WWI Chapter 12.4Americans on the Home Front

• 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*

President Wilson

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

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”

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)

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

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?

• Herbert Hoover• Head of the Food

Administration during WWI

• President from 1929 to 1933

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

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

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*

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)

• 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*