The United States &
The Old World Order
Teddy Roosevelt and the
Panama Canal—grabbed the strip of
land from Colombia in 1903, willed the vast
construction through disease-infested jungle that
had been a graveyard for the French (Dr. Gorgas
resolved yellow fever problem by identifying and
eradicating mosquito carrier)
Teddy Roosevelt went against more than a century of tradition and became the first American president ever
to leave the country while in office by going to view the construction site of the Panama Canal, eventually
completed in 1914, long after his Presidency had ended. During his visit, he saw a steam shovel for the first
time, so he stopped his train and hiked through the mud to take a turn at the controls.
Progressive Diplomacy

Foundations of progressive diplomacy—moralism, order,
superiority of Anglo-American stock—open doors of trade/keep them open

Platt Amendment—attached by U.S. to Cuban constitution: U.S.
could step in and kick butt if it needs to…and would, twice (Teller?)

Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine—way beyond
Monroe: right to intervene when
finances goofy; protect them from
themselves

Treaty of Portsmouth
—Russo-Japanese War ended in
Japan’s favor—but balance of power in
East maintained (won’t have to worry
about the Japanese for awhile)
Elihu Root,
Roosevelt’s Secretary
of State, who said the
country needs to
“police the
surrounding
premises”; Teddy
Roosevelt poses with
members of the
Russian and Japanese
delegations at the
Portsmouth Treaty,
for which Roosevelt
was given the Nobel
Peace Prize.

Gentlemen’s agreement
—insult of a proud people, then mutual
restrictions of immigration between U.S.
and Japan

Great White Fleet—showing
off or intimidating—it came back to haunt
us in Japanese naval ambitions
Roosevelt—Progressive (Big Stick) Diplomacy
Taft—Dollar Diplomacy
Wilson—Moral Diplomacy
Officers of the Great White
Fleet; the USS Minnesota
passes through another symbol
of power, the Panama Canal.
Woodrow Wilson and Moral Diplomacy

Twenty-one demands—Japan’s attempt to control
China, opposed by Wilson

Mexican Revolution—a mess Wilson thought he needed
to control, but couldn’t
Three major players in the Mexican
Revolution: Diaz, Huerta, and Carranza.
When Wilson’s Secretary of State William
Jennings Bryan wasn’t up to foreign
relations problems, Wilson turned to
“Colonel” Edward Mandel House, Wilson’s
trusted behind-the-scenes advisor.

Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa on his horse Siete Leguas;
Villa with his "official" wife, Luz Corral.
Villa and his forces
left Columbus, New
Mexico in ruins and
19 dead, prompting
the American
invasion of Mexico
under Pershing to
“get Villa.”
Pancho Villa and some of his
bandidos when he was fighting
with rebel Francisco Madera;
Pancho Villa's body after his
assassination in 1923.
The militaristic Kaiser
Wilhelm, who, like
many European heads
of state, was spoiling
for a fight.
The Road to War

Causes of World War I
—nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and
alliances

Assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand
—this out-of-the way incident created a
disastrous domino effect
The arrest of Gavrilo
Princip, a member of the
Black Hand, after hisPrincip heading for
shooting of the Austriancourt. He would be
Archduke in Sarajevo.
executed.
Woodrow Wilson wanted to keep
Americans playing baseball during
WWI and “impartial in thought as well
as action.”

Wilson’s neutral ideals—lead
world to “higher peace”—impossible

Submarine warfare—British
above, Germans below

Sussex pledge—risk for Wilson
The unterseeboot Deutschland, like the
one that sank the Lusitania (above).
The Democratic supporters of Wilson
campaigned against Republican
Charles Evans Hughes with the
slogan, “If you want war, vote for
Hughes. If you want peace with honor,
vote for Wilson!”

Zimmerman telegram
—plus unrestricted sub warfare
and the prospect of allied loss pushed
U.S. into war
Was Jeannette Rankin right? Some
historians think so
German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmerman’s
coded note to the German ambassador to Mexico,
proposing a German/Mexican alliance.
END OF READING
General Pershing,
commander of the AEF.
War and Society

Trench warfare—defensive
advantage; therefore, stalemate
Americans could help
out their country’s war
effort by lending it
money through buying
bonds.

War Industries Board
—coordinated production in normally
competitive economy
A poster from the
Food Administration
that promoted
“wheatless” and
“meatless” days and
“victory gardens.”

Bureaucratic state—government, business, and labor working together, though
dismantled after WWI, set precedent followed later

National War Labor Board—arbitrated 1000+ labor disputes: don’t strike and you’ll
get higher wages, overtime, equal pay for women, rights to unionize and bargain collectively

Women in the workforce—federal government assured women of conditions they
never had before
Latino migrations—need for labor forced immigration waivers
 African Americans—migration north to “Land of Hope” caused problems in the South

and North
George Creel, director of
the Committee on Public
Information; James Flagg’s
famous “I Want You for the
U.S. Army” poster.

Committee on Public
Information
— “a fight for the minds of men”:
pamphlets, posters, “four-minute men,”
immigrant pilgrimages

100 percent Americanism—
distrust of foreign and
non-mainstream, esp. Germans

Espionage and Sedition
acts—penalties for
hindering war effort or being even
remotely unpatriotic
A Wobblies badge. Their socialistic
ideals made them targets of the
government during WWI.
1918 military
map
Georges Clemenceau, the French
Premier who said of Wilson’s
Fourteen Points, “Even God
Almighty has only ten!”

Wilson’s Fourteen Points—proposed new world order:
open diplomacy, free seas, free trade, disarmament, democratic
self-rule, “association of nations for collective security”

Global spread
of the pandemic
—25 million; U.S. one of the
least affected, though may have
originated here, but still lethal at
675,000
Students at San Diego High
School during the flu
epidemic of 1918
The “Big Four” taking a break during post WWI
discussions: Vittorio Orlando, David Lloyd George,
Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson. Wilson
took along no Republican Senators, thus sabotaging
ratification.

League of Nations—submit disagreements
to arbitration, isolate aggressors, respect
independence and territory—sounds good?

Wilson’s stroke—ailing League now
dead with both sides attacking treaty versions;
war not officially over for U.S. until 1921
Radicals and labor unrest—overblown
 Palmer raids—“Red Scare”: bombers,

communists everywhere and nowhere
Edith Bolling Wilson (above), who became an unofficial president for
six weeks while her husband recovered from a stroke; A. Mitchell
Palmer (right), who launched a series of raids during the “Red Scare.”