Notes from 2/8/07

US Entry into WWI WWI was different than earlier, more limited wars. It was a "total" war--all of a country's resources were committed to the war effort. President Wilson asked Congress for a Draft Law that would permit the federal government to raise a multi-million man army (1917). the question of how to organize the economy for war was important Wilson tried a New Freedom approach & delegated mobilization to local defense councils throughout the country This plan failed. Wilson then moved to a New Nationalism approach and created several centralized federal agencies--The War Industries Board, The Nartional War Labor Board, The Aircraft Production Board, US Railroad Administration, The Emergency Fleet Corporation, The Fuel Administration, the Food Administration--each charged with supervising nationwide activity. These centralized federal agencies had varying success. the Food Admin. led by Herbert Hoover was a big success US Railroad Admin. did a good job of shifting the RR to government control and adjusting rail traffic to support the war the Aircraft Production Board and the Emergency Fleet Corporation did a poor job In addition to industry's compliance, the US needed organized labor's cooperation. A loabor shortage of long strike would hurt the war effort. a labor shortage was a real threat as the flow of immigrants dried up In 1918, unemployment dropped to 1.2% white workers felt free to quit a job knowing that they could find a better one strikes were used to press for higher wages and shorter hours Wilson was aware of the potential power of the workers Wilson became the 1st U.S. President to address a conveniton of the AFL added to National War Labor Board's prestige by appointing Taft as co-chair and board members such as Samuel Gompers The federal gov't used its full power when raising an army--Selective Service Act of 1917 few men resisted the draft African Americans joined at the same rate as their % of population Marines did not accept blacks blacks were normally assigned to all black units and barred from combat--this upset blacks New York 369th regiment was an exception. It was loaned to the French and fought on the French front lines with a string of successes. Taxes rose sharply to finance the war the richest in America paid a 67% income tax 1/3 of the government's financial needs were covered by taxes 2/3 were covered by liberty bonds The Committee on Public Information was formed to gain support for the war effort. They used a lot of propaganda. this propaganda had a dark side in arousing hostility towards Germans Congress passed the Immigration Restriction Act of 1917 over Wilson's veto. It denied poeple who failed a reading test and banned immigrants from India, Indochina, Afganistan, Arabia, the East Indies and other Asian countries. Anti Immigration feelings pushed the 18th Ammendment prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol. Espionage, Sabotage and Sedition Acts of 1917 and 1918 were repressive fell on IWW and Socialist Party Eugene V. Debs went to jail 10 years for delivering and anit-war speech