Download Notebook Backgrounds

Selective Service Act (1917): This legislation required all males between 21
and 30 to register for military service
• a 488,000 member army, 470,000 for the Nat’l Guard, and the conscription
of 500,000 men were authorized
• Women served in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps and in the auxiliary
forces of the regular navy
Financing the war: The war
was partly financed through the
sale of so-called Liberty Bonds
to the public.
• Other revenue was raised
by income taxes, excess
profits taxes, inheritance
taxes, and special taxes on
liquor, tobacco, and theater
tickets
• The War Revenue Act
(1917) established a
graduated income tax, an
excess profits tax, and an
increase in excise taxes
Committee on Public Information (CPI) Created by Congress in April
1917, the committee had as its chairman journalist George Creel
• Mobilized public support of the war by explaining, through the use
of pamphlets, posters, motion pictures, news stories, advertisements
in magazines, pictures, and speakers, the reasons for American
participation
•Through its Division of Industrial Relations, encouraged labor to
support the war
War Industries Board (July 1917): Under financier Bernard Baruch, this
agency organized the nation’s economy
• It regulated all war industry activities, developed new industries and
sources of supply, controlled prices, and distributed and sold all war
materials
• Manufactures who cooperated with board’s goals were exempt from
antitrust laws
Production and transportation of supplies: New agencies were set up
• Headed by Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo, the Railroad War
Board facilitated the transportation of troops and war supplies by rail.
• Likewise, a Fuel Administration was created to allocate scarce supplies
of coal
• Under the Lever Food and Fuel Control Act, President Wilson had
authority over the production, disposition, and prices of food, fuel, and other
supplies needed by the army; control extended to producers, processors,
and dealers in these products.
Food Administration: Probably the
most effective war agency, it
supervised the feeding of the nation,
its armies, and the Allies
• Herbert Hoover, an engineer
and business executive who
later became a U.S. president,
was its administrator
• He raised the price of wheat to
increase production, along with
encouraging voluntary
conservation
• At his suggestion, people
planted “victory gardens”
Espionage Act (June 1917): A $10,000 fine and 20 years’ imprisonment was prescribed for interfering
with the draft or for attempting to encourage disloyalty
• Penalties were also imposed for refusing military duty, resisting laws, or advocating treason
• The postmaster general could ban from the mails any material he judged treasonous or seditious
National Security League: One of several citizens’ vigilante groups established to ensure patriotism.
Others included the Boys Spies of America, the American Defense Society, and the American
Protective Association, the largest with 250,000 members
National War Labor Board (April 1918) American Federation of Labor President Samuel Gompers sat
on this board, created by President Wilson to mediate labor disputes so that strikes could be avoided
• Workers agreed not to strike, and employers pledged not to engage in lockouts
• It also urged industry to implement changes that would benefit labor (e.g. an 8-hour workday and
the right of unions to organize and bargain collectively)
Sedition Act (May 1918): More repressive than the Espionage Act, it established punishment for
interfering with the sale of Liberty Bonds, for writing or speaking against the government, the U.S.
Constitution, the armed forces, or the flag and for impending recruitment officers
Overman Act (May 1918) Gave President Wilson almost dictatorial powers until months after the war’s
end. These powers included the authority to reorganize executive agencies or create new ones
Climate of suspicion enhanced by government efforts to curtail free speech during the war; Schenck v.
U.S (1919) - United States Supreme Court decision that upheld the Espionage Act of 1917 and
concluded that a defendant did not have a First Amendment right to free speech against the draft during
World War I.
1919 and 1920 Strikes: raging inflation, concern about job security, and poor working
conditions combined to generate labor discontent.
• In 1919 there were more than 3,600 strikes
1. A general strike in Seattle, Washington, nearly paralyzed the city, and U.S.
Marines were sent in to keep it running
2. The Nat’l Guard was called in to restore order after the Boston Police Strike
• The greatest single labor action at that time, which ended in failure, was the Great
Steel Strike in January 1920, involving 350,000 steelworkers in several Midwestern
states
Red Scare (1919): Along with racial violence and labor unrest, the fear of revolution emerged. The
Communist victory in the Russian Revolution of 1917 set these fears in motion
•
Established in 1919 in the Soviet Union, the Communist International sought to export
revolution around the world
•
Americans began blaming revolutionaries or radical agitators for labor and racial disturbances
•
Hysteria mounted when a series of bombings occurred in the spring of 1919
1. The post office intercepted several packages addressed to leading politicians and
businessmen, which were set to explode when opened
2. A few parcels did explode; in June 1919 eight bombs exploded in eight cities within
minutes of one another
3. One bomb exploded outside the Washington townhouse of attorney general A. Mitchell
Palmer
Palmer raids and other anti-Communist measures: As attorney general Palmer set up an antiradical
division in the Justice Dept and appointed J. Edgar Hoover, a young government attorney, to direct
what soon became the Federal Bureau of Intelligence. (FBI)
•
In Nov 1919, the first attacks, known as “Palmer raids” were made on private homes of
suspected Communist sympathizers and on headquarters of labor and radical organizations
•
In December, 1919, the U.S.S. Buford left for Finland and the Soviet Union with 294 deported
radicals
•
On Jan. 1, 1920, 6,000 radicals were arrested as a result of the Palmer raids
•
Civil liberties were violated as citizens and aliens alike were denied legal counsel and held
without specific charges
•
After May Day, 1920, had passed without any violence, the Red Scare soon abated
•
The summer of 1920 passed without major labor strikes or renewed bombings
Sacco-Vanzetti case: A legacy of the Red Scare, the case began with the arrest in May 1920
of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for murder in South Braintree, Massachusetts
• Although the evidence against them was inadequate, as confessed anarchists they
were presumed guilty
• The judge in the trial was openly prejudiced
• The two men were convicted, sentenced to death, and despite worldwide protests,
executed in 1927
• Many decades later, they were posthumously exonerated* by Massachusetts Gov.
Michael Dukakis
The Great Migration: During World War I, over half a million blacks migrated from the
rural South to industrial cities in search of work.
• In 1917, race riots occurred in Houston, Philadelphia, and East St. Louis
• In 1919 racial tension prevailed in the North and in the South
1. More than 70 blacks died in lynchings in the South
2. In Chicago, white mobs attacked people, homes, and property in black
neighborhoods. Thirty eight people died and 537 were injured as blacks
fought back
Women’s Role at Home: Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Howard Shaw thought the war
effort would greater equality and more opportunity for women. Women served in the
AEF. Over a million women held jobs in industry. Women’s Suffrage Movement grew,
leading to the passing of the 19th Amendment in 1919.
After the war these changes didn’t stay. As soldiers came back from war, pre-war
feelings about a woman’s role returned. Many woman lost their jobs to returning
veterans.
• Male streetcar workers in Cleveland went on strike to force female conductors off
the job.
• In 1920 percentage of women in the workforce was actually less than in 1910