Passages History 1302 Chapter 22 Outline

Chapter Outline

President Wilson urged Americans to stay neutral in the world conflict engulfing Europe, but in reality Americans, and the president, were more sympathetic toward the Allies.

A.       The War and American Public Opinion:  The war affected national politics, and the Republicans picked up some seats during the mid-term elections, but the Democrats maintained control of Congress.

B.        The issue of neutrality presented a dilemma for the United States, since significant numbers of Americans supported each side.

C.       The Lusitania Crisis:  In time, Germany’s approach to the war began to turn Americans more toward Great Britain.

1.         An event early in the war hinted at future conflicts, when a German submarine sank the British luxury liner, the Lusitania.

2.         After sinking several other ships, Germany pledged not to do so in the future without providing warnings.

D.       The United States and Its World Role:  Diplomats, politicians, and military experts began to debate the role the United States should play in world affairs, as well as the entire issue of preparedness.

During the early years of the war, while the United States stayed out of the conflict, Americans experienced a great deal of social unrest, both in race relations and in the area of women’s issues.

E.        The Great Migration:  An expanding labor market, particularly in defense industries, enticed blacks to move to the North; they found some extra opportunities but still faced much discrimination.

F.        The Rise of the Movies:  The early war years brought many people out to see the new motion pictures, and actors such as Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford became famous.

G.       Shifting Attitudes toward Sex:  Attitudes toward sex began to change, with young women experiencing a new sense of control over their own lives; as women like Margaret Sanger pushed for greater access to information, however, conservatives fought these changes vigorously.

Even as the war intensified, reform efforts, especially those concerning woman suffrage and prohibition, gained support.

A.       Closing the Door for Immigrants:  As the election of 1916 approached, reform efforts gained speed, with Wilson himself becoming more supportive of various reforms.

The first half of 1916 was a tense period, with Wilson having to deal with escalating German aggression, his own attempts to negotiate a settlement to the conflict, and a renewal of hostilities along the Mexican border.

A.        Wilsons Attempt to Mediate:  Democrats were confident as the presidential election approached, and they campaigned for Wilson with the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War.”

During the final months of 1916, Wilson appealed to the warring nations to negotiate a settlement that would bring “Peace Without Victory.”

B.        American Intervention in the War:  Germany’s announcement that it was resuming unrestricted submarine warfare, along with publication of the Zimmerman Telegram, finally pushed America into going to war early in 1917.

C.        The Outbreak of Hostilities:  Congress, called into special session by Wilson, responded to his request by declaring war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

With the nation at war, Americans realized that all aspects of their lives had to change.

A.       Managing the Wartime Economy:  Americans hoped at first to send money and supplies but no troops to Europe, but they soon saw that the Allied armies were suffering such devastating losses that American troops would have to enter the fight.

B.        Concerned about the limitations of a volunteer army, Congress established the Selective Service Act early in the war.

C.       As army training moved into high gear, the navy began convoying British merchant ships and American troops to Europe.

D.       Taxes raised some of the money needed to finance the war, but Liberty Bond sales brought in tremendous amounts of money.

E.        Herbert Hoover took charge of a program to provide food for the Allies, and prices that farmers received for their crops actually increased.

F.        Congress finally passed the Eighteenth Amendment, banning the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, in late 1917, in part due to patriotic fervor.

G.       Management of the wartime economy proved only somewhat successful until the federal government became more directly involved in developing a business-government partnership.

H.       The War Industries Board, the American Federation of Labor, and the National War Labor Board worked to get the American public totally behind the war effort, while standardizing and streamlining production.

I.          Black Americans in the War:  Most African Americans put aside their concerns about mistreatment and supported the war, although racial tensions did increase with the migration of larger numbers of blacks to the North.

J.          Women temporarily filled out the work force during the war, but their greatest achievement was finally gaining the right to vote.

K.       Civil Liberties in Wartime:  Concerned with maintaining support for the war and at the same time stifling dissent, Wilson supported significant changes in American laws that temporarily curtailed civil liberties.

L.        Wartime Hysteria:  Many people exhibited much animosity toward German Americans, and some went to great lengths to sever ties with anything remotely German.

The road to victory in Europe was difficult, and American troops spent most of 1918 battling among the forests and along the rivers of France and Belgium before helping the Allies go on the offensive once and for all.

A.       Wilson’s Peace Program:  At home, Wilson proposed a peace plan, the Fourteen Points, that he hoped would be used by the warring nations to bring about a lasting peace, and he was encouraged when the Germans sued for peace on November 11, 1918.

B.        The 1918 Elections:  Wilson managed to gain re-election in the fall of 1918, but by distancing himself so much from Republicans he hurt his chances for future support of his peace plan.

C.       The Paris Peace Conference:  Breaking with tradition, Wilson himself traveled to Europe to attend the Paris Peace Conference, along with Great Britain’s David Lloyd George and France’s Georges Clemenceau.

D.       The Shadow of Bolshevism:  The Russians were conspicuously absent, since the Bolshevik revolution and their civil war had removed that country from the war.

E.        The Terms of Peace:  Peace terms did not satisfy Wilson, but he had to accept harsh terms for Germany in order to obtain the League of Nations that he deemed so important.

F.        Wilson and the Treaty of Versailles:  Wilson returned to America to push for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles after it was signed in June 1919.  

G.       The Senate and the League:  Republican control of the Senate doomed the treaty, and when Wilson toured the country to rally support, he suffered a massive stroke that incapacitated him for months.

H.       The Defeat of the League:  The Senate rejected the treaty because of the fear of joining the League of Nations and because of Wilson’s unwillingness to ratify the treaty without joining.

With labor unrest, a Red Scare, inflation, and an influenza epidemic, the postwar period was a difficult one for Americans.

a.         The Waning Spirit of Progressivism:  The spirit of progressivism waned, since the two major reforms of woman suffrage and prohibition had virtually been accomplished.

b.         The Struggles of Labor:  The postwar period saw numerous strikes, in response to the problems brought on by peacetime conversion.

c.         The Reaction against Strikes:  Racial violence escalated, especially in the North and in the nation’s capital, and Americans reacted strongly, if unnecessarily, to a Red Scare brought on by the rise of communism.

d.         Harding and “Normalcy”:  Republican Warren G. Harding won the 1920 election by promising a return to “normalcy” for the country at a time when Americans were ready to defeat the Democrats anyway.

Conclusion: The Progressive Era ended with Harding’s election. After years of reform efforts at home, the nation had been dragged into a European conflict, and many Americans were happy enough to have woman suffrage and prohibition in place and leave it at that. The country now had a background in reform, but for the time being, most people were happy to let things be.