During World War I, the United States saw a systematic mobilization of the country's entire population and economy to produce the soldiers, food supplies, ammunitions and money necessary to win the war. 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. As a result, the level of confusion was high in the first 12 months.

The war came in the midst of the Progressive Era, when efficiency and expertise were highly valued. 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.

American entry into the war

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. Sympathies among many politically and culturally influential Americans had favored the British cause from the start of the war, as typified by industrialist Samuel Insull, born in London, who helped young Americans enlist in British or Canadian forces. On the other hand, especially in the Midwest, many Irish Americans and German Americans opposed any American involvement and were anti-British. The suffragist movement included many pacifists, and most churches opposed the war.On the historiography, see Justus D. Doenecke, "Neutrality Policy and the Decision for War" in Ross Kennedy ed., A Companion to Woodrow Wilson (2013) pp: 243-69 Online

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. Most notable was the torpedoing without warning the passenger liner Lusitania in 1915. 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. Americans public opinion was inflamed by the German offer to Mexico, in the Zimmermann telegram: an invitation for Mexico to go to war with Germany against the United States, with German funding, with the promise of the return of the lost territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. On April 1, 1917, Wilson called for war, emphasizing that the U.S. had to fight to maintain its honor and to have a decisive voice in shaping the new postwar world.For detailed coverage of Wilson's speech see NY Times main headline, April 2, 1917, President Calls for War Declaration, Stronger Navy, New Army of 500,000 Men, Full Cooperation With Germany's Foes Congress voted on April 6, 1917, to declare war, 82 to 6 in the Senate, and 373 to 50 in the House of Representatives.Staff, History.com. "U.S. Entry into World War I." History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2017, http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/u-s-entry-into-world-war-i.

US government

Temporary agencies Congress authorized President Woodrow Wilson to create a bureaucracy of 500,000 to 1 million new jobs in five thousand new federal agencies.Spencer Tucker and Priscilla Mary Roberts, eds., World War I: encyclopedia (2005), p. 1205 To solve the labor crisis, the Employment Service of the Department of Labor attracted workers from the South and Midwest to war industries in the East.

Government propaganda In April 1917, the Wilson Administration created the Committee on Public Information (CPI), known as the Creel Committee, to control war information and provide pro-war propaganda. Employing talented writers and scholars, it issued anti-German pamphlets and films. 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.Kennedy, Over Here, 61-62

Military draft

In 1917 the administration decided to rely primarily on conscription, rather than voluntary enlistment, to raise military manpower for World War I. The Selective Service Act of 1917 was carefully drawn to remedy the defects in the Civil War system and—by allowing exemptions for dependency, essential occupations, and religious scruples—to place each man in his proper niche in a national 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. Administration was entrusted to local boards composed of leading civilians in each community. These boards issued draft calls in order of numbers drawn in a national lottery and determined exemptions. In 1917 and 1918 some 24 million men were registered and nearly 3 million inducted into the military services, with little of the resistance that characterized the Civil War.John Whiteclay Chambers II, To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America (1987)

Using questionnaires filled out by doughboys as they left the Army, Gutièrrez reports that they were not cynical or disillusioned. They fought "for honor, manhood, comrades, and adventure, but especially for duty."Edward A. :Gutièrrez, Doughboys on the Great War: How American Soldiers Viewed Their Military Experience (2014)

Civil liberties The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 attempted to punish enemy activity and extended to the punishment expressions of doubt about America's role in the war. 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.

The private American Protective League, working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was one of many private patriotic associations that sprang up to support the war and at the same time identify slackers, spies, draft dodgers and anti-war organizations.

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."

Motion pictures

The young film industry produced a wide variety of propaganda films.For archival holdings see "WWI Films at the National Archives in College Park, MD" The most successful was The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin, a "sensational creation" designed to rouse the audience against the German ruler. Comedies included Mutt and Jeff at the Front. 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. Other activities included film shorts supporting the sale of war bonds or for war relief such as Tom's Little Star.

Once America entered the war in 1917 Hollywood filmmakers had no more use for popular prewar ideological themes of neutrality, cynicism or pacifism. At first they focused their attention on making heroes out of Wilson and Pershing. Soon they turned the cameras toward portrayals of average Americans facing typical situations; this approach resonated better with audiences. The films attacked cowards, and snooty elites who disdained any dangerous combat roles in a war to purify the world. They reinforced American democracy and attacked hierarchical class structures.Michael T. Isenberg, "The mirror of democracy: reflections of the war films of World War I, 1917-1919," Journal of Popular Culture (1976) 9#4 pp 878-885. By the 1920s and 1930s, however, the mood had reversed and pacifism was shown as the antidote to the horrors of the World War. The smash hit Marx brothers comedy Duck Soup made it clear that stupidity caused the war.Michael T. Isenberg, "An Ambiguous Pacifism: A Retrospective on World War I Films, 1930-1938." Journal of Popular Film 4.2 (1975): 98-115. The cycle turned around once again by 1941, when Gary Cooper emerged from a religious pacifism to a militant heroism in Sergeant York. Single-handedly he used his backwoods hunting skills to capture an entire unit of the highly professional German army.Michael E. Birdwell, "A Change of Heart: Alvin York and the Movie Sergeant York." Film & History 27.1 (1997): 22-33.

Economics Munitions production before U.S. entry

By 1916, Britain was funding most of the Empire's war expenditures, all of Italy's and two thirds of the war costs of France and Russia, plus smaller nations as well. The gold reserves, overseas investments and private credit then ran out, forcing Britain to borrow $4 billion from the U.S. Treasury in 1917–18.Steven Lobell, "The Political Economy of War Mobilization: From Britain's Limited Liability to a Continental Commitment," International Politics (2006) 43#3 pp 283–304 Much of this money was spent paying United States industries to manufacture ammunition. United States Cartridge Company expanded its work force ten-fold in response to September 1914 contracts with British purchasing agents; and ultimately manufactured over two billion rifle and machine gun cartridges. Baldwin Locomotive Works expanded their Eddystone, Pennsylvania, manufacturing facilities in 1915 to manufacture Russian artillery shells and British rifles. The United States production of smokeless powder was equal to the combined production of the European Allies during the last 19 months of the war; and by the end of the war United States factories were producing smokeless powder at a rate 45 percent higher than the European Allies' combined production. Production rate of explosives by the United States was similarly 40 percent higher than Britain and nearly twice that of France. Shipments of American raw materials and food allowed Britain to feed itself and its army while maintaining her productivity. The financing was generally successful.M. J. Daunton, "How to Pay for the War: State, Society and Taxation in Britain, 1917–24," English Historical Review (1996) 111# 443 pp. 882–919 in JSTOR Heavy investment in ammunition manufacturing machinery did not bring long term prosperity to some major American companies. The United States Cartridge Company Lowell, Massachusetts, factory which manufactured nearly two-thirds of the small arms cartridges produced in the United States during the war, closed eight years later. After Baldwin manufactured over six million artillery shells, nearly two million rifles, and 5,551 military locomotives for Russia, France, Britain and the United States, postwar production never used more than one-third the capacity of the Eddystone factory; and Baldwin declared bankruptcy in 1935.

Munitions production after U.S. entry