World War One economically and socially impacted American, mostly workers, women, and children through the Selective Service Act, the CPI, and women’s suffrage.
President Woodrow Wilson was giving the Allies all the United States’ material resources, however the Allies need troops, which is the one thing the United States were unable to provide at the time. As a result, Wilson tried to improve military preparedness and pushed congress to create military conscription, which he argued was the most democratic form of enlistment. According to Eric Fonder, “Under the Selective Service Act of May 1917, 24 million men were required to register with the draft” (726). This means that from the age of 21 to 30, men had to register to the military, and
…show more content…
President Woodrow Wilson declared that throughout the United States, there needed to be control on the way information was given to the public, that patriotism was too important in this war. Thus, the Committee on Public Information was created, “to explain to Americans, and the world…. the cause that compelled America to take arms in defense of its liberties and free institutions” (Fonder 727). This meant that there was a special committee in charge of the media about the war, that controlled what to say and when to publish it. Which led to the beginning of what is called, “the propaganda war.” The committee’s biggest advertisement, was freedom, they were selling it, as if it was something to be purchased. According to the textbook, “the war, as CPI advertisement proclaims, was being fought in ‘the great cause of freedom’...’you came here seeking freedom. You must now help preserve it’” (Fonder 728). The textbook also states how the selling and purchasing of bonds was how Americans showed their patriotism during the war. Additionally, the CPT, trained and distributed 75,000 Four-Minute Men who delivered brief standardized talks to audiences around the nation, speaking about patriotism and how important it was for Americans to participate in the war effort by purchasing these