Objective 03.06 War at Home

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

• analyze and explain how World War I impacted various groups on the home front

Like most sales campaigns, the bond drive used posters and other visual appeals. Many of these posters are familiar today. As the posters on the page show, the patriotic appeal had different approaches.

Some posters used images of Uncle Sam or Lady Liberty. The message was generally about helping “the boys” who were fighting “over there.”

Other posters had a darker message. They used frightening images of German soldiers as beasts and monsters. They used the derogatory term Huns, which became a term used for German immigrants. The message was one of fear and hatred.

As the war progressed, bond sales increased. By the end of the war, the U.S. government had raised more than $17 billion, over half of the money needed to fund the war. On average, each American had spent about $200, a relatively large sum at a time when the average yearly salary was about $1,300. However, some of the patriotic emotions that were unleashed were angry and violent.

03.06 War at Home: Patriotism Too Far?

Did Patriotism Go Too Far?

Recruitment Poster
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At the beginning of World War I, the two largest immigration populations in the United States were German Americans and Irish Americans. Both of these groups wanted the United States to remain neutral in the war. Their lack of support for the war went against the strong tide of patriotism that was rising in the country.

Some Americans, especially nativists, also mistrusted other immigrant groups. Mexican Americans were suspected of being disloyal because of issues arising from tension between the United States and Mexico. Asian Americans had long been targets of nativists as well. In fact, the huge wave of immigrants that had come into the United States had created resentment and mistrust in many areas of American society.

One of the most admired men in the United States, former president Theodore Roosevelt spoke out against groups who lived in the country but did not support the war. He publicly questioned their loyalty with statements such as, “Those hyphenated Americans who terrorize American politicians by threats of the foreign vote are engaged in treason to the American Republic.”

While suspicion trailed many so-called “hyphenated Americans,” the treatment of German Americans ranged from foolish to ferocious. Orchestras refused to play the works of German composers, such as Beethoven. Almost every element of American life that had a German connection was changed. German measles became “Liberty measles.” In St. Louis, Illinois, Berlin Avenue was renamed Pershing Avenue, after the American military leader. A St. Louis newspaper called on residents to “wipe out everything German in this city.”

Anti-German Sign
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Some of the actions against German Americans were much more serious. German American storeowners had their businesses vandalized. The owner of a store in the Midwest tossed all of his German-made goods into the street and set them on fire.

A Wisconsin farmer of German background, John Deml, was awakened in the middle of the night by pounding on his door. A group of men who called themselves “The Council of Defense” accused Deml of disloyalty because he had not purchased enough Liberty Bonds. They demanded that he buy $800 worth of bonds immediately. When Deml refused, the group dragged him outside and placed a rope around his neck. At the last minute, several men calmed down the group enough to spare Deml’s life.

Robert Prager, a son of German immigrants, was not as lucky. Residents of Collinsville, Illinois, lynched the 29-year-old German immigrant in April 1918. He was accused of disloyalty because of his membership in the Socialist party. The group of men charged with his death wore red, white, and blue ribbons to trial. They were found not guilty.

While mob violence did not become common, the persecution of those who were considered “un-American” was tolerated. And in the eagerness to gain public support for the war, the U.S. government sometimes ignored certain constitutional principles.

03.06 War at Home: Wartime Production and Workforce

How Did Wartime Production Affect the Workforce?

Women doing manual labor.
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The increase in production for major industries meant greater profits for companies. Workers also earned more, but the cost of housing, food, and other supplies was high due to wartime rationing. In addition, they worked long hours to keep up with the fast pace of production.

The increased number of manufacturing jobs in the North changed the workforce—and with it American society. Some women began working at manual labor jobs, such as building railroads or working in factories. Others entered the workforce in more traditional jobs, such as teaching, nursing, or volunteering for the war effort. A newspaper in Seattle, Washington, commented on women in the workforce.

“There has been a sudden influx of women into such unusual occupations as bank clerks, ticket sellers, elevator operator, chauffeur, street car conductor, railroad trackwalker, section hand, locomotive wiper and oiler, locomotive dispatcher, block operator, draw bridge attendant, and employment in machine shops, steel mills, powder and ammunition factories, airplane works, boot blacking and farming.”

African American women workers 
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Hispanic Americans and African Americans were drawn to the new manufacturing jobs. These jobs had become available when white workers went to war. Hispanic Americans moved from the western United States east to cities such as Chicago for factory jobs.

African Americans had already begun migrating in large numbers from the southern United States to the North. As war approached, factory owners sent recruiters to the South to encourage African Americans to move North. More than 500,000 African Americans left the segregated South by 1920.

The population of Northern cities grew rapidly. This movement became known as the Great Migration. To explain this Great Migration, one African American wrote that African Americans were “compelled to go where there is better wages and sociable conditions, believe me…many places here in [Alabama] the only thing that a black man gets is a peck of a meal and from 3 to 4 lbs. of bacon per week, and he is treated as a slave.”

Despite some of the harsh treatment and rioting in the North as a result of the Great Migration, most African Americans agreed that life in the North was much better than life in the South.