Economic Regulation During World War I: Impact and Propaganda

1. #3. An Economic overview of wwi By Eric Bercaw, Kyle Boyd, and Graham Boreland

2. Government economic regulations • In 1916, the government created the councils of national defense. • It oversaw the governments preparedness for a war. • After war was declared, the war industries board was created to coordinate military purchasing, ensure production efficiency and supply the troops • August 1917: Wilson set up the Fuel and the Food Administration • The Fuel Administration controlled coal output, regulated fuel prices and consumption, and introduced daylight-saving time • The Food Administration oversaw production and allocation of meat, wheat and sugar to ensure supplies for the army as well as for the desperately food-short Allies

3. Gov. Econ. Reg. Cont. • National War Labor Board resolved labor-management disputes that jeopardized production • Railroad Administration, led by William McAdoo, transformed thousands of miles track operated by competing companies into an efficient national rail system

4. Committee of Public Information • Headed by journalist George Creel • It was created to promote government propaganda • It published the government’s version of events and discredited all who questioned the governments version • Examples: • One division distributed posters that were pro-war • Other divisions wrote articles that reported news that favored the government’s goals

5. Usage Of Propaganda • Administration used new professions of advertising and public relations to pursue their goal of supporting the war • Examples: • Posters exhorted citizens to “Fight or Buy Bonds” • Liberty Loan parades featured flags, banners and marching bands • Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and other famous movie stars prompted the cause • Schoolchildren purchased “thrift stamps” convertible into war bonds • Patriotic war songs reached a large public through phonograph recordings