Chapter 12: The World War I Era

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Chapter 12 The World War I Era

• IV. Americans on the Home Front

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Bell Ringer

• What does home front mean?
• Why could life not continue normally while the
  nations was involved in a war overseas?
• WWI allowed women to join the paid work force,
  how might this have affected US families?
• How might it have changed the women?

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Objectives

• Learn about the steps the government took to
  finance the war and manage the economy.
• Describe how the government enforced loyalty to
  the war effort.
• Find out how the war changed the lives of
  Americans on the home front.

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Setting the Scene

• Page 432

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A) Financing the War

• Liberty Bonds special war bonds to support the
  Allied cause. redeemed later for more money.
• Raised 20 million
• Scouts sold them, four-minute men, and actors.
• Buying bonds was patriotic!

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B) Managing the Economy

• Government created a bureaucracy, dollar-a-year
  men to manage war production.
• War Industries Board told who to build what and
  fixed prices
• Samuel Gompers promised no strikes in war
  factories
• Price control Food Administration determined
  prices on sale of food
• Rationing distributing goods to consumers in a
  fixed amount
• Daylight saving time shifting time so more
  daylight hours during work time save energy
• Food Administration promoted voluntary restraint
  garden (meatless, wheat-less, sweet-less)

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C) Enforcing Loyalty

• Committee on Public Information job was to
  rally popular support for the war
• Banned movies and novels, censored the news, and
  used propaganda
• Fear of foreigners restricted immigration,
  alert for sabotage, literacy test on immigrants
  nativism grew
• Hate the Hun HS stopped teaching German and
  playing music, lynched a person in ST. Louis
  page 435

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• Repression of Civil Liberties promoted liberty
  and democracy and at same time passed the
  Espionage Act
• Illegal to obstruct sale of bonds and discuss
  disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive ideas
  about US (Sedition act) (Schenck)
• Sedition any speech or action that encourages
  rebellion
• Controlling Political Radicals socialists
  argued war between capitalists workers not
  bother lynched and horsewhipped
• 23) vigilantes citizens who take the law into
  their own hands

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D) Changing Peoples Lives

• Militaristic styles became acceptable
• Scouting uniforms marching
• Schools did military drill
• No immigrants or young men women joined the
  work force 400,000
• Great Migration 500,000 African Americans moved
  north to work in factories

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Review

• What steps did the government take to finance the
  war and 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?