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Waging War in America

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Waging War in America. WWI at Home Mrs. Huston. Quote from President Wilson. “It is not an army that we must shape and train for war, it is a nation.”. Wartime Agencies. War Industries Board Reorganized industry to maximize wartime production Railroad Administration - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Waging War in America WWI at Home Mrs. Huston
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Page 1: Waging War in America

Waging War in America

WWI at Home

Mrs. Huston

Page 2: Waging War in America

Quote from President Wilson

“It is not an army that we must shape and train for war, it is a nation.”

Page 3: Waging War in America

Wartime Agencies• War Industries Board

– Reorganized industry to maximize wartime production

• Railroad Administration– Modernized and operated the nation’s

railroads

• Food Administration– Increased agricultural production,

supervised food distribution and farm labor

Page 4: Waging War in America

More Agencies …• National War Labor Board

– Resolved labor-management disputes– Improved labor conditions– Recognized union rights as a means to

promote production and efficiency

• Committee on Public Information– Managed propaganda to build public

support for the war effort

Page 5: Waging War in America

War Industries Board

• Most important agency

• Set industrial priorities

• Coordinated military purchasing

• Supervised business

• Led by Bernard Baruch

Page 6: Waging War in America

Growth of Power• The WIB had unprecedented power

– Set prices– Allocated scarce materials– Standardized products & procedures

• Examples: number of color of typewriter ribbon available dropped from 150 to 5

• Aimed at business-government integration

Page 7: Waging War in America

The Labor Movement

• In exchange for labor’s cooperation, the National War Labor Board guaranteed rights of unions to organize and bargain collectively

• Membership in unions sharply increased

Page 8: Waging War in America

Accomplishments

• Under the NWLB–Improved working conditions

–Higher wages (connected to inflation)

–Shorter hours 8 hour days (48 hour week)

Page 9: Waging War in America

Women & Minorities

• Women urged to join the workforce

“For every fighter, a woman worker.”

• Took jobs formerly closed to them– Built airplanes

– Produced guns and ammunition

– Manufactured tents, etc.

Page 10: Waging War in America

Women, cont.

• 100,000 women worked in munitions plants

• 40,000 in steel industry

• Caused openings in domestic, clerical, & industrial employment for black women as well

Page 11: Waging War in America

Black Women

• Racial & gender segregation continued

• Wartime improvements were temporary

• Government efforts half-hearted

Page 12: Waging War in America

Reforms gained

• Although workplace reforms were short-lived for women, the war did help them achieve women’s suffrage and prohibition

Page 13: Waging War in America

Changes for African Americans

• Demand for industrial labor caused huge migration from rural South to Northern cities

• Still encountered racial discrimination and violence

• Some riots by whites in E. St. Louis

Page 14: Waging War in America

Financing the War

• Two main sources of funding–Borrowed money

–Raised taxes

Page 15: Waging War in America

Income Taxes

• Begun in 1917 & 1918–Graduated: increased on

• Larger incomes

• Corporate profits

• Wealthy estates

Page 16: Waging War in America

Borrowing

• 2/3 of the money raised this way

• Most from banks & wealthy investors

• Government also sold Liberty Bonds to public– Raised by celebrities– Billed as patriotic duty

Page 17: Waging War in America

Emotional Support

• Loyalty

• Fear

• Patriotism

• Obedience

Page 18: Waging War in America

Conquering Minds

• Established propaganda agencies

• Enacted legislation

• Goals– Social control

– Behavior regulation

– Nativism

Page 19: Waging War in America

Committee on Public Information

• Purpose was manipulation, not information

• Used various media

Press releasesAdvertisementsCartoonsCanned editorials

Posters

Pamphlets

Poems

Page 20: Waging War in America

“Live Action”

• CPI made newsreels & war movies

• Speakers

Page 21: Waging War in America

Propaganda Themes

• National Unity

• The loathsome character of the enemy

• The war as a grand crusade for liberty and democracy

Page 22: Waging War in America

• Promoted fear, hatred & prejudice

• Germans portrayed as brutal, even subhuman, rapists, murderers

• Any dissent was unpatriotic, possibly treasonous

• Disagreement was dangerous to national survival

Page 23: Waging War in America

Suppressing Disloyalty/Dissent

• Tarnished the nation’s professed idealistic goals

• Established unfortunate precedents for the future

Page 24: Waging War in America

Espionage Act

• Heavy fines

• Up to 20 years in prison

• For “obstructing the war effort”

• Used to crush dissent and criticism

Page 25: Waging War in America

Sedition Act of 1918

• Severe penalties for speaking or writing against– The draft

– Bond sales

– War production

– Government personnel or policies

Page 26: Waging War in America

Congress rejected a proposed amendment stipulating that “nothing in this act shall be construed as limiting the liberty or impairing the right of any individual to publish or speak what is true, with good motives, and for justifiable ends.”

Page 27: Waging War in America

Other Measures

• Postmaster banned anti-war newspapers & magazines from the mail

• Imprisonment of “radicals”

• Government use of private vigilantes

Page 28: Waging War in America

Business Abuses• Promoted their own interests

• Hurt farmers, workers and reformers

• Targeted labor organizations– Particularly the Industrial Workers of the

World– Accused of sabotage, etc.

• Government assisted

• Ugly mood persisted after the war

Page 29: Waging War in America

Life in America would never be the same …

Page 30: Waging War in America

NEXT, THE “ROARING TWENTIES”


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