Chapter 31 – The War to End War

1. War by Act of Germany

a. Wilson asked Congress for the authority to arm merchant ships. When Midwestern senators attempted to filibuster,
Wilson insulted them, reminded him of the power isolationism still held.
b. The Zimmermann note was intercepted and published in March, 1917, infuriating Americans. German foreign
secretary proposed a German-Mexican alliance, promising Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
c. Germany sunk four unarmed American merchant vessels in March. The tsars of Russia were overthrown as well,
and the US could fight for democracy without the Russian despotism.
d. In April, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war. The line was between thieves of Britain and murderers of
Germany. Wilson had drawn a line against the submarine attacks, and Germany had crossed it.
2. Wilsonian Idealism Enthroned
a. The question arose about how Wilson would persuade reluctant Americans to should this burden they didn’t want.
They had been isolated for years, yet Germany had pushed them into war.
b. To galvanize the country, Wilson promoted the twin goals of “a war to end war” and a crusade to make the world
safe for democracy. He contrasted other combatant’s goals with America’s lofty goals of establishing an
international order where democracy could flourish without autocrats and militarists.
c. Wilson truly believed what he preached and no other argument could convert the American people to war. They
responded with fervor unprecedented.
3. Wilson’s Fourteen Potent Points
a. On January 1918, Wilson delivered his famed Fourteen Points Address in order to keep the Allies, esp. Russia, in
the war and held out alluring prospects to the enemy’s minorities.
i. A proposal to abolish secret treaties that pleased liberals of all countries.
ii. Freedom of the seas appealed to the Germans and Americans, who distrusted Britain’s sea power.
iii. A removal of economic barriers appealed to Germany who feared reprisals after the war.
iv. Reduction of armament burdens appealed to taxpayers everywhere.
v. An adjustment of colonial claims in the interests of the natives and the colonizers.
vi. The other 14 points held out the hope of independence to oppressed minority groups.
vii. The 14th point foreshadowed the League of Nations that Wilson dreamed would provide collective security
b. Wilson’s points made some Allied nations with their eye on colonies annoyed and Republicans at home mocked
“God Almighty” Wilson’s “fourteen commandments.”
4. Creel Manipulates Minds
a. Mobilizing minds for war was Washington’s top concern. The Committee on Public Information was headed by
George Creel and meant to sell America on the war and sell the world on Wilsonian war aims.
b. They sent out “four-minute men” who delivered patriotic speeches about the war.
c. Posters, leaflets, and pamphlets were used to promote Wilson’s aims and the war.
d. Hang-the-kaiser movies abounded, showing the “hun” at his bloodiest. Conductors led audiences in songs that
scorned the enemies and extolled the troops.
e. Creel typified the American war mobilization, but he oversold Wilson and led the nation to ultimate disappointment.
5. Enforcing Loyalty and Stifling Dissent
a. German-Americans numbered over 8 million in America and were dependably loyal to America. However, rumors
began of Germany sabotage and German-Americans took the blame.
b. Anti-Germanic hysteria swept the nation and everything Germanic was removed or renamed from America.
c. The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 reflected fears of Germans and antiwar Americans. Esp.
visible were antiwar Socialists and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned
and IWW leader William D. Haywood and his associates were convicted. When people complained that this was
breaking the first amendment, the Supreme Court ruled in Schenck v. United States that freedom of speech could be
revoked if it posed “clear and present danger” to the nation.
d. With peace, presidential pardons were granted galore, but some remained behind bars.
6. The Nation’s Factories Go to War
a. America was caught unawares. Wilson belatedly backed mild preparedness including the Council of National
Defense to study problems of economic mobilization. He also launched a ship-building program and endorsed a
modest beefing-up of the army.
b. One obstacle was ignorance – no one knew how much steel and powder the country was capable of producing.
Traditional fears of big government arose from states’ rights Democrats and business people, even when the nation
couldn’t afford the freedom of peacetime economy.
c. Late in the war, Wilson managed some control over the economy with the War Industries Board in March 1918,
headed by Bernard Baruch. However, the board had little formal powers and was disbanded days after the armistice.
7. Workers in Wartime
a. American labor was spurred by the “work or fight” rule of 1918, which threatened that any unemployed male would
be immediately drafted. The National War Labor Board, chaired by former president Taft, tried to head off labor
 disputes before they could hamper the war effort. It pressed employers to grant concessions, such as the 8 hour day
and high wages, they stopped short of approving labor’s right to organize in unions.
b. Samuel Gompers and the AF of L supported the war, though smaller organizations didn’t. The Industrial Workers of
the World, derided as “Wobblies” engineered some disastrous industrial sabotage because of their horrible working
conditions. When they protested, they were beaten or run out of town.
c. The loyalty to the nation paid off. Membership rose greatly over pre-war years and in the heavily unionized sectors,
wages had risen to astronomical levels.
d. They still had grievances. The government still didn’t recognize their right to organize and the wartime inflation
threatened to eclipse wage gains. Patriotism and Wilsonian idealism couldn’t defuse all labor disputes. In 1919,
more than a million steel workers walked off their jobs in the hope that their employers would recognize their right
to bargain collectively. The steel companies refused to negotiate and employed 30 thousand African American
strikebreakers. Confrontation left laborers dead and the failed strike crippled the labor movement for a decade.
e. The beginning of a black migration northward was supported by employment from wartime industries. Their
appearance in all white neighborhoods caused interracial violence.
8. Suffering Until Suffrage
a. Female workers flooded factories, taking jobs left by the soldiers. The war split the women’s movement. Many
progressive-era feminists were pacifists, opposing both America in the war and women in the war. The National
Women’s party led by Alice Paul demonstrated against “Kaiser Wilson” with marches and hunger strikes.
b. Most of the suffrage movement was led by the National American Woman Suffrage Association that supported the
war. They argued that women must participate in the war to participate in the peace. A fight for democracy abroad
was their best chance for democracy at home.
c. Wilson, impressed by women’s work, declared that women’s suffrage was necessary. In 1920, the 19th amendment
guaranteeing women’s suffrage was ratified.
d. A permanent Women’s Bureau did emerge after the war in the Department of Labor, but women mostly quit their
jobs after the war. The Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act of 1921 provided federally financed instruction in maternal
and infant health care.
e. In the post-war years, women crusaded to protect women in the workplace and prohibit child labor, though true
successes eluded them.
9. Forging a War Economy
a. America had to feed itself and its allies. The head of the Food Administration was Herbert C. Hoover, who had
gained fame for his successful charity drive to feed the starving people Belgium.
b. Hoover eschewed ration cards, as used in Europe and instead focused on propaganda to induced people to eat less
and save more for export.
c. Vegetable “victory gardens” were developed by countless patriots. The government restricted the use of food to
manufacture alcohol and the self-denial was a boon to the prohibition movement. Many of the brewers were of
German descent, which made the movement all the more popular. In 1919, the 18th amendment prohibited all
alcoholic drinks.
d. Hoover’s approach worked and farm production increased by ¼ while food exports tripled. Other agencies imitated
Hoover. The Fuel Administration exhorted Americans to save fuel and the Treasury Department sponsored parades
and four great Liberty Loan drives followed by the Victory Loan campaign in 1919. Together, these efforts paid for
2/3rds of the current war debt. The rest was paid by obligatory increased taxes.
e. People were pressured into buying bonds various ways. German-Americans who couldn’t produce a Liberty Bond
button were assaulted. The reluctant investors were roughly handled.
f. Despite Wilson’s preference for voluntary means, the government did exercise some power. It took over the railroad
in the traffic snarls of 1917. Washington also seized enemy merchant ships and funded a drive to produce more ship
10. Making Plowboys into Doughboys
a. In April and May of 1917, the Allies confessed that they were reaching the end of their funds and manpower.
Wilson disliked the draft, as did those with memories of the Civil War, but conscription was the only way to raise
enough men to support the western front. Congress criticized the bill but eventually approved it.
b. The draft required the registration of all men from 18 to 45. No one could purchase exemption or hire a substitute as
with the Civil War, but it exempted men in key industries, such as shipbuilding.
c. Registration day proved to be a patriotic pilgrimage rather than bloodbath. However, some “slackers” escaped the
draft as well as conscientious objectors. Women and blacks were admitted to the army. However, blacks weren’t
allowed to be trained and they served in segregated units led by whites.
d. The urgency of the war required that the soldiers be shuffled off quickly.
11. Fighting in France – Belatedly
a. Russia’s collapse was the need for haste. The communist Bolsheviks, after seizing power, withdrew their country
from war in 1918. The battle-tested Germans moved to the western front facing France, where they had the
advantage of manpower.
 b. Germany had counted on knocking out Britain six months after the unlimited marine warfare, long before America
could get involved. It took America a year to get a real fighting force to France. Germany also counted on America
being hampered by transport problems for their troops if they were able to raise an army.
c. France began to bustle with American doughboys. They made friends with the French troops and girls. They were
generally used as replacements for the Allied armies and were deployed to quiet sectors with British and French.
d. The Bolsheviks resented the “capitalistic” interventions, which they saw as trying to suffocate their communistic
beginnings.
12. America Helps Hammer the “Hun”
a. The German drive on the western front began in spring 1918, attacking Paris and threatening France. The Allies
were so terrified that they united under one commander for the first time, French marshal Foch. This was the first
time America troops participated in a European war. The US giant had replaced the Russian giant.
b. By July 1918, the Germans had been pushed back and the Americans participated in the Second Battle of the Marne,
marking the beginning of the German withdrawal. In Sept. 1918, 9 American divisions joined 4 French divisions to
get the Germans out of St. Mihiel salient.
c. Americans pushed for their own army led by General John J. (“Black Jack”) Pershing and were assigned a front
from the Swiss border to meet the French lines.
d. Pershing’s army took the Meuse-Argonne offensive that aimed to cut off the German railroad lines feeding the
western front. Losses were about 10% of Americans involved. Last mighty Allied assault – largest battle in US
history. Alvin C. York became a hero in this battle.
e. Americans were fast running out of food supplies, but the Germans were tired of their allies deserting them, the food
shortages due to the British blockade, and the sledgehammer blows of the Allied armies.
13. The Fourteen Points Disarm Germany
a. Germany was ready to give, and turned to the “soft” Wilson and his fourteen points in Oct. 1918. Wilson made it
clear that the war wouldn’t end until the kaiser was out of power. They ran him out of the country.
b. The war ended in November 1918 and America burst into celebration.
c. The US’s contributions were foodstuffs, munitions, credit, oil, and manpower, though not for military victory.
Merely the idea that America was sending troops was fearful.
d. The American troops mostly depended on the Allies – bought their supplies, etc. rather than shipping from US
14. Wilson Steps Down from Olympus
a. Expectations for Wilson ran high – he was the moral, economic, and victorious leader of the world.
b. “Politics Is Adjourned” kept partisanism low. However, Wilson broke this by appealing for a Democratic victory in
the Congressional elections of 1918 in hopes of improving his bargaining. The people returned a narrow Republican
victory and Wilson’s bargaining in Paris was diminished.
c. Wilson’s decision to go to Paris offended people – no president had gone to Europe. He offended Republicans by
not including a single Republican senator in his party. The logical choice for the new chairman of the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations was Henry Cabot Lodge, but Lodge and Wilson were enemies.
15. An Idealist Battles the Imperialists in Paris
a. Wilson was enthusiastically welcomed by the masses of European countries, but the leaders kept Wilson at arm’s
length because they were afraid that he would incite a revolution among their people.
b. The Paris Conference fell into the hands of the Big Four: Wilson, Premier Vittorio Orlando of Italy, David Lloyd
George of Britain, and Premier Georges Clemenceau of France.
c. Europe was in trouble – communism was spreading from Russia westward.
d. Wilson developed a plan where the victors wouldn’t take possession of territory outright, but be awarded it as
trustees of the League of Nations.
e. Wilson managed to create the League Covenant in 1919 that provided for an assembly with seats for all nations and
a council to be controlled by the great powers.
16. Hammering Out the Treaty
a. Back in America, Republican senators opposed the League because it was a “sewing circle” or a “super-state.”
Militant isolationists called the “irreconcilables” or “the Battalion of Death” led by William Borah and Hiram
Johnson made up the core of this movement.
b. The Republican majority declared that they wouldn’t approve the League in its current form. The Allied bargainers
were delighted because then Wilson would have to beg them for changes to protect American interests.
c. Back in Paris, Clemenceau pushed for France’s demand of Rhineland and Saar Valley. This violation of self-
determination couldn’t stand and France compromised that Saar Valley would remain under the League of Nations
for 15 years and then a popular vote would determine its fate. In exchange, France got the Security Treaty from
Britain and the US which stated that they would come to France’s aid if they were invaded by Germany.
d. Italy demanded the valuable Fiume seaport inhabited by Italians and Yugoslavs. Wilson objected and tried to appeal
to the Italian masses. Both the delegates and the masses now disliked Wilson.
e. Japan demanded China’s Shandong (Shantung) Peninsula and German islands in the Pacific. Japan conceded the
islands to the League of Nations, but Wilson opposed the Shandong Peninsula because it was a violation of self-
 determination. When Japan threatened to walk out, Wilson reluctantly agreed, and Japan swore they would return
the peninsula to China at a later date.
17. The Peace Treaty That Bred a New War
a. The Treaty of Versailles was given to the Germans forcefully in June 1919. The Germans expected peace to come
like the Fourteen points, but they were hardly honored. Adolf Hitler later used this in his rise to power.
b. The Allied powers were tied by conflicting aims and secret treaties. There had to be compromise at Paris, or there
would be none. Wilson had to give up his less cherished points in order to save the League of Nations.
c. Wilson was now a fallen idol to disillusioned liberals and frustrated imperialists. Wilson wasn’t happy with the
treaty as well, but he hoped the League of Nations would iron out inequities.
d. The treaty liberated millions of minority from an alien dynasty, like the Poles.
18. The Domestic Parade of Prejudice
a. Isolationists protested the League of Nations and said that they wanted no part in “entangling alliances.”
b. Hun-haters thought the treaty no harsh enough. Liberals like the New York Nation, thought it too harsh and a
betrayal. Other mixed-blood Americans didn’t think the treaty was favorable enough to their homelands.
c. Irish-Americans thought the additional votes of the 5 overseas British dominions would be used to keep the Irish in
servitude.
19. Wilson’s Tour and Collapse (1919)
a. When Wilson returned from Paris, the League of Nations was at the fore and the American people were favorable to
it. Senator Lodge had no real hope of defeating it, only amending in order to claim it was better.
b. Lodge delayed to divide public opinion. He read the entire treaty aloud and got people from other countries to
register their opinions in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
c. Wilson fretted that the people would become confused and apathetic. He decided to appeal to the people and went o
a speechmaking tour.
d. The campaign was protested against for health reason – Wilson was frail.
e. In Sept. 1919, the tour began in the Midwest, where the German-American influence was strong and response was
lukewarm. Borah and Johnson followed after him and were received well.
f. On the Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific Coast, who had elected Wilson, received him well. But in Pueblo
Colorado, Wilson collapsed and was sent back to Washington where a stroke paralyzed him and he didn’t meet with
his cabinet for more than seven months.
20. Defeat Through Deadlock
a. Lodge couldn’t amend the treaty outright, so he developed 14 formal reservations. He was especially alarmed by
Article X which morally bound the US to interfere if a member was victimized. Congress wanted to reserve the right
to declare war.
b. Wilson was angry at Lodge and couldn’t accept his reservations. When the day came to vote on the treaty with the
reservations, he instructed all the Democrats to vote against it. The “irreconcilables” and the Democrats made the
majority and rejected the treaty.
c. The public was so indignant that Congress was forced to vote on it a second time. Though it would be the death
knell for the treaty, Wilson again instructed all Democrats to vote it down. The treaty now netted a majority, but not
the necessary 2/3rds.
d. Wilson himself killed his brainchild.
21. The “Solemn Referendum” of 1920
a. He was appealing to the people for a “solemn referendum” in the next presidential election, folly at best.
b. The Republicans (bull moose and Old Guard) gathered in Chicago and created a platform that could appeal to both
anti-League and pro-League.
c. The Chicago bosses decided on Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio, a “folksy” type and the antithesis of Wilson.
They decided on Governor Calvin (“Silent Cal”) Coolidge who attracted conservatives with breaking a police strike.
d. Democrats nominated Governor James M. Cox of Ohio who strongly supported the League. His running mate was
Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York.
e. The Democrats attempted to make the election about the League, but Harding waffled and said that he promoted a
league by not the League.
f. With women’s votes, Harding won over Cox with 7 million votes. Eugene Debs won the largest vote for Socialism.
g. The public hated the “high-and-mighty” now and accepted a second rate president.
22. The Betrayal of Great Expectations
a. The power of the League of Nations was undercut when the US refused to join. The Allies were to blame for WWI,
but they blamed the US.
b. The Treaty of Versailles was a complicated pact meant to be supported by the Big Four. Without the US, it teetered
and failed with Adolf Hitler.
c. When the Senate spurned the Security Treaty, France feared that Germany would eventually attack. They built up
their army, and in turn, Germans armed themselves illegally, leading to the fanatical following of Hitler.
d. The US should have taken the mantle of global leader rather than burying its head in the sand.