IX. Forging a War Economy

• Herbert Hoover chosen to head the Food Administration

• Voluntary compliance urged• Farm production increased

by 25%• Food exports tripled

2

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.

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• 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.

4

The Food Administration

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.”

Herbert Hoover

Paying for the War

• 2/3 of war costs paid for by selling Liberty Bonds (21 billion)

6

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

X. Making Plowboys into Doughboys

• Allies begged us to send troops, not just money and materials

• Wilson reluctantly agreed to a draft

• African Americans segregated

Officer’s school

8

Images of “The Harlem Hell Fighters” (USCT 369th Infantry) continued

Notice they are wearing French helmets with their American uniforms.

9

The Choctaw CodetalkersAs 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.

10

The Choctaw Codetalkers continuedWithin 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

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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

13

Map of WWI in Europe and the Middle East with an Inset for the Western Front

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15

John J. “Black Jack” Pershing BiographyJohn 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!

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1918June 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.

17

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.}

Map 30-1 p688

19

Would you want anything to do with this in battle?

American motorcycle troops with a mounted machine gun

20

Would you want this job?

American machine gun squad gets ready to do battle

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• 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.

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

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Figure 30-1 p690

25

Casualties and Lossesof World War IAllied Powers

Military dead:5,525,000Military wounded:12,831,500Military missing:4,121,000Total:22,477,500 KIA, WIA or MIA

Central PowersMilitary dead:

4,386,000Military wounded:

8,388,000Military missing:

3,629,000Total:

16,403,000 KIA, WIAor MIA

"War cannot be won. No one can win a war.”

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Casualties of the WWI by

Nation

27

Influenza Pandemic of 1918In 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.

• 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

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XV. An Idealist Amid the Imperialists• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQXBGL

rtqx8 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

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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.

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Political Cartoons about the Failure of the US Senate to Ratify the Treaty of Versailles

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• 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.

XIX. Wilson’s Tour and Collapse (1919)

• It got stalled in the Senate; so he took it to the people………

39

Map of Wilson’s Train Tour Promoting the Ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations

40

Disaster strikes1919

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.

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

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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.