The U.S. government took several steps to finance World War 1 and manage the economy on the home front. It issued Liberty Bonds that were sold to the public through campaigns involving Boy and Girl Scouts. It also established agencies like the War Industries Board to direct raw materials and production. To enforce loyalty, the government censored press and banned some publications, promoted patriotism, and cracked down on radicals. The war also changed lives as African Americans migrated North for work and more women entered the workforce to replace men serving overseas.

1. WWI Chapter 12.4
Americans on the Home Front

2. • Notes (#32)==Answer the 3 Qs on the top of p. 432
• What steps did the government take to finance the war &
manage the economy?
• How did the government enforce loyalty to the war
effort?
• How did the war change the lives of Americans on the
home front?
• *Lists or bullet points are fine*

3. President Wilson
• “There are no
armies…; there are
entire nations
armed.”

4. Financing the War
• Liberty Bonds
• Redeemed for original value + interest
• Boy and Girl Scouts sold them to public
• “Every Scout to Save a Soldier”
• 75,000 “Four-Minute Men”
• Artists and actors also helped sell bonds
• Paid for ¼ of U.S. war costs; $20 billion+
• “Buy Bonds Till It Hurts”
• “The Soldier Gives—You Must Lend”

7. Managing the Economy
• Industry switched from commercial to war goods
• “Dollar-a-year” men
• Business men moved to Washington, DC to head up new gov’t
agencies
• War Industries Board – Bernard Baruch
• Handed out raw materials, told what and how much to
produce, and how much to sell them for (fixed prices)

8. Managing the Economy
• National War Labor Board, led by Taft (former President)
• Unions gain some rights
• Un-patriotic to protest/strike/miss work
• Samuel Gompers promised to limit strikes/labor unrest

9. Managing the War
• Lever Food and Fuel Control Act – August, 1917
• President manages production and distribution of food and
fuels necessary for war effort
• Increased farm output, price controls on food, and rationing
– Herbert Hoover (future President)
• “Food will win the war”
• “Gospel of the Clean Plate,” see quote on p. 434
• Daylight Savings Time – more sunlight during the day for
work and less fuel used
• Increased production during summer/fall
• Still have this today, should we?

10. • Herbert Hoover
• Head of the Food
Administration during
WWI
• President from 1929 to
1933

14. Enforcing Loyalty
• Government censorship on press and banning of
publications from mail
• Committee on Public Information
• George Creel (former muckraker)
• Rally support for war
• Films, pamphlets, posters

16. Enforcing Loyalty
• Fear of spies/espionage
• Might undermine the war efforts
• National Security League preached “100% Americanism”
• Non-profit, non-partisan group
• Nativists
• Fear of Foreigners
• Literacy tests for immigrants
• German hate
• “Salisbury steak” & “police dogs”
• Espionage and Sedition Acts (1917 & 1918)
• Broke 1st amendment rights
• Over 1000 convictions, including Eugene Debs

17. Enforcing Loyalty
• Gov’t esp. cracked down on “radicals”
• Socialists, communists, anarchists
• The IWW or “Wobblies”
• Early stages of the “Red Scare”
• * more on this later*

19. Changing People’s Lives
• After the War
• Stalled flow of immigrants from Europe
• Business needed workers – African Americans & Mexican
Americans & Women
• 400K women in industrial work during WWI
• African American “Great Migration” to North during war
• 500K moved from South (mostly rural) to North (mostly urban)

20. • Notes (#23)==Answer the 3 Qs on the top of p. 432
• What steps did the government take to finance the war &
manage the economy?
• How did the government enforce loyalty to the war
effort?
• How did the war change the lives of Americans on the
home front?
• *Lists or bullet points are fine*