U.S. Entry into World War I

• Violations of U.S. Neutrality

  • Examples

    • Lusitania

    • Sussex sinking

  • Temporary pause in German sinking of Ships

• Zimmerman Note

  • British intercept a German proposal to Mexico for a joining alliance

    • Ask Mexico to attack the U.S. and they would be allowed to recover lost territory

• Spring 1917

  • Germany returns to unrestricted submarine warfare

• April 1917

  • Congress declares war against Germany

Wilson asks Congress to Declare War in April 1917

• Key factors

  • German attacks on American shipping

  • Zimmerman Telegram proposing alliance with Mexico

  • U.S. economic investment in allies

Mobilizing for War

• The United States was entirely unprepared for war

• Selective Service Act

  • Organizes a draft for soldiers to fight in the war

    • American Expeditionary Force headed by General Pershing

• Total War effort

  • All aspects of the country mobilize for the war effort

• War was financed by war bonds and income taxes from the 16th amendment

• Federal Agencies

  • National War Labor Board

    • Help mediate labor disputes and prevent strikes

      • AFL supported the war effort

      • IWW opposed the war

  • War Industries Board

    • Set production priorities for war

  • U.S. Food Administration

    • Headed by Herbert Hoover

    • Encouraged Americans to conserve food for war effort

  • WWI boosted support for the 18th amendment

    • Prohibited the sale, consumption, manufacture, and transport of alcohol

      • Conserve resources

      • Due to Anti-German sentiment in the U.S.

Silencing Dissent

• Committee of Public Information

  • Headed by George Creel

  • Promote the U.S. war effort with propaganda

• Espionage Act

  • 1917

  • Prohibited interference with the draft or war effort

• Sedition Act

  • 1918

  • Banned anybody from criticizing the government

• Anti-German sentiment increases

  • Nativists attack all things German

Schenck vs. U.S.

• 1919

• Charles Schenck was arrested under the Espionage Act for mailing leaflets to men eligible for the draft

• Supreme Court supports the argument that freedom of speech could be restricted

• Congress had the power to restrain speech if it posed a clear and present danger

Social Impact on the Home Front

• Great Migration

  • Staring in 1910, large migration of African American to northern cities

    • Crappy racial relations

    • WWI

      • Job opportunities in northern factories as white men were drafted for the war

• Nearly 400,000 African Americans served in segregated units

• Racial riots will break out in many cities in 1919

• Women will play a key role in wartime factories

• Sacrificed of women on the home front during WWI leads to ⅔ majority finally supporting the 19th amendment

  • Granted women’s suffrage

Wilson’s 14 Points

• Wilson’s proposal for the postwar world

  • Goal of preventing another world war

• Points

  • Guarantee freedom of the seas

  • Eliminate economic trade barriers

  • Military reduction

  • No more colonies

    • Self-determination

  • No more secret treaties

  • Called for the formation of a League of Nations to help prevent another world war

Treaty of Versailles

• Much of Wilson’s 14 Point proposals were rejected by the allied powers

• Wilson did get the League of Nations included

• Has to get it approved by the Republican controlled Congress

• Republicans in Congress hated the idea of the U.S. joining the League of Nations

  • Henry Cabot Lodge leads the opposition to the treaty

Battle over the League of Nations

• Tradition of isolationist policies

  • George Washington warned about permanent foreign alliances

• Opposition over Article X

  • Fear the League would force the U.S. to deal with foreign issues around the world

• Desire amongst many to be isolationist following WWI

• Congress rejects the treaty