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Americans on the Home Front during WWI: Government Actions and Life Changes

Explore the steps taken by the US government to finance the war and manage the economy during World War I, and learn about the enforcement of loyalty to the war effort. Discover how the war transformed the lives of Americans on the home front.

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Americans on the Home Front during WWI: Government Actions and Life Changes

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  1. Chapter 12: The World War I Era IV. Americans on the Home Front

  2. 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?

  3. 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.

  4. Setting the Scene • Page 432

  5. 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!

  6. 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)

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. D) Changing People’s 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

  10. 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?

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