U.S. Propaganda Posters

Causes of WWI

• Alliances (Triple Entente and Triple Alliance)

• Nationalism – a devotion to the interest of one’s nation

• Imperialism – a country’s drive to own as many colonies as one can

• Militarism – develop military forces and use them as a tool for diplomacy

Reasons why the U.S. joins…

• Zimmermann note

• American merchant ships are being sunk because of Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare

• Russia replaces its monarchy with a representative government

• Make sure Allies can repay their debts to the United States

Here comes America…

• 200,000 troops in service when we declare war on April 6, 1917

• Selective Service Act in May 1917 requires American men to register with the government so that it can randomly select men to serve = draft

• 2 million American service men will reach Europe after 8 months of training

The government steps in…

• War Industries Board- established in 1917 to encourage

companies to use mass production techniques and produce less waste

- led to a 20 percent increase in U.S. production

• Railroad Administration • Fuel Administration

- monitored coal supplies, rationed gas and heating oil

- daylight-saving time in March of 1918

At home…

• National War Labor Board

- established in 1918

- war raised hourly wages but didn’t help because of rising food and housing costs (stockholders made a lot of money)

- “Work or fight” (6,000 strikes during the war; union members up to 4 million)

- pushed for 8 hr. day, safety inspections, and a ban on child labor

Food Administration

• Herbert Hoover was put in charge

• “gospel of the clean plate”

• Urged people to cut back on sweets, bread, meats,etc.

• Set a high government price on wheat and other staples

Show me the money…

• U.S. government spent about 35.5 billion dollars on the war effort

• Raised 1/3 through taxes

-Progressive income tax (tax high incomes at a higher rate)

• Sold “Liberty Loan” and “Victory Loan” bonds (govt. borrows money from citizens)

The role of women

• Took jobs as railroad workers, cooks, dockworkers, bricklayers

• Mined coal and helped build ships

• Continued as nurses, teachers, and clerks

• Volunteered for the Red Cross and sold war bonds

• 19th amendment passed in 1920

Propaganda is key…

• Committee on Public Information (CPI)- biased communication designed to increase American support for the war

- George Creel put in charge (muckraker)

- recruited 75,000 men to speak on everything relating to the war/used Boy Scouts

Anti-German everything

• Discrimination against German immigrants– Pulled German books off shelves– Refused to play Mozart, Bach, etc.– Flagged, tar & feathered, and lynched

German-Americans– Changed German town names

• German Measles Liberty Measles• Hamburger Salisbury Steak/Liberty

Sandwich

So much for the 1st amendment!

• Espionage & Sedition Acts– Fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20

years in jail for interfering with war effort / badmouthing the government

– Magazines/newspapers which were against he war lost mailing privileges

– Targeted socialist & labor leaders

Events at home

• Great Migration– Jobs for African Americans in steel mills,

ammunition plants & stockyards

• Flu Epidemic– Affected up to ¼ of total US population– Fall of 1918– Killed 500,000 Americans before ending in

1919

The cost of war

• 22 million people dead (about half were civilians)

• 48,000 Americans died in battle

• 62,000 Americans died from disease

• Europe is a mess

• Hitler will never forget how Germany was humiliated in the Treaty of Versailles

Works Cited

Duffy, Michael. First World War. COM. 2000. 29 March 2008http://www.firstworldwar.com/posters/usa2.htm .