WWI Home Front
Government Control During WWI
• during WWI & under President Wilson, the U.S.
Government intervened in many aspects of
public life
• government controlled how Americans discussed
the war & criticized government
• A government agency (W.I.B.) oversaw all
aspects of war production in our nation’s
factories
• Federal laws were passed making it illegal to
interfere with the draft.
GOVERNMENT
PROPAGANDA TO
WHIP UP PUBLIC
SUPPORT FOR
WAR
Committee on Public Information
(CPI)
• Government agency set up to create
propaganda to support the war effort at
home.
• George Creel, a muckraking journalist, was
named CPI agency chief by President
Wilson.
• Artists, painters, sculptors, writers, movie
directors, and advertisers were all part of
this propaganda campaign.
WWI Propaganda Poster Themes
•
•
•
•
•
•
Recruitment into Army & Navy
Conservation of resources/materials
Patriotism
Buy War Bonds
Factory Production
Vilification (demonization) of the enemy
•
J
N
•
“Keep the Trench Fires Burning”
Henry Burr
GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES
CREATED TO
REGULATE
ECONOMY &
BUSINESS FOR WAR
U.S. Food Administration
• Part of a wider large scale
government regulation effort
during WWI.
• Government agency created to
get citizens involved in
conserving food for soldiers on
the Western Front.
• Herbert Hoover was the
administrative chief named by
Wilson
• Victory Gardens were planted by
citizens to save canned goods for
the boys “over there.”
L
$ $ War Financing $ $
$ Government begins massive oversight &
regulation of U.S. industry by establishing
agency: War Industries Board (WIB).
$ Bernard Baruch picked by President
Wilson to lead the W.I.B.
$ Industrial production went up 20%
$ 35.5 Billion dollars were spent on the war
(1/3 of this amount came from taxes)
$ The rest (66%) came from the selling of
Liberty Bonds to the American public.
War Industries Board
Bottom Line
One result of the regulation
of businesses during World
War I was the expanded
role of the government.
At no other time in our
nation’s history had the
Federal Government
intervened in
business/industry on the
scale it did during The
Great War.
DIVERSITY
CONTRIBUTES
TO
WAR EFFORT
Roles Women Filled During WWI
At home many women
went off to work in the
factories taking up jobs
left void by soldiers who
went “Over There”
Women were asked to lead
the food conservation
effort at home
At the Western Front a
majority of women served
as Red Cross nurses
Yaaaa! Women!
• Women won supporters in Congress for
SUFFRAGE RIGHTS due to their contributions
to the war effort
• Soon after WWI, Congress ratified the 19th
Amendment granting women the right to vote in
1920.
African-American WWI Experiences
• Black America was split over the war. Some
believed it would strengthen race relations if both
black and white Americans rallied behind the
cause (W.E.B. DuBois) …..TEST QUESTION!
• Others believed supporting a racist nation in time
of war sent the leaders of that nation the wrong
message (William Trotter).
• Nevertheless, massive migration to northern
industrial cities, like Detroit, occurred during the
war. Job opportunities in war industries were the
main reason. (Great Migration)
African-American WWI Experiences
• Regardless of where they stood on the war before
it began, many African-Americans became
disillusioned (angry & confused) after the war
due to lack of progress in Civil Rights legislation
and a general feeling of not being appreciated for
their efforts during the war.
• Some southern African-American WWI Veterans
were even lynched in their uniforms after
returning home
African-American WWI Experiences
As the troops returned, there was an increase of
racial tension. During the summer and fall of
1919, anti-black race riots erupted in twenty-six
cities across America. The lynching of blacks also
increased from fifty-eight (58) in 1918 to seventyseven (77) in 1919. At least ten of those victims
were war veterans, and some were lynched while
in uniform.
Militaryhistoryonline.com
Written by Jami Bryan (Managing Editor of On
Point) Copyright © 2003 Jami Bryan
William Monroe Trotter
• Harvard educated
journalist
• Co-Founder of Niagara
Movement in 1905 with
DuBois.
• University of Michigan’s
Trotter Multicultural
Center Building named
after him.
THE WAR’S
IMPACT ON
U.S.A.
Home front Consequences of WWI
1. Congress passed the Espionage & Sedition
Acts in 1917. Citizens could be fined or
imprisoned for writing or saying anything
considered disloyal to America or
interfering with the war effort. Civil
liberties of Freedom of Speech & Freedom
of Press restricted.
2. Anti-immigrant sentiment ran so strong
that immigration to U.S.A. dropped
dramatically & quotas were enforced
ending massive immigration to U.S.A.
American Socialist Party
• Led by railroad union leader
Eugene V. Debs, this party
sought to make the economic
system of the United States
more equitable for American
workers
• Intent was not to overthrow
American capitalism and
Government ( NOT like
Russia’s Communist Party )
• More of a middle class
homegrown American brand
of socialism
• Debs even ran for president in jail after being
sent to prison on 10 counts of sedition by urging
men to resist the WW1 draft.
• President Wilson called him “a traitor to his
country.”
Schenk v. United States (1919)
• Court upheld
Charles Schenk’s
conviction for
sedition. They stated
that under wartime
the words in his antdraft leaflets were
not protected by
right of free speech.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Protection of
free speech
would not
protect a man in
falsely shouting
“Fire!” in a
theatre and
causing a
panic.”
Tinker v. Des Moines School District
(1969)
The Decision:
7-2 in favor of Tinker Family
“It can hardly be argued that either students or
teachers shed their constitutional rights to
freedom of speech or expression at the
schoolhouse gate.
“….schools certainly have the right to establish
rules relating to the length of skirts or the type of
clothing, to hair style….or aggressive, disruptive
action or even group demonstrations, this case
does not involve any of those actions.”
Journal #4
(a)Do you think President Wilson’s enforcement of
the Sedition Act was a good idea during WW1?
Why or why not?
(b) Do you think the universities cited as examples
in the New York Times Editorial went too far in
restricting their students’ freedom of speech on
campus? Why or why not?
(c) Under what circumstances, if any, could you
envision your freedom or anyone’s freedom of
speech being restricted?
3. Violent attacks & discrimination towards
Americans of German & Austrian descent
(Frankenmuth, Mich. on high alert)
4. The Great Migration results in hundreds of
thousands of African-Americans relocating
from the south into northern cities like New
York, Chicago, & Detroit to look for war
factory work.
Great Migration 1916-1930
5. The Great Flu Pandemic of 1918 swept across
the globe resulting in the deaths of millions. In
the U.S.A alone the Great Flu Pandemic claimed
approximately 500,000 lives.
What’s the Difference?
Epidemic: health crisis that introduces new
cases of a disease /infection and affects one
geographical region, state, or country.
Pandemic: health crisis that affects an entire
hemisphere, continent or spreads around
the globe.
My Great Grandpa Reilly
Create A WWI Homefront Quiz
• Using your PowerPoint packet, create a 10
Question WWI Homefront Quiz
• 5 Multiple Choice Questions with a. b. c. options
• 5 True/False Questions
• Print out when finished
• We will exchange them and take each others
back in classroom
• Create an answer key in your notes.