Several novels should be considered for their capacity to evoke a sense of this era. John Dos Passos wrote The 42nd Parallel (1930) and 1919 (1932) as part of a trilogy called U.S.A. The writing style, greatly influenced by film techniques, creates a kind of visual reality. James T. Farrell, Young Lonigan (1932), is a realistic novel of a boy in Chicago at the end of World War I. Social attitudes, including racial hostility and ethnic parochialism, are well expressed. Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front (1929) is one of the best-known antiwar novels ever written. The story is told from the German side.

The propaganda possibilities of motion pictures were evident by the second decade of the century. For discussion see Larry Wayne Ward, The Motion Picture Goes to War: The U.S. Government Film Effort During World War I (1985). In 1930 Lewis Milestone made All Quiet on the Western Front into a movie, starring Lew Ayres. Its dramatic impact remains powerful even decades later, and it is still superior to a 1979 television remake. Another antiwar film of high quality is Paths of Glory (1957), directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas. Dealing with a moment of cowardice in the French army in 1916, it is a powerful indictment of war's waste and destruction. In 1925 King Vidor made a silent film, The Big Parade, starring John Gilbert. It, too, is dramatically powerful in a medium not well known to most of today's college students. In contrast to these three films, Sergeant York (1941), directed by Howard Hawks and starring Gary Cooper, tells the heroic story of shy Alvin York of Tennessee who captured 132 Germans virtually single-handed. The grisly quality of warfare is not scanted, but heroism is the overriding consideration. Perhaps the date of the film provides an explanation.

PBS Video offers an excellent account of The Hunt for Pancho Villa (fifty-eight minutes) using film footage, photographs, recollections by veterans, and historians' commentaries. PBS also provides a report on Influenza, 1918 (sixty minutes) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/, with photographs of the epidemic and reminiscences of the survivors.

Many documentaries deal with the World War I period. NBC has a twenty-five-minute videotape, The Great War: Fifty Years Later, and Films for the Humanities has Stalemate: History in Action, a twenty-minute videotape. The former is in color, the latter in black and white. Both of these revealing accounts make use of contemporary pictorial materials. PBS Video offers The Great War--1918 (sixty minutes) and an account that looks well beyond 1918 in The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (eight one-hour episodes). The American Heritage Media Collection offers World War I, also a production of quality. A different emphasis is provided by NBC's The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson, a twenty-six-minute videotape in black and white narrated by Herbert Hoover. It is sensitive and informative.

The Big Red Scare of 1919-1920 (ten minutes) is a brief but striking account from Zenger Media, P.O. Box 802, Culver City, Calif. 90232. The American Social History Project (http://www.ashp. cuny.edu) tells an important story through the migrants themselves in Up South: African-American Migration in the Era of the Great War (thirty minutes). More on the same subject is found in By River, By Rail: History of the Black Migration (thirty minutes) from Films for the Humanities and Sciences. Movement to the cities sometimes brought conflict, as in Bloody Island: The Race Riots of East St. Louis (forty-two minutes) from Filmmakers Library (http://www.filmakers.com).
Document Set 22-1

Total War and The Boundaries of Dissent: The Response from The Heartland

1. A Musical Call to Arms from George M. Cohan, 1917
2. Friendly Words for the Foreign Born, 1917
3. The Visual Image of the Enemy, ca. 1917-1918
4. The Wisconsin Defense League Urges a Loyalty Pledge, ca. 1917
5. George Creel Recalls the "World's Greatest Adventure in Advertising," 1920
6. The Masses Interprets the Great Crusade, 1915-1917
7. Oscar Ameringer Recalls the "Terror" in the Wisconsin Hinterlands, ca. 1916-1918
8. A Socialist Critique of the War by Eugene V. Debs, 1918
9. The Supreme Court Limits Free Speech in Wartime, 1919This chapter focuses on one of the important problems dealt with in Chapter 22, the mobilization of the American public for war in 1917 and 1918. By examining documentary material illustrative of the wartime propaganda effort, students' attention is drawn to the far-reaching impact of total war. Equally important is evidence of the political and ethnocultural tensions that surfaced as a result of the Wilson administration's drive toward conformity. The documents may be linked directly to the textbook's focus question on the home front.The instructor might begin by helping students classify the documents by type or purpose. Students should pay close attention to the documents' origins, purposes, and intended audience. In this connection it may be necessary for the instructor to provide an introduction to the resistance to American involvement in the war against Germany. While the text coverage of the opposition to the war will be helpful, instructors may wish to deepen the background, perhaps localizing the issue with an examination of a particular community's or population's reaction to World War I. The illustrations from The Masses will be especially useful in promoting discussion of left-wing dissent and the administration's response to the radical challenge.Another excellent stimulus to discussion is to contrast the initial enthusiasm of many Americans for the war and their subsequent confrontation with the reality of combat. One introduction to the topic might be the provocative film Goodbye Billy, produced by historians with classroom use in mind. By re-creating the emotionalism of the first response to Wilsonian idealism, the film provides excellent context for discussion of the documents.This discussion might, in turn, lead to a searching examination of Wilson's wartime domestic policies, including the creation of the CPI. This topic might easily be expanded to incorporate an evaluation of Wilsonian liberalism and the depth of the New Freedom's commitment to personal liberty. It will also be possible to establish linkage between Wilson's policies and the Johnson and Nixon administrations' management of dissent. A broad follow-up question might deal with the impact of war on social reform.Finally the documents offer an opportunity to examine citizen involvement in the war effort from several perspectives. Visual images and music lyrics can reveal aspects of popular response to the war. Several documents testify to the importance of volunteer activities in waging total war. Instructors might use these materials to support a discussion of historical evidence itself, including the value of both elite and popular sources in measuring popular attitudes.In the last analysis, this chapter should contribute to students' awareness of war's influence on society and domestic politics. Moreover, it may stimulate thoughtful consideration of the price paid for national unity and the consequences of centralized authority.

Recommended Readings for Document Set 22-1


Lorin Lee Cary. "The Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, 1917-1918," Wisconsin Magazine of History 53 (Autumn 1969): 33-50.

G. D. Fite and H. C. Peterson. Opponents of War, 1917-1918 (1957).

Meiron and Susie Harries. The Last Days of Innocence: America at War, 1917-1918 (1997).

David Kennedy. Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980).

Frederick C. Luebke. Bonds of Loyalty: German-Americans and World War I (1974).

Paul L. Murphy. World War I and the Origins of Civil Liberties (1979).

William Preston, Jr. Aliens and Dissenters: Federal Suppression of Radicals, 1903-1933 (1966; 2nd ed., 1995).

Nick Salvatore. Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist (1982).

Harry N. Scheiber. The Wilson Administration and Civil Liberties, 1917-1921 (1960).

Stephen L. Vaughn, Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, Nationalism and the Committee on Public Information (1979).
Audiovisual Resources for Document Set 22-1


Goodbye Billy: America Goes to War, 1917-1918 (film--26 min.). Churchill Films, 662 N. Robertson Street, Los Angeles, Calif. 90069.

The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century Series (videotapes--eight hrs.). PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, Va. 22314-1698.

Home Front, 1917-1919: War Transforms American Life (film, videotape--17 min.). Films, Inc., 5547 N. Ravenswood Avenue, Chicago, Ill. 60640-1199.

The Moving Picture Boys in the Great War (videotape--51 min.). Republic Pictures Home Video, P.O. Box 66930, Los Angeles, Calif. 90066.

Pro and Anti War Cartoons of World War I (photographs). Documentary Photo Aids, P.O. Box 956, Mt. Dora, Fla. 32757.
Document Set 22-2

The Social Impact of Total War: World War I as A Catalyst for Change

1. A Black Migrant's Reasons for Relocation, 1917
2. The Crisis Views the War as a Stimulus to Black Activism, 1919
3. Anna Howard Shaw Urges Equality of Sacrifice, 1917
4. President Woodrow Wilson Appeals for Woman's Suffrage as a War Measure, 1918
5. Samuel Gompers Attacks Bolshevism, 1921
6. Victor Berger Challenges Congress, 1919
7. Images of Social Ferment, 1917-1918Focusing on some important outcomes of World War I, this chapter emphasizes the war's implications for the future. Several of the documents address the long-term consequences of the war. These materials are intended to sharpen students' understanding of war as a catalyst for change, and in some respects, as a culmination of Progressivism.As an introduction to this central problem, instructors may wish to draw students into discussion of the war's influence on social reform. Starting with a definition of Wilsonian liberalism, the instructor will need to explore its social goals and assumptions. As a follow-up, students could consider the war as both a challenge and a stimulus to liberal reform.A related question involves the matter of unanticipated consequences. As students review the ideological and political changes that were the by-products of wartime pressures, the process of change over time might be explored. The documents on Bolshevism and socialism raise important questions about the power of revolutionary forces unleashed. Students will want to explore the reasons why postwar repression and intolerance were such prominent features of American social and political discourse. This discussion might be advanced through inquiry into concern over the state of the working class, so evident in the documents. Finally, postwar ideological debates may be directly linked with future American suspicion of radicalism and Soviet-American tension.Implications for the future are also evident in the documents dealing with the war's impact on women and minority groups. Students should determine how the war advanced the drive for justice and equality. Relying on the text material on postwar intolerance and repression, they may explore the causes of racial conflict in relation to the war as a liberating experience. A stimulus to discussion might be provided by a comparison of Wilsonian democratic rhetoric and the reality of racial discrimination at home.

Recommended Readings for Document Set 22-2


Arthur D. Barbeau and Florette Henri. The Unknown Soldiers: Black American Troops in World War I (1974).

Maureen W. Greenwald. Women, War, and Work (1980).

Florette Henri. Black Migration: Movement Northward, 1900-1921 (1985).

David M. Kennedy. Over Here: The First World War and American Society (1980).

Christopher Lasch. The American Liberals and the Russian Revolution (1982).

Carole Marks. Farewell--We're Good and Gone: The Great Black Migration (1989).

Sally M. Miller. Victor Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism, 1910-1920 (1973).

Robert K. Murray. Red Scare (1955).

George Schild. Between Ideology and Realpolitik: Woodrow Wilson and the Russian Revolution, 1917-1921 (1995).

Joe William Trotter, Jr., ed. The Great Migration in Historical Perspective (1991).
Audiovisual Resources for Document Set 22-2


The Frozen War (film--30 min.). Churchill Films, 662 N. Robertson Boulevard, Los Angeles, Calif. 90069.

Goin' to Chicago (videotape--58 min.). Resolution, Inc./California Newsreel, 149 Ninth Street, Suite 420, San Francisco, Calif. 94103.

Home Front. 1917-1919: War Transforms American Life (film, videotape--17 min.). Films, Inc., 5547 N. Ravenswood Avenue, Chicago, Ill. 60640-1199.

Up South: African-American Migration in the Era of the Great War (videotape--30 min.). American Social History Productions, 99 Hudson Street, New York, N.Y. 10013.

An Uphill Battle (audiotape--30 min.). Audiotape Program 7, Annenberg/CPB American History Series, Part 2. Annenberg/CPB Project, 1111 16th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036.
Document Set 22-3

Foreign Policy: Justifications and Outcomes

1. Senator John McLaurin Demands an Open Door in China, 1899
2. The American Asiatic Association Organizes Businessmen in Support of an Aggressive China Policy, 1899, 1905
3. Woodrow Wilson Outlines American Neutrality Policy, 1914
4. The Zimmermann Telegram Alters the Debate, 1917
5. Wilson Asks for a Declaration of War, 1917
6. Wilson's Fourteen Points Clarify Liberal War Aims, 1918
7. The New Republic Expresses Liberal Criticism of the Versailles Treaty, 1919
8. Wilson Defends the Treaty and the League, 1919
9. Conflicting Visions of the Versailles Treaty, 1920Historians never tire of examining Woodrow Wilson's foreign policy as an expression of his unique (and sometimes rigid) personality. One of the most interesting dimensions of that personality was the extent to which Progressive moralism and idealism influenced his administration. Instructors might easily use the documents to engage students in a discussion of the relationship between idealism and pragmatism in the formulation and conduct of American foreign policy. In the documents, students can see the continuities connecting American expansionism in the early twentieth century, the seemingly contradictory stance of neutrality, and the politics of peacemaking in 1919.The inclusion of the Zimmermann Telegram in Document Set 23-3 opens another promising line of analysis. A number of provocative questions surround the decoding, transfer, and release of this important document. Its handling by both British and American authorities raises important issues relating to propaganda and government management of public information. Instructors might stimulate discussion by asking students to list the contextual factors that made the Zimmermann Telegram so significant when it was made public. This discussion will give instructors an opportunity to impress on students the importance of historical context and sequence, as well as timing and publicity, in the interpretation of historical events.The analysis of the peacemaking process and the Treaty of Versailles will also permit students to exercise their critical skills. After classroom discussion of Wilson's war aims, student research teams could examine the reaction of contemporaries, as expressed in the documents, with emphasis on the relationship between the treaty and the objectives outlined in the Fourteen Points. Separate groups could prepare legal briefs that endorse or oppose ratification by the U.S. Senate. A variation would be to assign separate research groups to prepare position papers for the treaty supporters, mild reservationists, strong reservationists, and irreconcilables. Armed with their evidence and arguments, class members might debate the treaty from these various perspectives.Whatever classroom activities are adopted, these documents should be studied with an eye to the assessment of Wilson's conduct of diplomacy and executive leadership. Instructors and students will want to conclude the analytical exercise by examining the Wilsonian legacy, including his vision of a new international system and the innovative institutional mechanisms needed to uphold the new world order.

Recommended Readings for Document Set 22-3


Lloyd E. Ambrosius. Wilsonian Statecraft (1991).

Kendrick A. Clements. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992).

John M. Cooper, Jr. The Warrior and the Priest (1983).

Patrick Devlin. Too Proud to Fight: Woodrow Wilson's Neutrality (1974).

Robert H. Ferrell. Woodrow Wilson and World War I (1985).

Lloyd Gardner. Safe for Democracy (1984).

Ross Gregory. The Origins of American Intervention in the First World War (1977).

Thomas J. Knock. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order (1993).

N. Gordon Levin. Woodrow Wilson and World Politics (1968).

Ernest R. May. The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917 (1959).

Barbara Tuchman. The Zimmermann Telegram (1958).
Audiovisual Resources for Document Set 22-3


Expulsion, The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century Series (videotape--60 min.). PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, Va. 22314-1698.

Men in Crisis: Wilson vs the Senate (film--27 min.). University of Illinois Files Center, 1325 Oak Street, Champaign, Ill. 61820.

1919: Lost Peace, The People's Century Series (videotape--60 min.). PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, Va. 22314-1698.

The Secret Message That Plunged America into War (film--27 min.). Instructional Media Services, West Allis, Wis. 53214; phone (414) 541-8008.

Wilson's Fight for Peace (film--30 min.). McGraw-Hill Films, 674 Via de la Valle, P.O. Box 641, Del Mar, Calif. 92014.