U.S. IN WWI & DOMESTIC EFFECTS.   Term Paper ID:25500 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Reasons for intervention, role of public opinion, leadership, economics, growth of federal power, ideology, peace initiatives, mobilization, social changes.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Reasons for intervention, role of public opinion, leadership, economics, growth of federal power, ideology, peace initiatives, mobilization, social changes. Paper Introduction: AMERICAN ENTRY INTO WORLD WAR I AND ITS DOMESTIC EFFECTS This research paper deals with the reasons which led the United States to enter World War I on the side of the Western Allies in April, 1917 and the domestic consequences of that decision. American public opinion shifted from nearly unanimous support for American neutrality at the outbreak of war in August 1914 to overwhelming approval of the declaration of war against Germany in April 1917. No one factor fully explains this shift in sentiment nor the American decision-making process involved. Economic factors (the influence of American war loans and supplies of munitions to the Allies) and ideological considerations played their part but were not decisive. The casus belli was Germany's decision of January 1917 to resume unrestricted submarine warfare against neutral shipping. The Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. However, it wasthe loss of life and shipping which turned the tide. (Ed.). The failure of President Wilson's attempt to mediate a peacesettlement in the winter of 1916-1917 was another important factor leadingto the American declaration of war. Economic factors (the influence of American war loans andsupplies of munitions to the Allies) and ideological considerations playedtheir part but were not decisive. .. The telegramsent by German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann on January 17, 1917offered Mexico an alliance with Germany, suggested Mexico might become abase for the furtherance of Japanese designs against American and offeredMexico the prospect of recovering its former territories in the AmericanSouthwest. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991.Link, Arthur S. No one factor fullyexplains this shift in sentiment nor the American decision-making processinvolved. . . David F. The American government protested against violations of itsneutrality on the high seas by both Britain and Germany, but De Weerd said"because the Germans were sinking ships and killing people while theBritish were merely seizing cargo, Wilson early in the war held the Germansaccountable in a way in which he did not hold the British."[xiii] TheGermans as a land power felt they had no alternative; however, theirintermittent relaxations of unrestricted submarine warfare were accompaniedby egregious acts such as the torpedoing of the passenger liner Lusitania(which had some munitions as cargo) with large loss of life, including 124of Americans, by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915 and other sinkings ofunarmed ships. Tuchman said that Wilson showed "greatindignation" and ordered its contents released to the press, which Lansingsaid "transformed the apathy of the Western states into intense hostilityto Germany."[xiv] The United States had been able to remain isolationist in thenineteenth century behind the protective shield of the British navy. . Wilson had warned the Germans of the consequences of such acts andfelt he had little choice but to declare war after three more vessels weresunk in early 1917. The status oflabor unions, whose leaders served on many government boards, was enhanced.Schaffer says, however, that many of labor's gains were "ephemeral."[xxiv]Blacks migrated in large numbers from the South to northern factories.Lynchings increased. . wereinvolved to a degree in the formulation of basic neutrality policies andthe ultimate transition to belligerence."[xv] Domestic Effects Wilson was elected in 1912 on a platform of progressive domesticreforms, called the New Freedom, much of which including new antitrustlaws, tariff reduction, overhaul of the banking and monetary system throughcreation of the Federal Reserve System, a federal child labor law andprogressive income taxes, had been enacted by 1916 when he was re-electedon the slogan 'He Kept Us Out of War.' The new priority of the Wilsonadministration was to mobilize the nation for war and to gear up warproduction to support the Allies and to send an American ExpeditionaryForce to France. . (Ed.). W. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1965.Tansill, Charles Callan. The German Zimmermann telegram of January 1917 inflamed Americanpublic opinion at a critical juncture. Some of Wilson'sclosest advisers, such as Colonel Edward House and Robert Lansing,Secretary of State after 1915, were more aggressively in favor ofsupporting the Allies than Wilson until early 1917. Boston: Little, Brown, 1938.Trask, David F. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1968.Mason, Alpheus T. Ferrell, Woodrow Wilson and World War I 1917 1921 (newYork: Harper & Row, 1985), 5.Ibid.Tansill, 687 and 134.Harvey A. Goldman, Rendezvous with Destiny (New York: Alfred A.Knopf, 1965), 376.Charles Callan Tansill, America Goes to War (Boston: Little,Brown, 1938), 32.Robert H. The domestic effects of American entry were far-reaching, including:(1) economic prosperity and overexpansion of agriculture; (2) sharp growthin the powers and functions of the federal government in relation to theeconomy and society, war mobilization and welfare capitalism; (3) socialchanges in the role of labor, women and blacks; (4) an outburst ofpatriotism together with controversy over the suppression of civilliberties; and (5) the beginnings of postwar disillusionment among liberalsand others. Woodrow Wilson and World War I 1917 1921. New York: Oxford University Press, 1949.DeWeerd, Harvey A. DeWeerd, President Wilson Fights His War World War Iand the American Intervention (New York: Macmillan, 1968), 11and 14.DeWeerd, 3.August Heckscher, Woodrow Wilson (New York: Charles Scribner'sSons, 1991), 293.Heckscher, 337.Arthur S. He presided over a vastfederal mind manipulation effort in war propaganda masterminded by GeorgeCreel's Committee on Public Information. New York: Macmillan, 1968.Ferrell, Robert H. W. . leaders, anarchists and supposedBolsheviks. Many of their gains provedto be illusory when men returned. It was, however, notclear to Americans in April 1917 that Germany was about to win the war.According to Smith, "realistic concepts of national interest . . According to DeWeerd, the United States eventually sent twomillion troops to France after conscription was introduced in May 1917, but"because of an American inability to arm itself promptly, the Alliesprovided a great deal of the equipment and supplies needed to fight awar."[xx] To meet mobilization targets, Trask says "required a degree ofgovernment intervention in the private enterprise economy that would havebeen inconceivable in any other context than the most extreme nationalemergency."[xxi] The result was a proliferation of government boards andagencies at the federal level and new rules and regulations affecting allsectors of life, factories, labor, farms, fuel, transportation, etc. Race riots erupted in East St. President Wilson Fights His War World War I and the American Intervention. Mason (New York:Oxford University Press, 1949), 7 2.----------------------- 12 The casus belli was Germany's decision ofJanuary 1917 to resume unrestricted submarine warfare against neutralshipping. "Mergeritis." In World War I at Home Readings on American Life, 1914-192 , ed. . The war also had a pervasive effect on America's economy,governmental organization and society and produced severe strains for many,especially those not in the mainstream. Endnotes BibliographyAtwood, Albert A. The armed services remained segregated. New York: W. America Goes to War. Schaffer called the result "awar welfare state," "a centralized war capitalism," which set priorities,coordinated public and private defense efforts, procured needed warmaterials, and "presaged and contributed to the rise of federal power inthe 193 s."[xxii] A great deal of internecine strife and inefficiencyaccompanied this frantic effort and valuable lessons were learned whichwere helpful in fighting the Great Depression and in preparing for WorldWar II. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.Goldman, Eric F. Atwood, "Mergeritis," in Trask, 1 4.Schaffer, 74.Paul L. causedus to favor Britain and France . Amateurish efforts by German agents tocommit sabotage and subversion in the United States and Mexico were anirritant. Mergeritis, consolidation of industry took place because, accordingto Atwood, "instead of punishing companies for acting in concert theGovernment is now in some cases forcing them to unite."[xxiii] Social Changes Women filled jobs formerly filled by men. Demand for food from Europe was met by America's farmersbut much higher food prices and increased production led to the prolongedagricultural depression of the 192 s and 193 s. Woodrow Wilson. that . It was intercepted and decoded by British Naval Intelligence andturned over to the United States. . Murphy, World War I and the Origin of Civil Liberties inthe United States (New York: W. Trask, 1 2-1 4. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era 191 1917. Justice Department agents and overly enthusiastic vigilantespersecuted draft resisters, conscientious objectors, pacifists, aliens,radicals such as Socialists, I. to preserve itsneutrality."[ix] Link said that almost all Americans agreed in 1914:"opinion was almost unanimous that the United States had no vital stake inthe war and that wisdom dictated a policy of complete neutrality."[x] German Submarine Warfare and Failure of Peace Initiatives Some recent historians, for example, Ferrell, said that Wilsoncynically manipulated American public opinion into war: Wilson . New York: Alfred A. W. was unneutral from the beginning. Civil Liberties Controversies and Liberal Disillusionment Wilson was intolerant toward opposition. Alpheus T. Germanhegemony over Europe and control of the North Atlantic would haverepresented a threat to American vital interests. . but one aspect of the complex processof how the United States entered World War I."[vi] Ideological Considerations In his address to Congress on April 2, 1917 asking for a declarationof war against Germany, Wilson said: right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things we have always carried nearest to our our hearts --for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own Government, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for the universal domination of right by such a concert of free people as shall bring peace and safety and make the world itself at least free.[vii] In consonance with these principles, Wilson aimed in his foreignpolicy, according to Heckscher, "to make it genuinely democratic, pacific,[and] antiimperialistic"[viii] However, his idealism was tempered bypragmatism and his strong belief at the outset of the war that "theparamount task of the United States was . Smith, The Great Departure The United States and WorldWar I 1914-192 (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1965), 9.Ferrell, 84.David F. Mason, 7 1-7 9. . Wartime hysteria led to discrimination and violence against German-Americans, including the banning of Ludwig von Beethoven's music fromPittsburgh. Alpheus T. W. However, the President and the Houseapproved in 1918 a constitutional amendment authorizing womens' suffragewhich was ratified in 192 , and, as an incidental by-product of the war'sspirit of self-sacrifice and moral fervor, Prohibition was enacted in 1919.Some of the wartime prosperity trickled down in the form of higher wages.In return for a no-strike pledge from the American Federation of Labor,companies agreed to stop breaking union organizing attempts. The Great Departure The United States and World War I 1914- 192 . Congress passed several laws, theEspionage Act (1917), the Sabotage Act (1917), the Trading with the EnemyAct (1918) and the Sedition Act (1918) which were used not only to curbtruly subversive activities but also to suppress dissent and opposition tothe war. American publicopinion shifted from nearly unanimous support for American neutrality atthe outbreak of war in August 1914 to overwhelming approval of thedeclaration of war against Germany in April 1917. World War I at Home Readings on American Life, 1914- 192 . However, according toHeckscher, Wilson "never [until February-March 1917] lost hope of himselfplaying a role as mediator among the warring powers, for this it wasessential that some great nation remain generally apart."[xii] He wouldhave preferred to mediate a peace, but the rejection in late 1916-early1917 by the principal belligerents of his secret peace initiative, his'Peace Without Victory' formulation, left Wilson little room to maneuver. Free Government in the Making. However,Tansill in 1938 said that "there is not the slightest evidence that [indeciding to go to war] the President gave any heed to demands by 'bigbusiness' that America intervened to save investments that were threatenedby possible Allied defeat," but he acknowledged "American economicsolidarity with the Allies."[v] DeWeerd said that "war orders . Norton, 1978), 3 .Randolph Bourne, "Unfinished Fragment on the State, 1918," inFree Government in the Making, ed. He waited for sentiment to change so that forces and factors positioned themselves in such a way that a careful Chief Executive could reasonably make a move.[xi] Apart from a few fervent nationalists such as Theodore Rooseveltwhose influence was offset by pacifists, radical progressives and manypoliticians and others, especially in the South, parts of the Middle Westand the West, most Americans were pro-Allied in their sympathies and wereappalled by German monarchism, militarism and expansionism and by Germany'sviolation of Belgian neutrality and alleged Hun atrocities. Important also was the growingrealization by the President and his closest advisers that a German victorywas not in the overall strategic interests of the United States. According to Ferrell, total American trade with theAllies increased between 1914 and 1916 from $754 million to $2.7billion.[iii] As a result of the British blockade of Germany, Americantrade to Germany sharply declined. Ferrellsaid that the "war hastened London's decline as the world's financialcenter, its place taken by New York."[iv] In the 193 s, the Nye Committee and revisionist authors stressed theimportance of these economic factors as the primary cause of America'sentry into the war. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 197 .Tuchman, Barbara. Knopf, 1965.Heckscher, August. The Germans had also engaged in various acts ofsabotage and subversion in the United States and in Mexico. New York: Oxford University Press, 1949.Murphy, Paul L. After many twists and turns, the German High Command decidedin January 1917 to bring Great Britain to its knees by unleashing its U-boats. Other factors mentioned above played asecondary role. Rendezvous with Destiny. suchas the Food Administration, the Railroad Administration, the NationalDefense Council and the War Industries Board. AMERICAN ENTRY INTO WORLD WAR I AND ITS DOMESTIC EFFECTS This research paper deals with the reasons which led the UnitedStates to enter World War I on the side of the Western Allies in April,1917 and the domestic consequences of that decision. Louis and Houston in1917. World War I and the Origin of Civil Liberties in the United States. "Unfinished Fragment on the State, 1918." In Free Government in the Making, ed. The flood of more than one billiondollars' worth of Allied war orders filled American arms factories andshipyards, swelled American profits and created a wartime boom. Link, Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era 191 1917(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954), 148.Ferrell, 8.Heckscher, 359.DeWeerd, 15.Barbara Tuchman, The Zimmermann Telegram (New York: Macmillan,1966), 168 and 199.Daniel M. New York: Macmillan, 1966.-----------------------Eric F. Most subsequent historians have disagreed. The Zimmermann Telegram. Murphy said that "civil liberties emerged as a relativelysignificant issue in public policy for the first time in Americanhistory."[xxv] According to Rochester, most liberals "plunged in as crusaders andsaviors, transforming the war into a messianic mission." Some did not.Randolph Bourne said "War is the health of the State" [which] "sets inmotion throughout society irresistible forces for uniformity."[xxvi] Thewar disillusioned many, leading eventually to a call for a 'return tonormalcy.' Conclusion The entry of the United States into World War I was largely broughtabout by forces beyond its control, principal the technologicaldevelopments which enabled the U-boat to threaten American sea lanes andthe course of the war itself. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 197 .Bourne, Randolph. transformed the United States into a modern industrialsociety."[xvii] He says the "nation was woefully unready forcombat."[xviii] It had only a small, ill-equipped and ill-trained army.Ferrell says "in April 1917 the shipbuilding industry was in a decrepitstate caused by decades of neglect."[xix] The reconversion of the economyto war was accompanied by enormous difficulties, including a massiverailway tie-up. Mobilization of the War Economy Trask says that World War I was a key "link in a long transition . Norton, 1978.Schaffer, Ronald. Economic Effects The outbreak of war had disrupted international trade causing a briefrecession in 1915 which was quickly followed by a sustained wartime boom.Tariffs, formerly the principal source of revenues for the federalgovernment, dwindled. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.Smith, Daniel M. America in the Great War The Rise of the War Welfare State. Oversimplified Explanations Goldman points out that the Senate Special Committee Investigatingthe Munitions Industry (the Nye Committee) "of the mid-Thirties gave greatvogue to the argument that the United States was pushed into World War I bygreedy businessmen."[i] During the early months of the war, according toTansill, Great Britain and France faced "a glaring deficiency in explosiveartillery and in high explosive shells."[ii] As the fighting intensified,that dependence grew. According to Ferrell, the costs of the war to theUnited States were $35.5 billion, the equivalent of all federalexpenditures since 1787 and eighteen times the annual prewar federalbudget.[xvi] The war was financed one third by a more progressive incometax, which remained a permanent feature of the fiscal scene, and two thirdsby Liberty Bonds. . Trask (Ed.), World War I at Home Readings on AmericanLife, 1914-192 (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 197 ), 1.Trask, 7.Ferrell, 99.DeWeerd, 2 8 and 233.Trask, 8.Ronald Schaffer, America in the Great War The Rise of the WarWelfare State (New York: Oxford University Press), 1991, xii, 15and 217.Albert A. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.