During World War I, the United States experienced significant economic and societal changes. The national debt soared from 1.2 billion dollars in 1916 to 25.5 billion by 1919, largely due to Liberty Bonds.
Women and African Americans in the Workforce and Minorities: women took men's jobs while they were fighting. worked on railroads, at docks, in factories [etc] so basically there were many open job opportunities. Great Migration led to a growth of African American communities.
NWLB: to keep disruptions in production to a minimum by judging interactions between workers
-handled 1200 cases involving 700k workers.
set policies to improve working conditions for the workers themselves.
Fuel Administration: to set production goals and prices for fuels, to make sure military needs for fuel were always met. led by Harry Garfield. to encourage fuel conservation Garfield started daylight saving time to extend daylight hours for people who worked long shifts and he also started publicity campaigns.
Food Administration: led by Herbet Hoover. Saying was that "food could win the war" Their goals were to increase production of crops and conserve existing food supplies for the military allies. Prohibition on alcohol in order to stop using up materials used to make alcohol. Volstead Act enforced this prohibition.
WIB/War Industries Board: had authority to regulate all materials needed in war effort. Bernard Baruch, head of the WIB, said that "no steel, copper, cement, rubber, or basic materials could be used without their approval. policies of the WIB managed to increase American Industrial production by 20 percent.
Debts/Bonds: The amount owed by the United States grew from 1.2 Billion in 1916 to 25.5 billion in 1919. 20 Billion of the national debt was owed for to people who bought Liberty Bonds.
Public Opinion
Red Scare
-period of fear of a rise of communism. Americans felt betrayed by Bolshvelks peace with Germany and the ideology against capitalism.
Palmer Raids: a series of raids during red scare.
Schenck Vs the US
Charles Schenck was an official of the American Socialist Party, and was accused of violating the Espionage Act and organized the printing of 15,000 leaflets opposing the government and their policies.
Espionage and Sedition Acts
Espionage Act: passed in 1917, punished people for aiding the enemy.
Sedition Act was passed in 1918, and made it illegal for Americans to utter, print, or publish disloyal or abusive language criticizing america.
Anti-German Attitudes
banned German influence from American culture, many schools stopped teaching German languages and they also changed names of foods.
CPI: the head of the CPI was George Creel, newspaper reporter and political reformer.
To influence the public opinion on topics they used forms of propoganda.
The Military
Selective Service Act: signed into law by President Wilson on May of 1917. Required men ages 21-20 to go into service. most willingly signed into the service though.
Battles: There were two battles that were key to the war. The Battle of the Marne and the Battle of the Argonne Forest. For the Marne, US 3rd division blew up every german bridge across the marne causing German army to retreat on Aug 3rd.
In the Battle of the Argonne Forest: Americans suffered 120,000 casualties, Allies reached the hills around the Sedan.
Training: recruits must spend most days learning rules, marching, practices, and getting ready for daily/weekly inspections.
because of shortages trainees trained with different things (wooden sticks and wooden barrels) instead of rifles and horses.
Minorities: African americans were segregated into different training camps. Many against training the African Americans to use weapons worrying that they might be threats after the war, so few trained for combat.
Latinos: They were very eager to join up, but didn't speak the native language.
Hispanics: were assigned tasks.
Women: they weren't trained to fight usually just worked at home and worked at the men's jobs.
