At the beginning of the First World War, the president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, tried to follow the policy of avoiding getting involved in some dangerous conflicts in Europe. He hoped that the United States would not play the role of mediator to help bring peace to Europe. So the United States was not going to enter this war and maintained neutrality.
Only something extraordinary could cause the United States to interfere in this bloody war. And soon he was right. The passenger steamer “Lusitania” was torpedoed by the German submarine on May 7, 1915. This tragic event claimed the lives of 1,198 people, including 128 American citizens.
Americans were outraged, and President Wilson lodged a strong protest with the German government. Although the Lusitania was in fact transporting arms and explosives to England, Germany apologized, offered to pay damages, and promised not to sink passenger ships in the future.
After the sinking of the Lusitania, Wilson realized that the United States could not remain neutral much longer. At his urging, in 1916 Congress passed a series of measures designed to prepare the United States to defend itself against the Central Powers.
The National Defense Act doubled the size of the army, and the Naval Appropriations Bill provided money to build warships. The National Defense Council was formed to direct and control the supply of the nation’s industries and natural resources.
To muster a large army on short notice, Congress passed the Selective Service Act on May 18, 1917. The “bill” required men ages 21 to 30 (later 18 to 45) to register for the military. At the end of the war, 4 million men were in the army, half of whom served abroad.
From the very beginning of US military action in Europe, it was clear that it was going to be costly. To help finance this unexpected expense, in October 1917 Congress passed the War Revenue Act, increasing income taxes.
The government also raised money by selling Liberty Bonds. Politicians and movie stars made speeches urging people to buy bonds. Some 21 million Americans bought bonds, in effect lending money to the government. Through these measures, and by raising taxes on corporations and on goods like alcohol and tobacco, the government raised $10.8 billion.
The war also placed extraordinary demands on American industry. Almost overnight, factories began churning out large quantities of tanks, planes, weapons, and other war materials. The dramatic increase in production would not have been possible without the dedication of the factory workers. Samuel Gompers and other labor leaders pledged their support, and union members did the rest. During the war, union membership increased from 2.74 million in 1916 to 4.05 million in 1919.
More than 1 million women entered the workforce, often taking the jobs of men who had enlisted in the military. They drove trucks, delivered mail, and made ammunition.
The war also brought many more African Americans into the workforce. Northern industries sent agents south looking for workers. By 1917, responding to promises of good wages and fair treatment, as many as half a million black workers had moved north to work in factories.
Although most Americans threw themselves into the war effort, some held back. Some people strongly believed that the nation should stay out of Europe’s wars. Others were pacifists. There were around 20,000 pacifists to be recruited.
Fearful that the opposition would harm the war effort, Congress passed the Espionage Act in June 1917. The law established strict penalties for anyone who interfered with the recruitment of soldiers or made statements that might hinder the war effort.
The Sedition Act of May 16, 1918, made it illegal to make disloyal statements about the Constitution, the government, the flag, or the armed forces. In 1919, the Supreme Court ruled that the government had the right to suspend free speech during the war.
labor conflict
During the war, American industry focused on the production of weapons and supplies. With the war suppressed, demands for goods, and for better wages and working hours, were unleashed.
However, factories that had been producing war materials could not immediately switch to making clothes, shoes, cars, and other goods demanded by a peacetime population. Prices of these rare rose products. Meanwhile, returning soldiers looking for places to live drove up the cost of housing. In 1920 prices were double what they were in 1914.
However, as rents and prices increased, workers’ wages remained low. During the war, American workers did not go on strike so as not to harm the war effort. Now was the time, they believed, to push for higher wages and workdays of less than 12 hours.
In 1919, union leaders across the country led workers on strike. While the first strikes were successful, the workers faced growing opposition as the year progressed.
When shipyard workers in Seattle walked off the job, other unions in the city also showed their support by striking. The mayor of Seattle turned the public against the strikers claiming that their leaders are radicals and extremists.
In Pennsylvania and the Midwest, striking steelworkers called for an end to 12-hour workdays and 7-day workweeks. The mill owners ignored their demands. They also accused the strikers of being linked to radicals. Whether the accusations were true or not, political leaders and newspapers turned against the workers and sided with the business leaders.
After four months, the striking steelworkers gave up. This failure dealt a crushing blow to the trade union movement.
race riots
The tense mood of the nation was also seen in racial violence. In 1919, white mobs terrorized black communities from Texas to Washington DC Black tenant farmers in Arkansas were attacked for trying to form a union. In Chicago, a white mob stoned to death a black swimmer who had gotten lost on a “white section” of a Lake Michigan beach. In the violence that followed, 38 people were killed.
Faced with such attacks and thousands of lynchings since 1890, African Americans launched a campaign against lynching. In this campaign, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People asked Congress to make lynching a federal crime. The Senate, however, refused.
Despite its failure in Congress, the National Association continued to draw attention to the lynching issue. He had several victories in the 1920s, such as when a court struck down an Oklahoma law that denied blacks the right to vote.
