WWI Home Front Government Control During WWI during

WWI Home Front

Government Control During WWI • during WWI & under President Wilson, the U. S. Government intervened in many aspects of public life • government controlled how Americans discussed the war & criticized government • A government agency (W. I. B. ) oversaw all aspects of war production in our nation’s factories • Federal laws were passed making it illegal to interfere with the draft.

GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA TO WHIP UP PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR WAR

Committee on Public Information (CPI) • Government agency set up to create propaganda to support the war effort at home. • George Creel, a muckraking journalist, was named CPI agency chief by President Wilson. • Artists, painters, sculptors, writers, movie directors, and advertisers were all part of this propaganda campaign.

WWI Propaganda Poster Themes • • • Recruitment into Army & Navy Conservation of resources/materials Patriotism Buy War Bonds Factory Production Vilification (demonization) of the enemy

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“Keep the Trench Fires Burning” Henry Burr

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES CREATED TO REGULATE ECONOMY & BUSINESS FOR WAR

U. S. Food Administration • Part of a wider large scale government regulation effort during WWI. • Government agency created to get citizens involved in conserving food for soldiers on the Western Front. • Herbert Hoover was the administrative chief named by Wilson • Victory Gardens were planted by citizens to save canned goods for the boys “over there. ”

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$ $ War Financing $ $ $ Government begins massive oversight & regulation of U. S. industry by establishing agency: War Industries Board (WIB). $ Bernard Baruch picked by President Wilson to lead the W. I. B. $ Industrial production went up 20% $ 35. 5 Billion dollars were spent on the war (1/3 of this amount came from taxes) $ The rest (66%) came from the selling of Liberty Bonds to the American public.

War Industries Board

Bottom Line One result of the regulation of businesses during World War I was the expanded role of the government. At no other time in our nation’s history had the Federal Government intervened in business/industry on the scale it did during The Great War.

DIVERSITY CONTRIBUTES TO WAR EFFORT

Roles Women Filled During WWI At home many women went off to work in the factories taking up jobs left void by soldiers who went “Over There” Women were asked to lead the food conservation effort at home At the Western Front a majority of women served as Red Cross nurses

Yaaaa! Women! • Women won supporters in Congress for SUFFRAGE RIGHTS due to their contributions to the war effort • Soon after WWI, Congress ratified the 19 th Amendment granting women the right to vote in 1920.

African-American WWI Experiences • Black America was split over the war. Some believed it would strengthen race relations if both black and white Americans rallied behind the cause (W. E. B. Du. Bois) …. . TEST QUESTION! • Others believed supporting a racist nation in time of war sent the leaders of that nation the wrong message (William Trotter). • Nevertheless, massive migration to northern industrial cities, like Detroit, occurred during the war. Job opportunities in war industries were the main reason. (Great Migration)

African-American WWI Experiences • Regardless of where they stood on the war before it began, many African-Americans became disillusioned (angry & confused) after the war due to lack of progress in Civil Rights legislation and a general feeling of not being appreciated for their efforts during the war. • Some southern African-American WWI Veterans were even lynched in their uniforms after returning home

African-American WWI Experiences As the troops returned, there was an increase of racial tension. During the summer and fall of 1919, anti-black race riots erupted in twenty-six cities across America. The lynching of blacks also increased from fifty-eight (58) in 1918 to seventyseven (77) in 1919. At least ten of those victims were war veterans, and some were lynched while in uniform. Militaryhistoryonline. com Written by Jami Bryan (Managing Editor of On Point) Copyright © 2003 Jami Bryan

William Monroe Trotter • Harvard educated journalist • Co-Founder of Niagara Movement in 1905 with Du. Bois. • University of Michigan’s Trotter Multicultural Center Building named after him.

THE WAR’S IMPACT ON U. S. A.

Home front Consequences of WWI 1. Congress passed the Espionage & Sedition Acts in 1917. Citizens could be fined or imprisoned for writing or saying anything considered disloyal to America or interfering with the war effort. Civil liberties of Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Press restricted. 2. Anti-immigrant sentiment ran so strong that immigration to U. S. A. dropped dramatically & quotas were enforced ending massive immigration to U. S. A.

American Socialist Party • Led by railroad union leader Eugene V. Debs, this party sought to make the economic system of the United States more equitable for American workers • Intent was not to overthrow American capitalism and Government ( NOT like Russia’s Communist Party ) • More of a middle class homegrown American brand of socialism

• Debs even ran for president in jail after being sent to prison on 10 counts of sedition by urging men to resist the WW 1 draft. • President Wilson called him “a traitor to his country. ”

Schenk v. United States (1919) • Court upheld Charles Schenk’s conviction for sedition. They stated that under wartime the words in his antdraft leaflets were not protected by right of free speech.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes “Protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting “Fire!” in a theatre and causing a panic. ”

Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969)

The Decision: 7 -2 in favor of Tinker Family “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. “…. schools certainly have the right to establish rules relating to the length of skirts or the type of clothing, to hair style…. or aggressive, disruptive action or even group demonstrations, this case does not involve any of those actions. ”

Journal #4 (a) Do you think President Wilson’s enforcement of the Sedition Act was a good idea during WW 1? Why or why not? (b) Do you think the universities cited as examples in the New York Times Editorial went too far in restricting their students’ freedom of speech on campus? Why or why not? (c) Under what circumstances, if any, could you envision your freedom or anyone’s freedom of speech being restricted?

3. Violent attacks & discrimination towards Americans of German & Austrian descent (Frankenmuth, Mich. on high alert)

4. The Great Migration results in hundreds of thousands of African-Americans relocating from the south into northern cities like New York, Chicago, & Detroit to look for war factory work. Great Migration 1916 -1930

5. The Great Flu Pandemic of 1918 swept across the globe resulting in the deaths of millions. In the U. S. A alone the Great Flu Pandemic claimed approximately 500, 000 lives.

What’s the Difference? Epidemic: health crisis that introduces new cases of a disease /infection and affects one geographical region, state, or country. Pandemic: health crisis that affects an entire hemisphere, continent or spreads around the globe.

My Great Grandpa Reilly

Create A WWI Homefront Quiz • Using your Power. Point packet, create a 10 Question WWI Homefront Quiz • 5 Multiple Choice Questions with a. b. c. options • 5 True/False Questions • Print out when finished • We will exchange them and take each others back in classroom • Create an answer key in your notes.