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Chapter 24: Woodrow Wilson and the Great War

Introduction
In Wilson's presidency, the United States mediated a dispute between Japan and China, suppressed unrest in the Caribbean, and intervened in Mexico to overthrow the dictator Victoriano Huerta. The defining event, however, was the Great War, in which the United States initially attempted to remain neutral. Neutrality was tested by increased trade with the Allied powers and German submarine warfare in the Atlantic, and when diplomatic overtures for peace were rejected and the U.S. intercepted the Zimmermann telegram, Wilson declared war on the Central Powers. America mobilized for the war only fitfully, but the war did bring some benefits for blacks, who served in the armed forces in addition to finding work in wartime industry; women, who entered new fields; and for labor in general, as wartime needs decreased unemployment, raised wages, and opened the way for unionization in many areas. Government planning and regulation of industry began a new era of cooperation between the two. To finance the war the government borrowed, sold Liberty and Victory bonds, and used income, inheritance, and excess-profits taxes; to secure support for the war effort, Wilson named George Creel to head the Committee on Public Information. The Espionage Act (1917) and the Sedition Act (1918) helped silence dissent. American involvement was decisive in winning the war for the Allies, but Wilson’s plans for the peace did not fare so well. Wilson proffered his Fourteen Points: Germany accepted, but the Big Four, more concerned with security, war guilt, and reparations, did not. Wilson hoped to implement his Fourteen Points, then, with the League of Nations, but he faced daunting opposition at home. Wilson had made political mistakes that eroded his support and refused to compromise on the League, thus Congress rejected American membership. The end of the war and a rapid, unsupervised demobilization brought instability to the United States, leading to inflation, economic decline and unemployment, strikes, and a Red Scare. In electing Harding in 1920, Americans expressed their desire to return to "normalcy."

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