1. World War I
Unit 7D
AP U.S. History

2. Think About It
To what extent was the American public supportive of increased foreign involvement?
To what extent did World War I impact Progressive Era reforms?

3. Great War in Europe ( )
Archduke and wife of Austria-Hungary assassinated by Serbian nationalist on June 28, 1914
Alliances and ultimatums dragged Europe into a destructive conflict

4. The Path to War American Neutrality German U-Boats
Isolationists
Preparedness
Mostly pro-Allies
German U-Boats
Lusitania sunk on May 7, 1915 killing 128 Americans
Sussex Pledge (1916)
German resumes unrestricted submarine warfare
Russian Revolution (1917)
Zimmermann Telegram (1917)
German request for Mexico alliance in return for lost land by U.S.
United States declares war on April 6, 1917
To preserve and defend democracy, self-determination

5. America Should Enter World War I; America Should Not Enter World War I
George W. Norris – “U.S. Senate Speech” (April 4, 1917)
Woodrow Wilson – “Address to Congress” (April 2, 1917)
Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up among the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of those principles. Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people… The world must be safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion…We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind.
We ought to remember the advice of the Father of our Country [George Washington] and keep out of entangling alliances. Let Europe solve her problems as we have solved ours. Let Europe bear her burdens as we have borne ours. In the greatest war of our history and at the time it occurred, the greatest war in the world’s history, we were engaged in solving an American problem. We settled the question of human slavery and washed our flag clean by the sacrifice of human blood. It was a great problem and a great burden, but we solved it ourselves. Never once did we think of asking Europe to take part in its solution. Never once did any European nation undertake to settle the great question. We solved it, and history has rendered a unanimous verdict that we solved it right. The troubles of Europe ought to be settled by Europe…and we ought to remain absolutely neutral and permit them to settle their questions without our interference.

6. American Domestic War Effort
War Agencies
War Industries Board
National War Labor Board
Food Administration
Committee on Public Information
Liberty Bonds
Financial support for American war effort
Portrayed as an act of patriotic duty

7. American Propaganda

8. American Domestic Insecurity
American Protective League (APL)
Espionage Act of 1917
Prohibition of:
Interfere in military operations
Interfere in military recruitment
Support of U.S. enemies
Promote insubordination
"The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that the United States Congress has a right to prevent. It is a question of proximity and degree. When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight, and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right.“
Schenk v. United States (1919)
Abrams v. United States (1919)
Sedition Act of 1918
In times of war:
Prohibit disloyal, profane, scurrilous, abusive language against U.S. government, military, and flag

9. Americans Over There Selective Service Act of 1917
Conscription of 21-31
18-45 by 1918
American Expeditionary Force (AEF)
Inspired to preserve democracy and defend American honor
General John J. Pershing
War Events
Spring Offensive (1918)
Hundred Days Offensive (1918)
Armistice (11/11/1918)
German capitulation
Casualties
117,000 Americans
1 million British,
1.6 million French,
3.3. million Russian,
2.4 million German,
2.9 million Ottoman,
1.5 million Austrian-Hungarian

10. Wilson and Peace Fourteen Points Treaty of Versailles
“peace without victory”
Freedom of the seas
Self-determination
League of Nations
Treaty of Versailles
German guilt, reparations
Wilson and Senate Treaty Ratification
Senate Opposition
Irreconcilables
Strongly opposed the Treaty of Versailles
Reservationists
Henry Cabot Lodge
Amendments to Treaty to limit American involvement
Wilson’s Public Campaign
Wilson debilitated by a stroke from exhaustion
Senate rejects Treaty and League of Nations
U.S. will eventually negotiate separate treaties

11. Postwar America Labor Unions and Strikes
Causes
Unions wanted to preserve labor gains during war
Post-war inflation demanded higher wages
Union Membership
AFL supported WWI
AFL reached 4 million by 1920
IWW opposed WWI
Lost membership
Strikes of 1919
Seattle General Strike
Boston Police Strike
Steel Strike
Coal Strike
Public Perception
Association with radicals
Strikes causes product shortages

12. Postwar America Race Riots
Red Summer of 1919
Three dozen cities experienced race riots
Economic competition and First Red Scare
Chicago (July-August)
Blacks react to stoning of young man
Omaha (September)
Brutal lynching of William Brown

13. Postwar America First Red Scare
Causes
War Propaganda
Overman Committee
Russian Revolution
Strikes and Riots
Targets
Anarchists, Bolsheviks, Socialists, Communists, Wobblies
1919 Bombings
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
Palmer Raids
Deportations

14. The Department of Justice Is Defending America from Communist Subversion; The Department of Justice Is Violating Constitutional Freedoms
A. Mitchell Palmer – “The Case Against the Reds” (1920)
National Popular Government League – “Report Upon the Illegal Practices of the United States Department of Justice” (1920)
It has been impossible in short a space to review the entire menace of the internal revolution in this country as I know it, but this may serve to arouse the American citizen to its reality, its danger, and the great need of united effort to stamp it out, under our feet, if needs be. It is being done. The Department of Justice will pursue the attack of these “Reds” upon the Government of the United States with vigilance, and no alien, advocating the overthrow of existing law and order in this country, shall escape arrest and prompt deportation. It is my belief that while they have stirred discontent in our midst, while they have caused irritating strikes, and while they have infected our social ideas with the disease of their own minds and their unclean morals, we can get rid of them! and not until we have done so shall we have removed the menace of Bolshevism for good.
Under the guise of a campaign for the suppression of radical activities, the office of the Attorney General, acting by its local agents throughout the country, and giving express instructions from Washington, has committed continual illegal acts. Wholesale arrests both of aliens and citizens have been made without warrant or any process of law… There is no danger of revolution so great as that created by suppression, by ruthlessness, and by deliberate violation of the simple rules of American law and American decency... It is a fallacy to suppose that, any more than in the past, any servant of the people can safely arrogate to himself unlimited authority. To proceed upon such a supposition is to deny the fundamental American theory of the consent of the governed.