THE NATION AT WAR

1
THE NATION AT WAR

• America Past and Present
• Chapter 24

2
A New World Power

• American foreign policy aggressive, nationalistic
  since late 19th century
• Colonialism draws U.S. into international affairs

3
"I Took the Canal Zone"

• 1903--Colombian senate refuses to allow U.S. to
  build Panama Canal
• Roosevelt abetted revolution to separate Panama
  from Colombia
• Independent Panama permits construction
• 1914--Panama Canal opened

4
The Roosevelt Corollary

• U.S. treats Latin America as a protectorate
• Roosevelt Corollary--U.S. will ensure stability
  of Latin American finance
• Roosevelt Corollary spurs intervention in
• Dominican Republic
• Panama
• Cuba

5
Ventures in the Far East

• Diplomatic agreements with Japan
• Korea under Japanese influence
• Japan to respect U.S. control of Philippines
• Japanese resentment builds over Open Door policy
  in China

6
Taft and Dollar Diplomacy

• Taft substitutes economic force for military
• American bankers replaced Europeans in Caribbean
• Taft's support for U.S. economic influence in
  Manchuria alienates China, Japan, Russia

7
Foreign Policy Under Wilson

• Wilson inexperienced in diplomacy
• Tries to base foreign policy on moral force
• Resorts to military force in Latin America

8
Troubles Across the Border

• 1913--Huerta leads coup in Mexico
• Wilson denies Huerta recognition
• Revolutionary regimes must reflect a just
  government based upon law
• Wilson blocks arms shipments to Mexico
• 1914--U.S. seizes Vera Cruz
• 1916--U.S. Army pursues Pancho Villa across
  U.S., Mexican border

9
Toward War

• 1914--War in Europe
• Central Powers headed by Germany
• Allied Powers headed by England, France
• Wilson sympathizes with England, seeks U.S.
  neutrality

10
The Neutrality Policy

• Progressives see war as wasteful, irrational
• Suspicion that business seeks war for profit
• Immigrants prefer U.S. neutrality
• A long tradition of U.S. neutrality
• Americans see little national stake in war

11
Freedom of the Seas

• England blockades Germany
• U.S. ships to Germany seized
• Wilson accepts English promise of reimbursement
  at wars end

12
The U-Boat Threat

• German submarines violate international law by
  shooting without warning
• August, 1915-- Lusitania sunk by U-Boat
• April, 1916--Wilson issues ultimatum call off
  attacks on cargo and passenger ships or
  U.S.-German relations will be severed
• Germany pledges to honor U.S. neutrality

13
"He Kept Us Out of War"

• 1916--Wilson campaigns on record of neutrality
• Republican Charles Evans Hughes campaigns on
  tougher line against Germany
• Wilson wins close election
• Wins large labor, progressive vote
• Wins majority of womens vote

14
The Final Months of Peace

• 1917--Germany lifts restrictions on U-Boats
• Wilsons response
• Orders U.S. merchant vessels armed
• Orders U.S. Navy to fire on German U-Boats
• April 2, 1917--War declared on Germany

15
U.S. Losses to the German Submarine Campaign,
1916-1918
16
Over There

• U.S. allies in danger of losing war
• Germans sink 881,000 tons of Allied shipping
  during April, 1917
• Mutinies in French army
• British drive in Flanders Stalled
• Bolsheviks sign separate peace with Germany
  German troops to West
• Italian army routed
• Allies braced for spring, 1918 offensive

17
Mobilization

• No U.S. contingency plans for war
• 200,000 troops at wars beginning
• Draft conscripts 2 million by wars end

18
War in the Trenches

• Teaming of U.S., English navies halves Allied
  losses to submarines
• June 1917--U.S. troops arrive in France
• Spring, 1918--U.S. forces help halt final German
  offensive
• battle of Chateau Thierry
• battle of Belleau Wood
• September--Germans out of St. Mihiel

19
Over Here

• Victory on front depends on mobilization at home
• Wilson consolidates federal authority to organize
  war production and distribution
• Wilson begins campaign for American emotions

20
The Conquest of Convictions

• 1918--Wilson uses popular anti-German rage to
  pass the Sedition Act
• Criticism of the war was penalized
• Dissenters imprisoned
• Summer, 1918--anticommunism prompts deployment of
  U.S. troops to Russia
• 1918-1919--Red Scare results in domestic
  suppression of radicals

21
A Bureaucratic War

• Wartime agencies supervise production,
  distribution to maximize war effort
• Government seizes some businesses to keep them
  running
• Cooperation between government and business the
  norm
• Business profits from wartime industry

22
Labor in the War

• Union membership swells
• Labor shortage prompts
• wage increase
• entry of Mexican-Americans, women, African-
  Americans to war-related industrial work force

23
African-Americans and the War

• 200,000 blacks serve in France
• 42,000 combat troops
• Great Migration to northern factories
• Blacks must adjust industrial work pace
• Encounter Northern racism
• 1917-1919--Race riots in urban North
• Wartime experience prompts new surge of black
  resistance

24
The Treaty of Versailles

• Common concern about Bolshevik revolution
• Wilsons Fourteen points call for non-punitive
  settlement
• England and France balk at Fourteen Points
• Want Germany disarmed and crippled
• Want Germanys colonies
• Skeptical of principle of self-determination

25
A Peace at Paris

• Wilson fails to deflect Allied punishment of
  Germany in treaty
• Treaty creates Wilsons League of Nations
• Article X of League charter requires members to
  protect each others territorial integrity
• League's jurisdiction excludes member nations
  domestic affairs

26
Rejection in the Senate

• Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge leads
  opposition to Treaty, League
• October, 1919--stroke disables Wilson
• November--Treaty fails in Senate
• January, 1920--final defeat of Treaty
• July, 1921--U.S. peace declared by joint
  Congressional resolution

27
Election of 1920

• Wilson hopes reelection will provide mandate for
  League of Nations
• Landslide for Republican Warren Harding
• Defeat of League of Nations brings defeat of
  Progressive spirit