:Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen

Abstract

When America declared war against Germany in April 1917, the Wilson administration needed quickly to build an army of millions and transport it an ocean away. This daunting challenge justified an unprecedented expansion of federal power, as the government conscripted men and money, ran the railroads, mediated labor disputes, and in countless ways asserted a new authority over American society. In a nicely written survey of the American home front, Christopher Capozzola explores one dimension of war mobilization: the government's attempt to ensure patriotic support for the war. That task was urgent because public opinion was deeply divided, and many labor radicals, pacifists and immigrants felt no obligation to join the fight. To wage war the state not only made unprecedented demands on Americans but took unprecedented steps to secure their loyalty, including a powerful propaganda campaign and a legal crackdown on dissenters and “slackers.” Capozzola shows us that, in addition to such overt displays of state power, the administration mobilized Americans through their traditional networks of voluntary associations. In 1917 many Americans distrusted federal power and felt more keenly their obligations to their communities. The Wilson administration did not replace these local centers of authority but used them to rouse and channel enthusiasm for the war, and to threaten those who failed to join in.