2. U.S.
Had large navy
World’s 16th largest army (125,000 men)
Would have to mobilize quickly to contribute
Selective Service
Declaration of War = eager young men volunteering for
military service
Not enough to expand army
Wilson wanted draft established
Selective Service Act passed
All young men between 21-30 to register for the military draft
3. Not subject to draft
30,000 volunteered
Most served in Army & Navy Nurse Corps
Others preformed clerical work
Women were divided on war topic
Some favored war, others opposed it
Jane Addams
Cofounded Women’s Peace Party in 1915
Jeannette Rankin of Montana
1st women elected to Congress
Voted against Wilson’s war resolution
Carrie Chapman Catt
Urged women to support war effort
Hoped it would gain women the right to vote
4. Reflected diversity within the U.S.
1 in 5 recruits had been born in foreign lands
Philippines, Mexico, Italy, etc.
Native Americans, who were not U.S. citizens, fought in WWI
5. 38,000 served
Opportunities restricted
Encouraged to support the
war effort by W.E.B. Du Bois
Faced discrimination in
military
Placed in all black units
10% sent to combat
Most unloaded ships, worked
in kitchens, or constructed
barracks
Some served w/ French units
Harlem hell Fighters received
France’s highest medal for
bravery, the cross of war
6. 1 in 4 draftees were illiterate
Some from poor rural areas not use to eating daily
meals, taking regular baths, or using indoor plumbing
Military taught men how to fight & read
Also learned about nutrition, personal hygiene, &
patriotism
7. Managing food supplies:
Herbert Hoover lead Food Administration
Job was to assure adequate food supplies to civilians & troops
Americans urged to conserve: “wheatless Mondays” “meatless
Tuesdays”
Producing for War
American industry demands increased
War Industries Board set up
Oversaw shift to war production
Had limited power at 1st
w/ new head WIB had power to tell industries what to
produce, how much to charge, & how to use scarce resources
8. Labor shortage w/ war
Millions of men joined military
Decline in immigration
Business owners turned to 2 sources
Women: took on roles denied to them before the war
African Americans: left rural South to work in factories
9. Calling for Patriotism
Committee on Public
Information
75,000 “Four-Minute
Men” recruited
Delivered brief patriotic
speeches
Artists
Produced pro-war
cartoons & posters
Liberty Bonds
Issued to help finance
war
10. Measures take to suppress critics
of the war
Espionage Act of 1917 & Sedition
Act of 1918
Newspapers closes & individuals
jailed for expressing antiwar views
War fever often collided with
personal freedoms
Private organizations started that
encouraged people to spy on their
neighbors
American Protective League
2000,000 members
Opened peoples mail, tapped
phones, & pried into medical
records
11. German Americans
Shunned, harassed, & assaulted across the country
Some tarred & feathered
Schools stopped teaching German language
Also affected language
Sauerkraut became “liberty cabbage”
German measles became “liberty measles”