gathered up everything that was made in Germany, and had a big bonfire out in the middle of the street.”
—Lola Gamble Clyde on Anti-German Sentiment in Idaho during World War

29. The American Economy: Document A
World War I stimulated the U.S. economy & increased the American standard of living:
War-time production increased hourly wages by 20% in some industries; The average household income nearly doubled from 1916 to 1919
The U.S. commitment to total war meant that consumer goods Americans had to buy were not as available & were expensive during WWI
In the decade that followed WWI, Americans had more money to spend & a desire for goods they could not buy during the war. As a result, the 1920s were known as the “Roaring Twenties”

30. The American Economy: Document A

31. The American Economy: Document B
The United States emerged from World War I as the wealthiest nation in the world:
With the War Industries Board directing the economy & setting production quotas to meet the demand for military supplies, American businesses saw 300% increase in their profits
Before the war, the United States owed $3 billion to foreign nations; At the end of the war, foreign nations owed the U.S. $13 billion
Throughout the 1920s, the United States provided to loans to European nations to help the region rebuild after World War I

32. The American Economy: Document B
U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP is an indicator of economic health because it is the value of all goods and services made in the USA
Annual GDP
1914
$36.5
1915
$38.7
1916
$49.6
1917
$59.7
1918
$75.8
1919
$78.3
1920
$88.4
America began preparing for war
WWI comes to an end
Outbreak of WWI in Europe
US declaration of war

33. The American Economy: Document C
When World War I came to an end, Americans were ready for a “return to normalcy” & elected Republican President Warren Harding:
In the 1920s, America’s increased wealth led to a decade of consumer spending known as the “Roaring Twenties”
After the prohibition (1919) & women’s suffrage (1920) amendments were ratified, there were no more progressive reforms; Historians argue that WWI killed American desires to reform & stimulated desires to spend

34. The American Economy: Document C
“America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy”
—President Warren Harding, campaign speech in 1920