Safe for Democracy: The United States and World War I

The Dawn of American Supremacy and the Emerging Empire

• Economic Dominance at the Twentieth Century:

  • By $1900$, the United States' rising economic power was recognized globally. French economist Louis Bosc predicted America would dominate the "universe."

  • Brooks Adams (grandson of John Quincy Adams) described U.S. power as having immense "velocity and proportions," characterizing the nation as a "gigantic and growing empire."

  • In $1902$, English writer W. T. Stead published The Americanisation of the World, or the Trend of the Twentieth Century, forecasting the U.S. as the greatest of world powers.

• Territorial Expansion and Global Reach:

  • By $1900$, the U.S. empire included Hawaii (conquered in $1893$), the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, and American Samoa (acquired after the Spanish-American War).

  • In $1917$, the U.S. added the Virgin Islands. These acquisitions brought more than $7 \text{ million}$ people under American rule.

  • Comparison to European Empires: While significant, the U.S. empire was smaller than Britain's (over $300 \text{ million}$ subjects) or France's ($50 \text{ million}$ in Asia and Africa).

• Leading Industrial Statistics (by $1913$-$1914$):

  • Petroleum production: $65 \text{ percent}$ of the world's total.

  • Copper production: $56 \text{ percent}$.

  • Coal production: $39 \text{ percent}$.

  • Iron ore production: $36 \text{ percent}$.

  • Manufactured goods: More than $1/3$ of the world's total.

  • Financial context: Britain still dominated world banking, and the British pound (
    ) remained the primary currency of international trade, but the U.S. was the industrial leader.

Progressive Foreign Policy and Liberal Internationalism

• The "Open Door" Principle:

  • Defined as the free flow of trade, investment, information, and culture. Woodrow Wilson argued that because manufacturers require a world market, the national flag must follow them, and closed doors "must be battered down."

• Rhetoric of Freedom:

  • U.S. foreign policy was often framed in terms of promoting liberty and democracy rather than strategic or economic self-interest. This faith in American ideals allowed leaders to view the U.S. as both a great power and the global embodiment of freedom.

• Liberal Internationalism (Wilsonianism):

  • Woodrow Wilson's conviction that economic and political progress were linked. He believed increased American investment and trade would inevitably lead to greater worldwide freedom.

  • Shift in Policy: Represented a transition from nineteenth-century "promotion by example" to active intervention to remake the world in the American image.

An Era of Intervention in the Western Hemisphere

• The Monroe Doctrine Context:

  • Between $1901$ and $1920$, U.S. Marines landed in Caribbean countries more than $20$ times to ensure a stable economic environment for companies (e.g., bananas and sugar) and bankers.

• Theodore Roosevelt's Worldview:

  • Roosevelt divided the world into "civilized" and "uncivilized" nations, asserting that the civilized had a duty to establish order.

  • He famously stated: "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

  • He won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the settlement of the Russo-Japanese War ($1904$-$1905$).

• The Panama Canal:

  • Background: Ferdinand de Lesseps (French engineer) failed to build a canal across the $51 \text{-mile}$ Isthmus of Panama ($1879$-$1881$) due to yellow fever, malaria, and funding issues.

  • In $1903$, after Colombia refused to cede land, Roosevelt supported an uprising led by Philippe Bunau-Varilla (Panama Canal Company representative). An American gunboat blocked the Colombian army.

  • Treaty Terms: Bunau-Varilla signed a treaty giving the U.S. the right to construct/operate the canal and sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone, a $10 \text{-mile}$ wide strip.

  • Construction: Used $60,000$ immigrant workers, mostly from Barbados and Jamaica. Segregation was enforced; the best jobs and communities were reserved for white Americans.

  • Completion ($1914$): Reduced the sea voyage between U.S. coasts by $8,000 \text{ miles}$. Operation was eventually turned over to Panama in the year $2000$ via treaties negotiated by Jimmy Carter in $1977$.

• The Roosevelt Corollary:

  • An expansion of the Monroe Doctrine claiming the U.S. right to exercise "an international police power" in the Western Hemisphere.

  • Execution: In $1904$, U.S. forces seized customs houses in the Dominican Republic to pay debts. In $1906$, troops were sent to Cuba to oversee elections (stayed until $1909$).

• Taft's Dollar Diplomacy:

  • William Howard Taft emphasized economic investment and bank loans over direct military intervention to spread influence. Intervened in Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Liberia.

• Wilson's Moral Imperialism:

  • Wilson initially repudiated Dollar Diplomacy but practiced more military interventions in Latin America than any predecessor.

  • Haiti ($1915$): Marines occupied the country, seized financial control, and dissolved the assembly. Military rule lasted until $1934$.

  • Dominican Republic ($1916$): Military government established until $1924$.

• Conflict with Mexico:

  • Revolution in $1911$: Francisco Madero overthrew Porfirio Daz. Madero was later assassinated by Victoriano Huerta (backed by U.S. companies and the ambassador).

  • Wilson's Response: Refused to recognize Huerta's "government of butchers." Ordered troops to land at Vera Cruz in $1914$; $100$ Mexicans and $19$ Americans died.

  • Pancho Villa: In $1916$, loyalists to Francisco "Pancho" Villa raided Columbus, New Mexico, killing $17$ Americans. Wilson sent $10,000$ troops under General John J. Pershing into Mexico for over a year, unsuccessfully seeking Villa.

America and the Great War

• Outbreak of War (June $1914$):

  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to Austro-Hungarian throne) assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist.

  • Belligerents:

    • Allies: Britain, France, Russia, Japan.

    • Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire.

  • Scale: Trench warfare and new tech (submarines, poison gas, tanks). Battle of Verdun ($1916$) alone saw $600,000$ deaths.

• U.S. Neutrality and Entry:

  • Neutrality proclaimed in $1914$, but the U.S. was divided. British Americans and reformers sided with the Allies; German Americans and Irish Americans (opposed to Britain) did not.

  • The Lusitania: Sunk by German submarine in May $1915$, killing $1,198$ passengers, including $124$ Americans. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned in protest of Wilson's strong note.

  • Election of $1916$: Slogan "He kept us out of war." Wilson won a close race against Charles Evans Hughes ($23$ electoral votes; $600,000$ popular votes margin).

  • Zimmermann Telegram (March $1917$): German message to Mexico promising aid to recover territory (lost in $1846$-$1848$) if Mexico joined the war against the U.S.

  • Declaration of War: April $2, 1917$. Passed Senate $82 \text{-} 6$ and House $373 \text{-} 50$.

• The Fourteen Points (January $1918$):

  • Wilson's vision for peace: Self-determination, freedom of the seas, free trade, open diplomacy, and a "general association of nations" (League of Nations).

• The End of Fighting:

  • Meuse-Argonne Campaign (Sept $1918$): $1.2 \text{ million}$ U.S. troops participated. Over $100,000$ Americans died (representing only $1 \text{ percent}$ of the $10 \text{ million}$ total soldiers killed in the war).

  • Armistice: Germany sued for peace on November $11, 1918$.

The War at Home and the Forgotten Pandemic

• The $1918$-$1919$ Flu Pandemic:

  • Killed between $20 \text{ million}$ and $40 \text{ million}$ globally. In the U.S., $675,000$ died.

  • Resistance to measures: San Francisco's Anti-Mask League protested mandatory mask ordinances as violations of liberty.

• The Wartime State:

  • Selective Service Act ($1917$): $24 \text{ million}$ men registered; army grew from $120,000$ to $5 \text{ million}$.

  • War Industries Board (Bernard Baruch): Controlled war production, raw materials, and prices.

  • Food Administration (Herbert Hoover): Slogan "Food will win the war."

  • War Labor Board: Pushed for minimum wage, $8 \text{-hour}$ days, and union rights. Union membership doubled.

  • Financing: Richest Americans paid $60 \text{ percent}$ air income tax by $1918$. Tens of millions bought Liberty bonds.

• Propaganda and Suppression:

  • Committee on Public Information (CPI): Directed by George Creel. Employed $75,000$ "Four-Minute Men" to give patriotic talks.

  • Espionage Act ($1917$): Prohibited spying and "false statements" impeding military success.

  • Sedition Act ($1918$): Crime to print/speak statements casting "contempt, scorn, or disrepute" on the government.

  • Eugene V. Debs: Sentenced to $10 \text{ years}$ in prison for an antiwar speech. Ran for president in $1920$ from prison, receiving $900,000$ votes.

Questions & Discussion

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, MAJORITY OPINION, SCHENCK V. UNITED STATES ($1919$)

• Background: The Court upheld the conviction of socialist Charles T. Schenck for mailing anti-draft leaflets.

• The "Clear and Present Danger" Test: Holmes argued that free speech does not protect a man "falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic." He stated that during war, utterances that hinder effort will not be endured.

• Questions:

  1. What is Holmes's assessment of the proper balance between liberty and security? Holmes assesses that security takes precedence during wartime; the "character of every act depends upon the circumstances," and rights available in peace may be restricted if they create a "clear and present danger" to the nation's survival.

  2. How does Debs make the case for the right of free speech and dissent? Debs argues that dissent is a fundamental American tradition, citing Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. He claims Socialists are the true defenders of the Constitution and that free speech must exist in war as well as peace.

  3. How do the documents differ in their assessment of the threats to liberty? Holmes sees the threat coming from internal dissent that weakens the war effort, while Debs sees the threat coming from the government's suppression of constitutional rights and the social system's exploitation of people.

Social Changes and the Limits of Liberty

• Woman Suffrage:

  • National Woman's Party (Alice Paul): Used militant tactics (chaining to White House fence, hunger strikes). Paul compared Wilson to the Kaiser.

  • Nineteenth Amendment ($1920$): Barred states from using sex as a qualification for voting. U.S. was the $27 \text{th}$ country to grant this right.

• Prohibition:

  • Eighteenth Amendment (ratified $1919$, effective $1920$): Banned manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor. Spurred by nativism (anti-German sentiment toward breweries) and the need for grain for food.

• The "Race Problem" and Eugenics:

  • The Dictionary of Races of Peoples ($1911$): Listed $45$ immigrant "races," ranking Southern Italians and Hebrews at the bottom.

  • Eugenics: Movement to "improve" the gene pool through sterilization. Buck v. Bell ($1927$) upheld sterilization of the "feeble-minded." Justice Holmes stated, "Three generations of imbeciles are enough."

• Anti-German Crusade:

  • German language was banned in schools and over phones in many states. "Hamburger" renamed "liberty sandwich"; "sauerkraut" renamed "liberty cabbage." By $1920$, only $1 \text{ percent}$ of high schoolers studied German.

• Status of Non-Whites:

  • Asian Americans: Gentlemen's Agreement of $1907$ restricted Japanese migration. California ($1913$) barred Asians from owning land.

  • Puerto Ricans: Granted U.S. citizenship in $1917$ (to dampen independence sentiment), but no vote for president.

  • Native Americans: Over $12,000$ served in the war. Citizenship Act of $1919$ for veterans.

The Great Migration and Black Protest

• The Great Migration ($1910$-$1920$):

  • $500,000$ Blacks moved from the South to the North for industrial jobs. Detroit's Black population rose $611.3 \text{ percent}$; Chicago's rose $148.2 \text{ percent}$.

• W. E. B. Du Bois and the NAACP:

  • The Souls of Black Folk ($1903$): Rejected Booker T. Washington's accommodationism.

  • Niagara Movement ($1905$): Demanded full political/social equality.

  • NAACP ($1909$): Launched legal battles for the $14 \text{th}$ and $15 \text{th}$ Amendments.

• Racial Violence:

  • East St. Louis ($1917$): Industrial riot.

  • Chicago ($1919$): Five days of rioting; $38$ dead.

  • Tulsa Massacre ($1921$): White mob burned "Negro Wall Street" (Greenwood District); over $300$ Blacks killed, $10,000$ homeless.

• Garveyism:

  • Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Freedom meant national self-determination and Black self-reliance. Garvey was deported for mail fraud in $1927$.

1919: A Year of Global Upheaval

• Worldwide Strikes and Revolutions:

  • Russian Revolution (Lenin) inspired strikes in Belfast, Glasgow, and Winnipeg.

  • U.S. Strike Wave ($1919$): Over $4 \text{ million}$ workers struck, including Seattle general strike and Boston police strike.

  • Great Steel Strike ($1919$): $365,000$ immigrant workers demanded union recognition and $8 \text{-hour}$ days. Strike collapsed in $1920$ due to "Americanism vs. Alienism" propaganda.

• The Red Scare ($1919$-$1920$):

  • Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer and J. Edgar Hoover (Justice Dept) conducted the Palmer Raids. Over $5,000$ arrested without warrants. Hundreds of radicals (including Emma Goldman) were deported.

• The Versailles Treaty:

  • Established League of Nations and redrew the map of Eastern Europe (created Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, etc.).

  • German Reparations: Germany held morally responsible and forced to pay between $33 \text{ billion}$ and $56 \text{ billion}$.

  • Wilsonian Moment Failures: Self-determination was not applied to colonies. Britain and France took Ottoman territories as "mandates." Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) and Du Bois (Pan-African Congress) were rebuffed.

• Treaty Rejection in the U.S.:

  • Senator Henry Cabot Lodge led opposition to the League of Nations.

  • Wilson suffered a massive stroke in October $1919$; his wife, Edith, effectively ran the government.

  • The Senate rejected the treaty in November $1919$ and March $1920$.

  • Election of $1920$: Warren G. Harding won with $60 \text{ percent}$ of the vote, promising a "return to normalcy."