1. Supporting the War Effort

2.  U.S.
 Had large navy
 World’s 16th largest army (125,000 men)
 Would have to mobilize quickly to contribute
 Selective Service
 Declaration of War = eager young men volunteering for
military service
 Not enough to expand army
 Wilson wanted draft established
 Selective Service Act passed
 All young men between 21-30 to register for the military draft

3.  Not subject to draft
 30,000 volunteered
 Most served in Army & Navy Nurse Corps
 Others preformed clerical work
 Women were divided on war topic
 Some favored war, others opposed it
 Jane Addams
 Cofounded Women’s Peace Party in 1915
 Jeannette Rankin of Montana
 1st women elected to Congress
 Voted against Wilson’s war resolution
 Carrie Chapman Catt
 Urged women to support war effort
 Hoped it would gain women the right to vote

4.  Reflected diversity within the U.S.
 1 in 5 recruits had been born in foreign lands
 Philippines, Mexico, Italy, etc.
 Native Americans, who were not U.S. citizens, fought in WWI

5.  38,000 served
 Opportunities restricted
 Encouraged to support the
war effort by W.E.B. Du Bois
 Faced discrimination in
military
 Placed in all black units
 10% sent to combat
 Most unloaded ships, worked
in kitchens, or constructed
barracks
 Some served w/ French units
 Harlem hell Fighters received
France’s highest medal for
bravery, the cross of war

6.  1 in 4 draftees were illiterate
 Some from poor rural areas not use to eating daily
meals, taking regular baths, or using indoor plumbing
 Military taught men how to fight & read
 Also learned about nutrition, personal hygiene, &
patriotism

7.  Managing food supplies:
 Herbert Hoover lead Food Administration
 Job was to assure adequate food supplies to civilians & troops
 Americans urged to conserve: “wheatless Mondays” “meatless
Tuesdays”
 Producing for War
 American industry demands increased
 War Industries Board set up
 Oversaw shift to war production
 Had limited power at 1st
 w/ new head WIB had power to tell industries what to
produce, how much to charge, & how to use scarce resources

8.  Labor shortage w/ war
 Millions of men joined military
 Decline in immigration
 Business owners turned to 2 sources
 Women: took on roles denied to them before the war
 African Americans: left rural South to work in factories

9.  Calling for Patriotism
 Committee on Public
Information
 75,000 “Four-Minute
Men” recruited
 Delivered brief patriotic
speeches
 Artists
 Produced pro-war
cartoons & posters
 Liberty Bonds
 Issued to help finance
war

10.  Measures take to suppress critics
of the war
 Espionage Act of 1917 & Sedition
Act of 1918
 Newspapers closes & individuals
jailed for expressing antiwar views
 War fever often collided with
personal freedoms
 Private organizations started that
encouraged people to spy on their
neighbors
 American Protective League
 2000,000 members
 Opened peoples mail, tapped
phones, & pried into medical
records

11.  German Americans
 Shunned, harassed, & assaulted across the country
 Some tarred & feathered
 Schools stopped teaching German language
 Also affected language
 Sauerkraut became “liberty cabbage”
 German measles became “liberty measles”