Finally, on January 31st, Germany sent a message to President Wilson announcing a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. . Narrator: As American volunteers were fighting and dying in France, some of their countrymen at home were arguing that the United States must be ready for war. And his doctor and Mrs. Wilson say, this tour has got to end, because your life is about to end. In mid-October he collapsed sobbing in the backseat of his staff car, crying out for his dead wife. Over three days, almost half a million men were interrogated, and 60,000 detained. Narrator: During the nineteen months that the United States was at war, American society had been torn apart by questions of loyalty. This is a realistic way to go about creating an idealistic future. Some have argued that for all intents and purposes, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson became the first female president of the United States. Lewis Reed, Courtesy Jeanne Gartner It was a dubious prize: the life expectancy of a new combat pilot was twenty days. Eddie actually flew more when he became the commander of the 94th. There are African-American soldiers, Native American soldiers, Latino soldiers. For anyone who didn’t get in line, there could be serious consequences. The Germans desperately wanted to sink ships transporting these supplies. The overwhelming majority of the men in these labor battalions were black. It had to be absolutely terrifying. A. Scott Berg, Writer: The Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, who was a great pacifist, he said the one thing I want to know is, were there in fact arms on that ship? Narrator: At the outset of the war, Wharton had organized a series of American hostels to shelter the wave of dislocated families pouring into Paris. “When men run away in front of the enemy,” Pershing ordered, “officers should stop them, to the point of shooting men down.” There could be no hesitation, no weakness. That’s what makes his story so compelling. But all of a sudden you’ve got this National Army and people don’t have the luxury or the liberty of sticking to their own kind anymore. Jennifer D. Keene, Historian: Alvin York is the reluctant warrior. Narrator: Shortly after arriving at the prison, Alice Paul went on a hunger strike. He believed if all the heads of state could sit at a table and confer, they could probably have ended this war. Where hushed awakenings are dear . “The United States must be neutral in fact, as well as in name,” he declared. A typical British division of 18,000 soldiers required a staggering nine million pounds of ammunition, fodder and food each month. Katherine O'Connell A. Scott Berg, Writer: Wilson’s answer to all of this was just put the lid on it. The whole world wanted to see. Where Love throbs out in blissful sleep, He was saying I’m an intelligent person, successful person, this is what I think, you should think this way too. . Narrator: Wilson’s plan was designed to tap into the nation’s spirit of volunteerism. Tet Offensive, attacks staged by North Vietnamese forces beginning in the early hours of January 31, 1968, during the Vietnam War. Michael Kazin, Historian: The reason why Jane Addams and other pacifist feminists go to The Hague is to put pressure on Wilson to get involved in really backing up with actions what he’s been saying all along which is that it is the role of the United States to help mediate the war. Narrator: Poison gas had been introduced by the Germans in 1915, but the Allies quickly caught on, and by 1918 it was everywhere. The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Buffalo, New York So it was a calculated risk I think the Germans were taking. Paul & Robert Pennoyer Narrator: By the middle of March, U-boats had sunk three more American merchant ships. Jennifer D. Keene, Historian: There are those Americans who believe that we should make an impact on the battlefield and with the government reluctant to do so, individuals decide to do so. You’re looking at the sun. French forces were in the midst of a full-scale retreat. The women’s march in 1914 really is the outgrowth of a very large women’s movement in America. Narrator: The White House received thousands of appeals from black citizens, begging for protection. By the time Josef’s wife Maria arrived at Leavenworth, he was barely able to talk. . A. Scott Berg, Writer: Wilson was the only one there fighting for a principle. John F. Ross, Writer: He figures that all his buddies on the racing circuit, should be the guys who are going to be pilots of these new airplanes. He’d spent nine months in French hospitals recovering from the wounds he’d received at the Meuse-Argonne. Realizes that he needs a stronger wind section, so goes down to Puerto Rico and recruits Afro-Puerto Rican clarinetists mostly, but trombone players as well. It was a happy bunch started the hike back to the rear for a little rest and food. What we now call classical music was German music, Bach, Beethoven and Brahms played by symphonies, sung by ordinary people in choirs and in churches. Narrator: In his speech to Congress, the president had proclaimed that German aggression was “a challenge to all mankind.” “The world must be made safe for democracy,” he said. Edward A. Gutiérrez, Historian: The Americans knew that the Germans were tapping into their lines because the Germans had been doing it the whole war. Narrator: When the ships let loose their lines and headed out to sea, the troops on board were entering a conflict of unprecedented bloodshed and suffering, one that had come to be known as The Great War. But all of his Flying Circus members, all of his squadrons that he had trained were still very much alive and were very experienced. Adriane Lentz-Smith, Historian: As Wilson watches the events of World War I as he becomes increasingly concerned about what this means for the world, he really comes to believe that America has to do more than watch and be better, that the U.S. has to go in and show other countries and other people what one does to become better. The sheep were part of the Wilsons’ effort to set an example by personally supporting the war. Narrator: Women who refused to set aside their campaign for suffrage because of the war were set upon by mobs and carted off to prison. Jennifer D. Keene, Historian: This is the birth of the on-going debate over how involved America should be in the world. In the first days of the war, the British had cut the transatlantic cables connecting America to the European continent. Josh Hamilton From a small platform in the middle of the graveyard, Wilson looked out at a crowd of veterans, many of them bearing scars, missing limbs, disabled, disfigured. The first day of the Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest in the British Army’s history. Series Producers Tom Baldwin Adriane Lentz-Smith, Historian: The band is just huge. Narrator: In the spring of 1915, one of America’s most famous novelists embarked on a tour of the Western front. . . In WWI more than 10,000 nurses served near the Western Front, many at front-line medical stations. Voice: Eugene Bullard: It was like mowing grass . For the first time, Wilson met French Prime Minister Georges Clémenceau, and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, along with delegates from more than thirty countries. . But we do know that very soon after this visit, Alice Paul encouraged the National Women’s Party to call off their protests. He is now extinct!” Despite the use of political theater by the Women’s Peace Party, by the summer of 1916 the Preparedness movement was gaining such notice that major magazines began to endorse it. . He’s skilled and effective, brave. A. Scott Berg, Writer: Wilson realized the country had a new power. Reuters It regularly attacked members of the White House staff. “I hope you got my letters . Wilson would spend the next six months trying to win her affection. There he falls madly in love with Diana. Jennifer D. Keene, Historian: These two acts really become tools to shut up people who refuse to be quiet about their opposition to the war, especially leftwing organizations, socialists, the IWW. There were grocers and lumbermen, corset-makers and firemen, the American Woman’s League for Self Defense, and the Lower Wall Street Business Men’s Association. Piere Arcq Collection Hundreds of others were pulled lifeless from the Irish Sea, their corpses stacked on the docks. National Library of Ireland Mary, a precocious high school senior, longs to be a cop. Jennifer D. Keene, Historian: People could be perfectly healthy in the morning, start running a fever, their lungs would fill up with fluid. Americans were working again, and nobody wanted to cut that off. In July, in East St. Louis, Illinois, an exchange of gunfire between blacks and local police provoked an explosion of mob violence that reduced entire black neighborhoods to ashes and left hundreds of men, women and children dead. David M. Kennedy, Historian: Woodrow Wilson himself said, “it was of this that we dreamed at our birth, for which we were destined.” leading the way for the world to a new order of peace. It could be the diplomat. Nine million soldiers were dead, and six million civilians. One day a pair of talent scouts, looking for entertainment for soldiers on leave, heard them play. It didn't seem like fear, nor even dread, but just wonderment. John F. Ross, Writer: When a pilot took command of a squadron they often lay back, didn’t fly as much, were much more cautious. America has sent us this sublime youth, and our gratitude for him is such that it flows back upon his country.”. By the summer of 1917, Noble Sissle watched as the regiment began to attract recruits in record numbers. But she believes that Wilson is certainly a peacemaker. Howard University Archives / Dr. Reid Badger And when I say Germans, I mean German-Americans whose ancestors might have been in this country since before the revolution. American companies also sold Britain and France massive quantities of bullets, artillery shells, and high explosives. I think we’ve got another Washington He shot down three German planes, before being overwhelmed, his plane riddled with bullets. And I think being the man who protects American lives on the one hand and on the other hand protecting American lives by not going into war, presented [Wilson] with a very difficult high wire act. By nightfall America was having a party that would be remembered for decades. Narrator: Bullard was manning a post with a machine gun as a mass of Germans came on. He had come to France to give a symbolic boost to America’s new allies, and find out for himself the status of the European war. People really aren’t so sure. Filmmaker Rob Rapley explains how a race-car driver came to be one of the most famous fighters of the Great War. Want to watch a movie? But then, a crucial thing happened. And there’s a ferocity and a desperation in the Germans’ attack on that day. Susana Fernandes, Director Of Audience Development Narrator: A shaken Wilson had to confront the fact that, after struggling for nearly three years to keep America out of the Great War, he had now committed his nation to a conflict that had already left millions dead. (TV Movie 1993). Now this was a totally romantic notion, but it inspired thousands of Americans to drop out of college, to quit their jobs. . Narrator: The silencing of predominantly left-wing opposition came back to haunt Wilson a few days before the end of the war, when his Democrats lost heavily in the midterm elections, handing control of Congress to the Republicans. Their leaders respond only in statesmen’s terms – in terms of territorial arrangements and divisions of power, and not in terms of justice and mercy and peace.” More and more, Wilson was taking on the role of spokesman for the common people of the world. Of course he can’t sleep, the pain is so severe. There are a myriad of ways in which the federal government inserts this propaganda into your daily life. But they were also simply better trained as marksmen. Before a joint session of Congress, he reiterated why he had felt compelled to enter the war. Pershing encouraged the nickname to give his army a distinctive identity. . After weathering a storm of harsh criticism in the press, she embarked on a government sponsored speaking tour to rally support for the food effort. Library of Congress We’ve scoured more than a dozen World War I “victory cookbooks” and read hundreds of recipes from around the country to bring you a week’s worth of historical dishes. Dan Carlin, Podcast Producer: Pershing’s attitude is like they’re all doing it wrong. Narrator: On March 1st, Americans awoke to banner headlines in newspapers across the country. But by the beginning of 1917 they were becoming increasingly desperate. Richard Rubin, Writer: The maximum sentence was twenty years, for going to a bar and grumbling about food restrictions to somebody who was sitting next to you at the bar. Texas Military Forces Museum They were now on their way to join some of the first Americans in France. Richard Slotkin, Historian: The problem in the Argonne Forest is no unit could maintain contact with the units on its flanks because the woods are just too thick and at this point, the units are so shrunk by casualties that they can’t cover as much front as they did at the start. Three times that wounded, every day. I think he was still hoping he could figure out a way through this. And realized that a German raiding party was encroaching on their position. I have a rendezvous with Death
 Narrator: The situation in the Jim Crow South was even worse: a toxic mixture of rigid segregation, and almost daily episodes of racially motivated brutality. And Wilson is his name. “We shall . She also signed a Food Pledge, vowing to forego meat, wheat, and sugar, so more of these vital supplies could be sent overseas. The attacks were carried out by some 85,000 troops against five major South Vietnamese cities, dozens of military installations, and scores of towns and villages throughout South Vietnam. Up pops a Four-Minute Man to give you a little speech about the war. French forces on either side of the Third Division fell back, exposing the Americans’ flanks. “Retreat, hell!” the captain shot back, “We just got here.”. And he said, I owe it to these soldiers to go back and fight for the things they fought for. Narrator: The most popular song in America in the spring of 1915 was “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier.” 700,000 copies — on 78 r.p.m. His faith informed everything he ever said, everything he ever thought, everything he ever did. Narrator: Davis arrived in the war zone mindful that his employers at the Wheeler News Syndicate expected him to hew closely to America’s strict policy of neutrality. Mark Mandler And the doctor gives the order, “that’s it; just get the President back to Washington D.C.” Wilson is truly a broken man. The French were not free of racism by any stretch of the imagination, but in comparison to how African-American soldiers were treated by white American troops, it really highlighted how bad American racism was. But the American people as a whole were quite ambivalent about whether or not they actually wanted to become one of the great powers that arbitrated the destinies of the world at large. He did not want to take us into the war if he could possibly avoid it. There’s even, in one town in Ohio, a really gruesome slaughter of German dog breeds. Creel’s argument is that “I’m giving you all the facts and you are free to reach whatever conclusions you will.” But in fact these were very carefully edited facts. Around the globe, the response was equally positive. Narrator: Rather than reining in the violence, the federal government took steps that  fueled the climate of hysteria sweeping the country. A mob formed and stripped Prager of most of his clothes, dragged him through the streets, and hanged him from a tree. “It was a plain publicity proposition,” Creel recalled, “a vast enterprise in salesmanship.” Wilson needed Creel’s help. . But since their Navy was no match for the British on the high seas, their only solution was to attack from under the surface. Lucy Fauveau, Sound Recording Narrator: "All right, I'll attack," Whittlesey replied, "but whether you'll hear from me again I don't know.". Gradually, Sissle and his fellow soldiers began to feel more confident. Jay Winter, Historian: The notion of military service as a kind of a test of character, a test of...of courage...is a very deep American phenomenon, to test your mettle against the harshest steel in the world was something very hard to resist for people like Alan Seeger.

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