United States home front during World War I

Although the United States entered the war in April 1917, there had been very little planning, or even recognition of the problems that Great Britain and the other Allies had to solve on their own home fronts.

Therefore, both individual states and the federal government established a multitude of temporary agencies to bring together the expertise necessary to redirect the economy and society into the production of munitions and food needed for the war, as well as the circulation of beliefs and ideals in order to motivate the people.

Firmly maintaining neutrality when World War I began in Europe in 1914, the United States helped supply the Allies, but could not ship anything to Germany because of the British blockade.

[1] German efforts to use its U-boats to blockade Britain resulted in the deaths of American travelers and sailors, and attacks on passenger liners caused public outrage.

Germany promised not to repeat, but it reversed its position in early 1917, believing that unrestricted U-boat warfare against all ships headed to Britain would win the war even at the cost of American entry.

It organized thousands of "Four-Minute Men" to deliver brief speeches at movie theaters, schools and churches to promote patriotism and participation in the war effort.

The act established a "liability for military service of all male citizens"; authorized a selective draft of all those between twenty-one and thirty-one years of age (later from eighteen to forty-five); and prohibited all forms of bounties, substitutions, or purchase of exemptions.

The Sedition Act criminalized any expression of opinion that used "disloyal, profane, scurrilous or abusive language" about the U.S. government, flag or armed forces.

Government police action, private vigilante groups, and public war hysteria compromised the civil liberties of many Americans who disagreed with Wilson's policies.

[9] In a July 1917 speech, Max Eastman complained that the government's aggressive prosecutions of dissent meant that "You can't even collect your thoughts without getting arrested for unlawful assemblage.

The greatest artistic success, considered by many a landmark of film history, was Charlie Chaplin's Shoulder Arms, which followed the star from his induction into the military, his accidental penetration of the German lines, and his eventual return having captured the Kaiser and Crown Prince and won himself a pretty French girl.

[25] This led the Thomas B. Jeffery Company to develop a competent four-wheel drive, 11⁄2 short ton capacity truck by July 1913: the "Quad".

[27] The U.S. Army's first heavy usage of Quads was under general John "Blackjack" Pershing in the 1916 Pancho Villa Expedition in Mexico — both as regular transport trucks, and in the form of the Jeffery armored car.

[32] Once the FWD and Jeffery / Nash four-wheel drive trucks were required in large numbers in World War I, both models were built under license by several additional companies to meet demand.

Apart from "wheatless Wednesdays" and "meatless Tuesdays" due to poor harvests in 1916 and 1917, there were "fuelless Mondays" and "gasless Sundays" to preserve coal and gasoline.

The solution included nationalizing the coal mines and the railroads for the duration, shutting down factories one day a week to save fuel, and enforcing a strict system of priorities.

The introduction of convoys as an antidote to the German U-boats and the joint management system by Standard Oil and Royal Dutch/Shell helped to solve the Allies' supply problems.

The AFL unions strongly encouraged young men to enlist in the military, and fiercely opposed efforts to reduce recruiting and slow war production by pacifists, the anti-war Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and radical socialists.

To keep factories running smoothly, Wilson established the National War Labor Board in 1918, which forced management to negotiate with existing unions.

[49] Wilson also appointed AFL president Samuel Gompers to the powerful Council of National Defense, where he set up the War Committee on Labor.

After initially resisting taking a stance, the IWW became actively anti-war, engaging in strikes and speeches and suffering both legal and illegal suppression by federal and local governments as well as pro-war vigilantes.

[52][53] Historian Joe Trotter explains the decision process: After the war ended and the soldiers returned home, tensions were very high, with serious labor union strikes involving black strikebreakers and inter-racial riots in major cities.

As a result, women not only began working in heavy industry, but also took other jobs traditionally reserved solely for men, such as railway guards, ticket collectors, bus and tram conductors, postal workers, police officers, firefighters, and clerks.

[59][60]World War I affected children in the United States through several social and economic changes in the school curriculum and through shifts in parental relationships.

For example, a number of fathers and brothers entered the war, and many were subsequently maimed in action or killed, causing many children to be brought up by single mothers.

Woodrow Wilson again became involved with these children as he implemented government pamphlets and programs to encourage war support through things like mandatory patriotism and nationalism classes multiple times a week.

[67] German Americans by this time usually had only weak ties to Germany; however, they were fearful of negative treatment they might receive if the United States entered the war (such mistreatment was already happening to German-descent citizens in Canada and Australia).

[68] Voluntary vigilance committees such as the American Protective League, Boy Spies of America, and Knights of Liberty worked in an effort to root out potential disloyalty – often through hearsay – and often responding with intimidation and violence, including tarring and feathering attacks.

[74][75][76] see also The Central Powers carried out a number of acts of sabotage and a single submarine attack against the U.S. while being neutral and belligerent with the country during the war, but never staged an invasion, although there were rumors that German advisers were present at the Battle of Ambos Nogales.

On July 21, 1918, a German U-boat, SM U-156, positioned itself off of Orleans, Massachusetts and opened fire and sank a tugboat and some barges until it was driven off by American warplanes.