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As "doughboys" left for France, Americans
at home mobilized [mobilized: to
organize people or resources for action,
such as war]—organized the nation's
resources—for war.
Actors helped publicly- raised money
and entertained troops
Women went to work› Although the number of women in the
workforce stayed about the same
throughout the war, the number of
occupations in which they worked rose
sharply
› typists, cashiers, salesclerks, and telephone
operators. Women worked in plants,
assembling explosives, electrical appliances,
airplanes, and cars. Many took jobs in the
iron and steel industry

pacifist: a person who opposes all wars, usually
on moral or religious grounds
› Henry Ford’s Peace Ship
› Some just opposed to all wars- U.S. set an example
by staying out
› Woman’s Peace Party: an organization, established
by a group of pacifist women in 1915 in response to
World War I beginning in Europe, that called for arms
limitations and mediation to take the place of
combat in Europe
› conscientious objectors-someone who opposes war
for religious or moral reasons and therefore refuses to
serve in the armed forces. Didn’t serve= go to jail

The Government Uses
Propaganda to "Sell" the War
› Committee on Public Information: a
government agency created by
President Woodrow Wilson in 1917,
during World War I, to promote prowar propaganda to the American
public] (CPI).
 hired reporters, artists, movie
directors, writers, and historians to
create a massive propaganda
campaign
 Movies, posters, books, leaflets- in
different languages
 Four-Minute Men- made 4 minute
speeches(written by CPI) in favor of
the war

Patriotic Fervor Sweeps the Country
› loyalty parades
 families waved flags and wore patriotic costumes.
Marchers shouted slogans like "Keep the flag flying"
and "Down with the Kaiser."
› Conserved Materials
› anti-German hysteria
 Employers in war industries fired German American
workers
 Can’t play German music, read German books, or
teach German in schools
 sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage" and
liverwurst, "liberty sausage

Americans Buy Liberty Bonds to Fund the
War
› World War I cost the United States about $35.5
billion.
 About one fourth of that cost came from
taxes, which increased drastically during the
war.
 October 1917, Congress passed the War
Revenue Act,
 It also reduced the level of taxable income to $1,000.
 As a result, the number of Americans paying income
tax increased from 437,000 in 1916 to 4.4 million in
1918.
› The government raised the rest of the money
through the sale of bonds
 bond: a certificate issued by a government or
company that promises to pay back borrowed
money at a fixed rate of interest on a specific
date
 Liberty Bond: a government-issued bond sold
during World War I to raise money for the Allied
war effort

New Government Agencies Organize
Industry for War
› July 1917, War Industries Board (WIB) created
to direct industrial production
› had the authority to tell factories what goods
to produce and how much to make.
› Less material in clothes= shorter skirts, need
for metal= no corsets
› worked to ensure the cooperation of unions
in the war effort

Food and Fuel Help Win the War
› Food Administration set up to oversee
production and distribution of food
and fuel
 Lead by Herbert Hoover
 raised crop prices to encourage
farmers to produce more food and
began a campaign that urged
Americans to conserve food and
reduce waste.
 Slogan:"Food will win the war”
 Meatless Mondays and Wheatless
Wednesdays
 “Victory Gardens”
 “heatless Mondays." "gasless Sundays“
 Daylights savings time introduced
World safe for democracy- but U.S. still
segregated
 Support or Not Support?
 Employers in northern cities desperately
needed workers

› Great Migration: beginning during World War
I, the mass movement of millions of African
Americans from the rural South to cities in the
North and Midwest in order to take jobs in
industry.

Immigrants Face Forced
"Americanization“
› Most immigrants, like most Americans,
supported the war.
› Nevertheless, rumors of enemy agents
sparked anti-immigrant sentiments
› American Protective League- self-appointed
patriot group
› Intolerance also led to attacks on German
Americans

The Government Cracks Down on Dissent
› Fear of espionage: the use of spying to gather
information
 Espionage Act: a law passed by Congress in 1917
to make it illegal to spy, interfere with government
foreign policy, or resist the military draft. also gave
the postmaster general broad powers to refuse
mail delivery of any materials that might
encourage disloyalty.
 Sedition Act: a law passed by Congress in 1918 to
make it illegal to say anything disloyal, profane, or
abusive about the government or the war effort
 Hundreds of people were arrested for offenses such as
criticizing the draft or wartime taxes.

Socialists and Wobblies Speak Out Against the
War
› Wobblies: a nickname for members of the Industrial
Workers of the World (IWW), an anticapitalist labor
organization founded in 1905
 Many arrested, and a few even lynched
› In all, the government arrested and tried more than
1,500 people under the Espionage and Sedition acts.
Approximately 1,000 were convicted
› Supreme Court Holds it constitutional in Schenck vs
United States: the 1919 Supreme Court case that
declared that Charles Schenck's propaganda efforts
against the military draft were illegal under the
Espionage Act of 1918 and were not protected by
his First Amendment right to freedom of speech