Brinkley Unfinished Nation 8 ed Chapter 21

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21: America and the Great War
Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation, 8th Edition

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The “Big Stick”: America and the
World, 1901–1917
• Roosevelt and “Civilization”
– Justifying intervention
– “Speak softly, and carry a big stick”

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“The New Diplomacy”
This 1904 drawing by the famous Puck cartoonist Louis Dalrymple conveys the new image of
America as a great power that Theodore Roosevelt hoped to convey. Roosevelt polices the
world by dealing with “less civilized” people on the left using the “big stick” and with “civilized”
nations on the right by using diplomacy.
© Granger, NYC—All Rights Reserved.

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The “Big Stick”: America and the
World, 1901–1917 (Continued)
• Protecting the “Open Door” in Asia
– “Great White Fleet”
• The Iron-Fisted Neighbor
– “Roosevelt Corollary”

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The “Big Stick”: America and the
World, 1901–1917 (Continued, 2)
• The Panama Canal
– Panamanian revolt
– Roosevelt recognizes Panama
• Taft and “Dollar Diplomacy”
– Nicaragua occupied

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The United States and Latin America, 1895–1941
Except for Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Canal Zone, the United States had no formal
possessions in Latin America and the Caribbean in this period; but the United States exercised
considerable influence—both political and economic, augmented at times by military
intervention—in these regions.

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The “Big Stick”: America and the
World, 1901–1917 (Continued, 3)
• Diplomacy and Morality
– Interventions in the Caribbean
– Regime changes in Mexico
– Veracruz incident
– Pancho Villa
– Pershing expedition

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The Road to War
• The Collapse of the European Peace
– Complex alliances drag Europe to war
– Allies and Central Powers

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The Road to War (Continued)
• Wilson’s Neutrality
– Continued trade with Britain
– Sinking of Lusitania
• Preparedness versus Pacifism
– Pacifists and
interventionists

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The Election of 1916
Woodrow Wilson had good reason to be concerned about his reelection prospects in 1916. He had won
only about 42 percent of the vote in 1912, and the Republican Party—which had been divided four years
earlier—was now reunited around the popular Charles Evans Hughes. In the end, Wilson won a narrow
victory over Hughes with just under 50 percent of the vote and an even narrower margin in the electoral
college. Note the striking regional character of his victory.

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The Road to War (Continued, 2)
• Intervention
– Zimmerman telegram
– Wilson’s war message

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“Over There”
• Mobilizing the Military
– Bolshevik Revolution
– Selective Service Act
– The doughboy
– Basic training
• The Yanks Are Coming
– The Meuse-Argonne offensive
– Armistice

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America In World War I: The Western Front, 1918
These maps show the principal battles in which the United States participated in the last year
of World War I. The map on the upper right helps locate the area of conflict. The larger map at
left shows the long, snaking red line of the western front in France.

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“Over There” (Continued)
• The New Technology of Warfare
– Trench warfare
– Tanks, flamethrowers, and poison gas
– Appalling casualties

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“Over There” (Continued, 2)
• Organizing the Economy for War
– “Liberty Bonds”
– Levies and taxes
– War Industries Board
– National War Labor Board

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“Over There” (Continued, 3)
• The Search for Social Unity
– Wartime propaganda
– Committee on Public Information
– Espionage and Sedition Acts
– Suppressing dissent
– Anti-German sentiment

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The Search for a New World Order
• The Fourteen Points
– Wilson’s international vision
– Allied resistance
• The Paris Peace Conference
– Negotiating the peace
– The League of Nations

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The Search for a New World Order
(Continued)
• The Ratification Battle
– Henry Cabot Lodge
– Wilson’s failed public appeal
– League membership rejected

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A Society in Turmoil
• The Unstable Economy
– Postwar recession
– Inflation wipes out modest wage gains
– Labor unrest

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A Society in Turmoil (Continued)
• The Demands of African Americans
– Great Migration
– Chicago race riot
– Marcus Garvey and black nationalism

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African American Migration, 1910–1950
Two great waves of migration produced a dramatic redistribution of the
African American population in the first half of the twentieth century—one
around the time of World War I, the other during and after World War II.

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A Society in Turmoil (Continued, 2)
• The Red Scare
– Popular fear of radicalism
– Palmer raids
– Sacco and Vanzetti

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A Society in Turmoil (Continued, 3)
• Refuting the Red Scare
– Powerful backlash
– ACLU formed
• The Retreat from Idealism
– The Nineteenth Amendment
– Disillusionment and reaction
– Warren G. Harding’s vague promise of “normalcy”

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Consider the Source
• Race, Gender, and World War I Posters

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Consider the Source (Continued)
The Library of Congress

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Patterns of Popular Culture
• George M. Cohan, “Over There,” 1917

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The Unfinished Nation, 8th Edition
Next: Chapter 22
The New Era