Summary Of Over Here By David Kennedy

David Kennedy’s Over Here: The First World War and American Society gives the reader an in depth description of American history during Americas involvement in World War I. The book covers from President Wilson’s war message to Congress on April 2, 1917 to the Armistice on November 11, 1918 pointing out major dilemmas within the country, whether they are political, social, or cultural. Kennedy starts the book out with a prologue that sets the scene. After the prologue, Kennedy jumps into explaining the war and the thoughts of the American people about the war that was carried into the battlefield. During this time, Wilson had just won his re-election of 1916, which was won by promising to keep America out of the war. So it was not hard to

Proposed by Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo, Wilson’s administration decided it would be best to pay for the war through Liberty Loans, which were bonds that appealed to citizen instead of banks. Using Liberty Loans were thought to have their benefits, but in the end the result of them was heavy economic inflation. Even though the economy inflated, other ways to finance the war were talked about. Progressives pushed for increases in excess profits tax rates, and they eventually won, but the war the federal debt moving at an exponential rate raised tax rates permanently. Between the years 1915 and 1920, the federal debt increased from $1 billion dollars to $20 billion dollars. Wilson’s administration also had to find ways for America to generate more products for the war. This brought up many organizations such as the Food Administration ran by Herbert Hoover, and the War Industries Board ran by Bernard Baruch. Both of these organizations worked together with the federal government, but it sadly showed the unwanted truth that there are problems even within volunteering since Herbert Hoover and Bernard Baruch used these to their benefits. Volunteering helped the war efforts, but was still short. The most depleted resource was bodies, and since men were needed it led to the Selective Service. The Selective Service brought up even more problems to the federal government. These problems included how to handle African Americans, how to hand people who did not speak English, and people who objected the Selective Service or avoided it all together. These problems formed the American Expeditionary Force lead by John J. Pershing. After forming the force, the group founded many social experiments including sex education and testing of intelligence. Finally after two million men were enlisted into the war,