IX. Forging a War Economy
• Herbert Hoover chosen to
head the Food
Administration
• Voluntary compliance urged
• Farm production increased
by 25%
• Food exports tripled
The USA used all of the following methods to support the war effort:
forcing some people to buy war bonds,
having “heatless Mondays” to conserve fuel,
seizing enemy merchant vessels trapped in US harbors, and
restricting the manufacturing of beer (to conserve wheat);
What about using government power extensively to regulate the
economy?
No; not some much in WWI as in WWII.
Victory gardens to use less produce so it
can feed soldiers and allies. 
2
• Food for Thought Wartime
agencies flooded the
• country with posters like
this in 1917–1918,
exhorting
• women on the home front
to “grow their own” and
thus
• ease the pressure on food
supplies.
p686
The Food Administration
Herbert Hoover
After the United States entered the war in April 1917,
President Woodrow Wilson appointed Herbert
Hoover head of the U.S. Food Administration.
Hoover believed "food will win the war." He
established set days to encourage people to avoid
eating particular foods to save them for soldiers'
rations: “meatless Mondays,” “wheatless
Wednesdays,” and "when in doubt, eat potatoes."
This program helped reduce consumption of
foodstuffs needed overseas and avoided rationing
at home. It was dubbed "Hooverizing" by
government publicists, in spite of Hoover's
continual orders that publicity should not mention
him by name.
Actor Wallace Beery (left). To address food
shortages during World War I, the U.S. Food
Administration headed by Herbert Hoover called
for voluntary “Wheatless Mondays” and
“Meatless Tuesdays.”
4
Paying for the War
• 2/3 of war costs paid for by selling Liberty
Bonds (21 billion)
Mobilization on the Home Front continued
 Daylight savings time was nationally implemented during WWI when
the government instituted it to more efficiently utilize daylight hours for
production.
Time zones often lie west of their idealized boundaries, resulting in year-round DST
6
X. Making Plowboys into Doughboys
Officer’s school
• Allies begged us to send troops,
not just money and materials
• Wilson reluctantly agreed to a
draft
• African Americans segregated
Images of “The Harlem Hell Fighters” (USCT
369th Infantry) continued
Notice they are wearing French helmets with their American uniforms.
8
The Choctaw Codetalkers
As World War I drew to a close, the United States had a continuing problem of
phone calls being intercepted by German forces. One could be fairly
certain that a German spy would hear any telephone call made.
Unfortunately, voice-scrambling technology wouldn’t be invented for
decades. The United States came up with several inventive solutions to
the problem, but unfortunately none of them worked for any length of
time.
First, the Army tried trench codes. T hey worked for a time, but after they had
been in use for a while, the Germans readily cracked them. Another
solution, sending messengers between camps, failed because Germans
captured about one in four.
So, what was the Army to do? One smart commander, Captain Lewis, realized
that the languages used by American Indians are extremely complex and
difficult to learn. He capitalized on the complexity as a code, employing
eight Choctaw Indians during the Mousse-Argonne campaign, which
turned out as the final German push of the war.
Simply put, the Indians were stationed at command posts, and spoke all
important telephone calls in their native language, translating from and
into English for their commanders. German intelligence was not able to
figure out what the new American code was or to even think about
breaking it.
9
The Choctaw Codetalkers continued
Within 24 hours of the United States starting to use Choctow Indians
language as a form of encryption, the tides of war changed in favor of the
United States. Within 72 hours, the Germans were in retreat.
The Choctaw were not used again in an unclassified military effort (other data
may still be classified). However, the Navajo and Comanche languages
were utilized in World War II, where they had equal effectiveness at
stumping Japanese and German cryptographers.
The Indians:
Solomon Lewis
Mitchell Bobb
Ben Carterby
Robert Taylor
Jeff Nelson
Pete Maytubby
James Edwards
Calvin Wilson
10
p687
XI. Fighting in France—Belatedly
• 1917 Bolsheviks pull Russia out
• US sent troops to Russia to fight the Reds
during the war
• Spring 1918 German offensive close to Paris
• French Foch Allied commander
Map of WWI in Europe and the Middle East with
an Inset for the Western Front
13
p687
John J. “Black Jack” Pershing Biography
John J “Black Jack” Pershing had been at San Juan and Kettle Hills
commanding the 10th Cavalry – “Buffalo Soldiers” – African-Americans;
served in Indian conflicts, the Philippines, Cuba, and commanded the US
forces chasing Pancho Villa in 1916-1917 right before US entry into WWI
(1914-1918) in 1917; remember that he lost his wife and three of his
daughters, only his son survived, a horrible fire in their home; he jumped
several ranks to receive the highest rank in the US military since George
Washington, a rank no other General has achieved since, and commanded
the AEF in WWI; at end of war he said that he feared that the Germans did
not know they were beaten and that the same thing would have to be
done again within another 20-30 years – he was indeed correct!
15
1918
June 25
After two weeks of fighting, a U.S. Marine brigade captures
Belleau Wood. Casualties are nearly 9,500, more than half the brigade’s
entire strength.
16
USMC Teufel Hunden = “Devil Dogs”
[at Belleau Wood]
{The USMC earned one of its nicknames from the Germans at Belleau Wood;
the Germans called them “Teufel Hunden” which translates as “Devil
Dogs” which the Marines proudly call themselves.}
17
Map 30-1 p688
Would you want anything to do with
this in battle?
American motorcycle troops with a mounted machine gun
19
Would you want this job?
American machine gun squad gets ready to do battle
20
•
•
•
•
Gassed, by John Singer Sargent The noted artist captures the horror of trench
warfare in World War I. The enemy was often distant and unseen, and death
came
impersonally from gas or artillery fire. American troops, entering the line only in
the
war’s final days, were only briefly exposed to this kind of brutal fighting.
p690
XIII. The Fourteen Points Disarm
Germany
•
•
•
•
Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates
Germany quits on 11/11/18 at 11 am
9 million soldiers dead
20 million wounded
p691
Figure 30-1 p690
Allied Powers
Casualties and Losses
of World War I
Central Powers
Military dead:
5,525,000
Military wounded:
12,831,500
Military missing:
4,121,000
Total:
22,477,500 KIA, WIA
or MIA
Military dead:
4,386,000
Military wounded:
8,388,000
Military missing:
3,629,000
Total:
16,403,000 KIA, WIA
or MIA
"War cannot be won. No one can win a war.”
25
Casualties of
the WWI by
Nation
26
Influenza Pandemic of 1918
In 1918, a world wide Spanish Flu pandemic
caused 500,000 people to die in the USA
and between 20-40 (or many more)
million deaths worldwide.
27
• An estimated 50 million people, about 3% of
the world's population (approximately 1.6
billion at the time), died of the disease. An
estimated 500 million, or 1/3rd were infected.
XIV. Wilson Steps Down from
Olympus
• Wilson a superstar at War’s end (to the
world)
• Unfortunately, Republicans gained control of
Congress in 1918; he went to Paris without
its support
• He also snubs Republicans and senator Lodge
by omitting them from his peace delegation
p693
XV. An Idealist Amid the Imperialists
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQXBGLr
tqx8 American Experience try min 47 or so
XVI. Hammering Out the Treaty
• Wilson’s major goal: a League of Nations
• Republicans back home not in favor
• Lodge, Borah, Johnson “irreconcilables” (39
senators) not willing approve
• Weakened Wilson in Paris
p693
XVII. The Peace Treaty That Bred a
New War
• To Germany’s disappointment, 14 pts. not
followed
• Forced to sign: Vengeance the tone…….
• Germany had to admit war guilt
• Give up land and colonies
• Pay reparations
• Reduce their militiary
• Thus setting up another war
XVIII. The Domestic Parade of
Prejudice
• Wilson returns home with the treaty; but the
Senate must approve it.
• Isolationists wanted no “entangling alliances”
• German haters: not tough enough
• Liberals; too harsh
• “hyphenated Americans” disliked it; German,
Italian, Irish etc.
Political Cartoons about the Failure of the US Senate
to Ratify the Treaty of Versailles
36
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Contentious Nuptials Woodrow
Wilson’s visionary
effort to end more than a century of
American aloofness
from world affairs met vigorous
opposition from
traditional isolationists, especially in
the U.S. Senate.
Senators eventually refused to ratify
the Versailles Treaty,
shattering Wilson’s dream of making
the United States a
more engaged international actor.
p695
XIX. Wilson’s Tour and Collapse
(1919)
• It got stalled in the Senate; so he took it to
the people………
Map of Wilson’s Train Tour Promoting the Ratification of the Treaty of
Versailles and the League of Nations
39
Disaster strikes
1919
September 25 On a cross-country tour to promote popular support for the
Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, President Wilson suffers a
stroke in Colorado. Only a few insiders are allowed to see him, including
Wilson’s wife, Edith (who literally makes presidential decisions during his
recovery), his doctor, his secretary, and Bernard Baruch. Wilson should
have turned over the reins of government to his vice president, but
doesn’t. By November 1, he is sufficiently recovered to appear in control
once more. During his absence, the Senate has hardened against the
treaty and refuses to ratify it.
40
XX. Defeat Through Deadlock
• Lodge attached 14 amendments to treaty
• Wilson urged Democrats to vote it down
• Twice, thus killing the treaty in the US
XXI. The “Solemn Referendum” of
1920
The Treaty and Ending the Great War
continued
President Wilson’s call for a “solemn referendum” in 1920 referred to his
belief that the presidential election of 1920 should determine the fate of
the Treaty of Versailles for the USA.
Republican isolationists successfully turned Warren G. Harding’s 1920
presidential victory into a death sentence for the League of Nations.
(Apparently a death sentence for Harding too, who died fairly shortly after
coming into the office. )
A major weakness of the League of Nations was that it did not include the
USA due to Republican Senators blocking ratification of the Treaty of
Versailles.
43