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THE GREAT WAR:
AMERICA’S FIRST
INTERNATIONAL CRUSADE
1912-1920
Woodrow Wilson
Elected in 1912 (because the Republican
Party had been split by the Roosevelt-Taft
feud) Woodrow Wilson was only the second
Democratic President since Lincoln. Wilson
was a southerner by birth, a former college
professor of history and government, and, as
governor of New Jersey, a moderate
reformer.
He was also unwilling to admit he could ever
be mistaken.
The Money Issue and Taxation
Wilson put his support behind a number of issues that would raise more
revenue for the government, prevent major financial panics in the future, and
help consumers:
•The Underwood Tariff lowered rates on many imported items.
•The Federal Reserve System created a group of Federal banks that would handle the
flow of currency, regulate other banks through loans, and try to maintain a steady
economy.
•A Federal Trade Commission that could use a tougher anti-trust process to encourage
competition in business.
•The 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which permitted the Federal government to
collect income taxes.
Civil Rights
Wilson did NOT have much interest in civil
rights. As a child in Virginia in the 1860s
he resented the defeat of the Confederacy
by Lincoln’s armies. While Roosevelt had
invited George Washington Carver to
dinner at the White House, Wilson refused
to meet with any civil rights leaders.
What was a ‘democracy’ in 1912?
Wilson’s views on democracy were largely “structural” -- a
democracy existed because voters could choose those who governed
at regularly scheduled elections. This is termed an “electoral
democracy” (see Larry Diamond, The Spirit of Democracy (pp. 22-23)
A “liberal democracy” in which religious, social, racial and social
equality exists (pluralism) and is protected by law, was not something
Wilson strongly supported – he opposed racial equality and was
lukewarm about the right of women to vote.
Trouble Abroad
War in Europe in 1914
threatened to interfere with
American trade.
The U.S. declared it would
be neutral in the war.
Wilson saw none of the
European powers as ‘right’
or ‘good, and promised that
Americans would not get
involved in the war.
Neutrality
War and Propaganda
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Every nation had secret treaties for obtaining territory
from the losers
Every nation sought to convince world opinion that the
war was the fault of someone else
US neutrality (until 1917) was based of view that all
were at fault
US businesses were selling arms to Britain and France --and US banks loaned money to both nations
Trade with Allies
Profits
US Loans:
to Allies -- $2.3
billion; to
Germany, $27
million
US Sympathy for Victims
U.S. groups organized
aid for Serbia, Belgium,
and other smaller
nations caught up in
the Great War. Ethnic
groups in urban
America lobbied for
Wilson to do more.
German Threats
Sinking of the SS Lusitania, 1915
Bryan Challenges Wilson
Wartime Propaganda
Actress Geraldine Farrar strikes a pose as
Joan of Arc in “Joan the Woman,” Cecil B.
DeMille’s 1916 film. Critics charged that
the French lily and the actress’s raised arms
suggested that France was being crucified
by German invaders.
In many films, short stories, and news
editorials, sympathy for the Allied Powers
grew. Germany was increasingly seen as
“in the wrong.”
“Kept Us Out of War”
Wilson won re-election in 1916 by
campaigning on his success in
maintaining American neutrality. But
the threat of German submarines and
the probable losses to American trade
if Germany won, had Wilson worried.
He had already consulted the army
and navy about preparations for war.
American Entry into War, 1917
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U.S. public increasingly angry over German
atrocities in Belgium, France
Zimmerman telegram proposes German alliance
with Mexico against U.S. Britain gives this
decoded radiogram to Wilson
German’s decide to unleash “unrestricted”
submarine warfare on all ships
War, April 1917
When the US
entered the war,
Wilson made the
main American
war aim a
“world safe for
democracy.”
The Fourteen Points
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No secret treaties
Freedom of the seas
Free trade
Armament reductions
Self determination of peoples, based on cultural values of nationality
(including an independent Poland, breakup of Turkish empire, adjustment
of Austrian empire, restoration of Belgium, and replacement of European
colonies by “territories” to be given independence).
An international organization for maintaining peace and preventing future
wars by negotiations – Wilson called it a “League of nations.”
ALL STRUCTURAL GOALS
The CPI
George Creel
explains the war
to America
A Safer World
Enlisting the Movie Stars
Actress Mary Pickford give a pep talk to the “troops” in her
1918 summer hit “Johanna Enlists.”
The Hun
When a German officer makes improper
advances to civilian Mary Pickford,
another German officer intervenes.
“The Little American” (1917) like so
many films of the time, depicted many of
the German soldiers as beasts who
would kill and rape at the slightest
provocation.
In truth, German soldiers did execute
Belgian civilians in order to enforce
obedience.
Hate the Hun
Utilizing the style of political
cartoonists, William Fox had this
marquee poster designed to promote
his 1918 action film, “The Prussian
Cur,” directed by Raoul Walsh.
The Espionage Act of 1917
complemented the wartime
propaganda by suppressing the
speech of dissidents. Socialists, labor
leaders and pacifists, who spoke out
against the war, were arrested and
jailed.
To Hell With the Kaiser
After the U.S. entered the war, this feature literally showed German
Emperor Wilhelm and the emperor of Austria enter into a pact with
the devil to “rule the world.”
A Competitive Postwar Vision
By the end of 1917, Wilson
recognized that his postwar
ideals of democracy and a
League were being severely
challenged by Lenin’s rhetoric
of socialist revolution.
Could the US remake Europe,
or could Lenin dominate it?
Overseas
Command Arguments
Foch vs.
Pershing– the
US fights as
“an associated
power,” not as
an ally
1918 Crisis
Although American troops
played a key role in
stopping the last great
German offensive, later
British and French war
accounts claimed that they
‘won’ before most US
troops arrived.
African Americans at the Front
U.S. in France
Because they entered the war 3 years after it began, US casualties
were far less that those of other nations.
Attacking
The Last Offensive
Hoover and Food
As the head of the War Food
Administration Board, Herbert Hoover
became an international figure for his
efficiency in sending food to war-torn
Europe.
Hoover, a millionaire-engineer, promised
to be part of a new breed of political
leaders, skilled in administration and
progressive in outlook.
Victory
After 4 years of war and economic blockade,
Germany asked for an armistice. By then, the
Russian empire had collapsed in revolution,
Germany’s allies were ruined, and Britain and
France were exhausted. This left America the
richest and most powerful nature on earth.
Wilson wanted a peace that would prevent
future wars and counter the attractions of the
Communist revolution in Russia. But the
Treaty of Versailles did little to promote peace
in the future.
Revolution at Home
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution gave
the right to vote to all American women aged
21 and older. Not every woman accepted
that this would provide full equality. Alice
Paul, a suffragette, called for an “equal
rights amendment” to prevent any
discrimination against women in business or
society.
Throughout the 1920s, women would enter business in a number of “new”
professions – law, journalism, medicine. But the majority still worked in
nursing, clerical jobs or teaching (and teachers who married were fired in most
states).
Anti-Bolshevik Crusade
American troops in Vladivostok, 1918, joining Czecho-Slovaks and Japanese forces
that intervened in the Russian civil war. The American public was confused by what
Wilson hoped to achieve with this expedition.
Treaty Rejected
Wilson (left, with the French and English leaders) spent months in
France, negotiating the treaty to end the Great War. But after he
returned to the U.S., the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles. The
U.S. never joined the League of Nations as Wilson had intended.
Wilson was seen as a failure when he left office in 1921.
U.S. Regrets Role in War
In 1920, American voters elected
Warren Harding as President.
Because Harding had opposed the
Treaty of Versailles, this vote was
taken as a rejection of America’s role
in the Great War.
By the mid-1920s, U.S. history books
called American entry in the war “a
mistake.”
He said it was time to return to
“normalcy.”