ch22 – Flashcard

Domestic policy → Wilson's prior experience was in local affairs. He formerly was the president of Princeton University and then the governor of New Jersey, neither of which demanded that he consider foreign policy. In his presidential campaign, Wilson focused almost exclusively on domestic reform and not foreign affairs.

prohibiting prostitution and alcohol near training camps. → Newton D. Baker, President Wilson's secretary of war, wanted to use training camps to provide American soldiers with education, comradeship, and moral fitness. To achieve this goal, immoral activities were to be kept out of the vicinity of training camps, and alternative entertainment and education was provided by YMCA and settlement house workers.

Alice Paul → Radical suffragists, led by Paul, not only picketed the White House but also chained themselves to fences and went to jail, where they engaged in hunger strikes while calling for female suffrage and greater democracy in America. Their actions earned the derision of critics such as Edith Wilson, the First Lady, who detested the idea of "masculinized" voting women.

proposal for a clause endorsing the principle of racial equality. → Although President Wilson was committed to democratic principles, he believed firmly in white superiority. He also worried that white Americans would respond badly to such a declaration and perhaps even oppose the treaty because of it. To mollify Japanese leaders, President Wilson agreed to give Japan a mandate over the Shantung Peninsula, which had been under German control.

engaging in vigilante violence against radicals. → In Centralia, Washington, in November 1919, a hostile crowd surrounded one of only two International Workers of the World halls left in the state. Nervous IWW members fired into the crowd and killed three people; three IWW members were arrested and later convicted of murder, but a fourth was castrated, hung from a bridge, and shot by an angry crowd.

They believed that the Carranza government had betrayed its promise to help Mexico's people. → Pancho Villa and his rebel army believed that Mexico's new government, led by Venustiano Carranza and aided by U.S. business interests, had betrayed the promise of the Mexican revolution to help the common people of Mexico. They seized a train carrying gold from an American-owned mine in Mexico, hoping to use it to fuel their fight against Carranza.

The Brest-Litovsk treaty → The Germans and the Russian Bolsheviks each signed the Brest-Litovsk treaty in March 1918. The treaty established Russia's official withdrawal from the war, which freed up German troops from its eastern front. Germany then used those troops to launch a massive offensive at French ports at the Atlantic, which improved the German's chances of victory. Pershing saw this moment as the right one for the United States to become involved in battle. He got permission from French army commander Ferdinand Foch to form a separate American command.

prohibited the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol. → The war invigorated the campaign for prohibition by providing supporters with new arguments. They claimed that banning alcohol would make the campaign for democracy stronger and more pure, that shutting down distilleries would save grain for food use, and that closing breweries with German names would damage the German cause. Congress was swayed sufficiently by these arguments to pass the Eighteenth Amendment in December 1917.

Wilson embarked on a speaking tour. → President Wilson believed, probably correctly, that American citizens supported the Treaty of Versailles, and so he decided to take his case directly to the people by going on an intensive speaking tour around the United States. His appeal seemed to be gaining momentum, but on September 25, 1919, he collapsed and subsequently suffered a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed.

Overturning labor's wartime gains → Workers lost ground in the postwar period. Inflation hit them hard, and big businesses, freed from wartime controls, fought to overturn the eight-hour day and attacked labor unions. Their actions led to labor unrest, with some 3,600 strikes involving 4 million workers taking place in 1919.

The nation benefited financially from such an expansive interpretation. → The United States had traditionally taken a broad view of the rights of neutrals during wartime, arguing that neutral nations should be able to trade freely with belligerents, send ships safely through the seas, and expect their citizens to be safe on belligerents' merchant and passenger ships. Maintaining America's European trade was particularly important in 1914 because the United States had slid into an economic recession during the previous year.

Come together in support of the war effort → African American leader W. E. B. Du Bois urged skeptical black Americans to "close ranks" and to lay aside their "special grievances" until after the United States had defeated German "military despotism."

Intervention in Mexico's affairs after the Mexican revolution → Wilson's most controversial involvement in Latin America during his first term as president was his intervention in Mexico's affairs in 1914. Unlike the major European powers, he refused to recognize the government of General Victoriano Huerta and, in 1914, sent 800 Marines to seize the port of Veracruz to prevent the unloading of a large shipment of arms for Huerta. In the end, Huerta fled to Spain and the United States welcomed a more compliant government in the neighboring country.

He created new federal agencies to deal with the specific needs of the troops and the home front. → Wilson and other progressives recognized that the government would have to assert greater control over the country's human and economic resources in order to maximize the country's war effort. He created the War Industries Board to stimulate and direct industrial production, the Food Administration to control grain prices and food distribution, the Railroad Administration to direct railroad traffic, and the National War Labor Policies Board to resolve labor disputes. He also created numerous other organizations to promote harmony and enforce efficiency.

Pershing was known for the kind of level-headed efficiency many progressives believed was needed in modern warfare. → Wilson selected John Pershing because he thought Pershing was the ideal candidate. Pershing was morally upright and militarily uncompromising. He was described as "lean, clean, and keen" and gave progressives, like Wilson, perfect confidence in his abilities.

make the world "safe for democracy." → President Wilson hoped for a "war without hate" and insisted that the United States was not intent on destroying Germany. He declared that America joined the war to "vindicate the principles of peace and justice" and to make the world "safe for democracy."

A Bosnian Serb terrorist killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. → When Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb, Austria-Hungary held Serbia accountable and declared war the following day. Russia, an ally of Serbia, announced that it would back the Serbs, and Germany, Austria-Hungary's main ally, attacked Russia and France in retaliation. This brought Great Britain and then Japan into the conflict as well.

Free trade with all nations at war and a guarantee of safety on the open seas → In exchange for its commitment to neutrality, the United States promised that it would maintain normal relations with the warring nations. It held that neutral nations were entitled to trade safely with all nations at war. Because of a recession in the U.S. economy, Wilson was particularly eager to maintain European trade during the war in order to avoid further economic deterioration.

turned into a stalemate. → After three years of fighting, the European armies had settled into a stalemate. Soldiers were pinned down in miles of trenches across France, separated from the enemy by a few hundred yards of land. When ordered into battle, troops ran toward the enemy's trenches, only to face barbed wire, poison gas, and machine-gun fire. It took years for commanders on both sides to realize the futility of their strategy.

The Zimmermann telegram → Even after Germany announced its resumption of submarine warfare in January 1917, President Wilson continued to hope for a negotiated peace. But in February 1917, British authorities told him about a telegram that the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, had sent to the German minister in Mexico, proposing that in the event of war between Germany and the United States, Germany would restore to Mexico the territory it lost in the Mexican War if Mexico would declare war against the United States. President Wilson felt that this attempt to spread the war into the Western Hemisphere was intolerable, and it led him to ask Congress to approve a policy allowing merchant ships to fight back against attackers.

The administration used publicity to stir up patriotism. → President Wilson created the Committee on Public Information (CPI) to encourage patriotism by means of propaganda. The agency was headed by George Creel, a progressive journalist, who used volunteer speakers, pamphlets, posters, and cartoons to convince Americans that the war was a simple matter of good, democratic American soldiers fighting evil German "Huns."

All young men → The sweeping Selective Service Act authorized a draft of all young men into the armed forces. Two million men volunteered and 2.8 were conscripted. About 350,000 inductees failed to report or claimed conscientious objector status.

He threatened a break in diplomatic relations with Germany. → Wilson sought a middle course after the Lusitania incident. He wanted to maintain his commitment to American peace and neutrality in the war, but did not want to condone German attacks on passenger ships. He made it plain to Germany that if there was any further destruction of ships, he would regard it as "deliberately unfriendly" and consider breaking off diplomatic relations with Germany. Essentially, Wilson demanded that Germany abandon its practice of unrestricted submarine warfare.

a separate American command. → Pershing refused to allow his army, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), to be merged with the Allied forces because he wanted to save his fresh troops for a series of lightning strikes at decisive moments. The Allied commander in chief, General Ferdinand Foch, objected vehemently. After a massive German offensive broke through the Allied lines and threatened Paris, however, Pershing believed that the right moment for U.S. action had come and pressed Foch for a separate American command, which Foch agreed to.

little combat. → In 1917, American troops saw almost no combat and instead continued to train. The only exception was when General Pershing responded to French entreaties for more troops by sending the 92nd Division of black troops to the front, where they were integrated into the French army and fought with distinction. It was not until March 1918, following the Brest-Litovsk treaty and a massive German offensive against French ports, that Pershing determined that the time had come for full American intervention.

To encourage democracy and protect American investments in the Western Hemisphere → Wilson and Bryan agreed on the importance of pursuing a moral foreign policy; Bryan, a pacifist, made agreements with thirty nations for the peaceful settlement of disputes. However, both Wilson and Bryan believed that the Monroe Doctrine gave the United States special responsibilities in the Western Hemisphere, and the Wilson administration repeatedly used troops to control political activities in Latin America and the Caribbean that threatened American investments in those regions.

Workers' situation improved significantly. → The full mobilization demanded by the war meant that there were plenty of jobs in the new war industries. Moreover, in hopes of keeping production high by means of peaceful labor relations, the National War Labor Policies Board forced certain industries to accept the eight-hour workday, a living minimum wage, and collective bargaining rights. Wages and union membership increased dramatically.

Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment, which was then ratified by the states. → American women in every state received the right to vote after Congress passed the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919 and the requisite number of states ratified it in 1920. Before the Nineteenth Amendment, women in some western states had won voting rights and the NAWSA was working toward suffrage on a state-by-state basis.

They created new rivalries and magnified the possibility of conflict. → By the late nineteenth century, there was growing competition between European nations for political and economic dominance, which caused the growth of complex military and diplomatic alliances. By 1914, Europe was split into two large power blocs—the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy and the Triple Entente of Great Britain, France, and Russia. These alliances effectively turned national borders into trip wires strung between heavily armed competitors, increasing the likelihood of war.

Expanded employment opportunities for women → The mobilization of millions of American men into the armed forces in 1917 created a labor shortage that expanded employment opportunities for American women. Tens of thousands of women found work in defense plants as welders, metalworkers, railroad workers, and heavy machine operators—all jobs that had previously been reserved for men. Black women who had been confined to domestic work before the war had expanded opportunities to move into the industrial workforce, where they made considerably higher wages. The number of women clerks doubled between 1910 and 1920.

Germany thought it could win the war before the United States could bring its army to Europe. → The Germans suspected that the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare would probably bring the United States into the war, but it could no longer allow neutral shipping to enter Britain while the British blockade starved Germany. The Germans decided that using submarines to strangle the British economy would allow them to defeat France before the United States army could get to Europe.

The practice seemed to violate how "civilized" countries should act. → The surface ships used in conventional warfare could confiscate freighters or prevent them from entering a war zone. Submarines, however, took the tactic of surprising and sinking enemy vessels and did not have the room to pick up survivors. The British declared that Germany's use of U-boats violated principles of "civilized" warfare.

Wilson's rivals used the war to achieve a Republican majority in the House and Senate. → Wilson had hoped that the war would quiet partisan politics, but Republicans used the war as a weapon against the Democrats. They refrained from criticizing the war itself, instead criticizing Wilson's conduct of the war. They called progressive wartime organizations like the War Industries Board "tyrannical" and a threat to free enterprise. As the war progressed, the Republicans gained power against the Democrats and, by 1918, gained a narrow majority in both the House and the Senate.

The German language disappeared from public school curricula. → German had been the most widely taught foreign language in American schools in 1914, but by 1918 it had essentially disappeared from public school curricula. A firestorm of anti-German passion erupted across the nation, which led to the renaming of German toast as French toast and of sauerkraut as "liberty cabbage."

Suffragists linked women's voting rights to wartime national unity. → Many suffragists supported the war, and many more women participated in the war effort by serving as nurses, factory workers, and volunteers. Their contributions convinced some American men that women could perform public duties and forced President Wilson to conclude that women deserved the vote in return for their help in the war effort.

By passing legislation allowing punishment for "disloyal" opinions → Between June 1917 and May 1918, Congress passed the Espionage Act, the Trading with the Enemy Act, and the Sedition Act. These pieces of legislation greatly increased the power of the federal government to punish opinions or ideas it deemed "disloyal" or "abusive" to the American flag or armed forces. The acts were used zealously: Dozens of journals were forced to close down, and fifteen hundred individuals were charged with sedition, though all but a dozen had merely spoken words to which the government objected.

was a case of "the blind leading the blind." → Although many progressives argued that the war could indeed promote progressive reform, others such as Senator La Follette argued that the war and progressive causes did not march together. Wilson's claim to the contrary, La Follette argued, was a case of "the blind leading the blind," both at home and overseas.