Historians such as we have here. Wrecking it is one of the great delights of such an experience. Which leads me to this opportunity to introduce dr. Jennifer keane. Not only a specialist on American Military history during world war i, but a lifetime friend of the museum and its mission. Friend of the museum and its mission. Jennifer spend some time in australia. She was reminiscing about being harassed by crowds of kangaroos. So we have a lot in common. She is published widely on the american involvement in world wari, including the great and the making of america. And the United States and the first world war. Of is also the lead author visions of america, the history of the United States that uses a visual approach to teaching students u. S. History. Awards received numerous are her scholarship, including a toide to current france and australia. Most significantly is her work the unitednding states during world war i. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming dr. Jennifer king. This will be my first test. Welcome to the museum. Its a pleasure to speak here. I think what i have to say the tales nicely with davids presentation. And my talk this morning is going to do the flip side of that which is the inside of the war on america and especially to think about the impact of the war on the men who fought for the United States. The title of my presentation, what does all mean from american soldiers in world war i . They were also reflected by some of the experiences. That italready heard would need to send troops overseas and increasingly realized it needed significant troops overseas. They United States did prepare from the immediate entry. The question came in 1917 how to best secure this army. And we have all seen this poster, the iconic image that comes out of the first world war. And we probably all know in may of 1917 the United States passes the conscription act. It seems clear the United States gives the but gives the government the power it needs to raise a large force through the draft. There was a short window in which men could volunteer for the armies. Until mid december of 1917 it was possible for men to volunteer. There were hopes this might be enough to raise the forces american needed. They certainly felt they would fill the National Guard units and some extras as well. A lot of the iconic imagery, we look at propaganda posters connected to military enlistment. They deal with this early period when there is hope that we could raise a large number of volunteers. I wanted to talk about this for a second because i think its important to take a look at of theosters and some letters of men who volunteered to get a sense of what was motivating them. In some respects, especially this one on the right hand side, you can see an appeal to traditional notions that is a way tovice show your masculinity. And its also clearly a patriotic act. This one on the right where we have this man hiding in the shadows with his back turned to his community. He is also ashamed in meeting to from the others marched in Bright Sunlight in uniform, proudly on display for all to see. I dont want what im about to say next to dissuade anyone from believing that men who volunteered were unpatriotic or not believing in the war cause. We are remiss if we dont expand upon this portrait and think about other motivations that people might have had for volunteering. This is important to understand because it has always been my argument that the first world world wars significant in American History defines what it will mean to serve in the military for the 20th century. I wanted to talk about a 26yearold who enlists in pittsburgh and leaves a 23yearold wife at home. Who couldvey gotten out of the draft because he was married. There are many wonderful sets of letters here at the national museum. We also have a center for american war letters there. And we happen have both sides of the correspondence. Lets quite interesting is from the very beginning, while they talk about the hope that he would survive the war and certainly about their dedication alsoe cause, what they talk about a is their financial future. And the ways they expect his military service to improve their lives postwar, that in many respects they are seeing the benefits that military service and Wartime Service will give them as a way to end the in the a higher place socioeconomic ladder than they had begun. They strategize about this in some interesting ways. In a sense we have many and extollingters the benefits of military service. This is one image i pulled out from a larger poster. In terms of thinking about that the the fruit military can give you. There are things like confidence, ambition that military service is in a sense going to be a school that will give you the traits and determination to succeed not just in the military but in your civilian life as well the wartime environment also gives them a way to contribute to this Bright Future. Surprising because we always think of women as having to fight for the right during the war. And the hold out for one that is going to pay well. And she has an interesting appalled toe is realize she will be paid less than a man for doing the same job. She gets a job securing speakers for the bureau of public speaking. These are the men who go out and talk. Must cost less spent seven budgets about how much she is saving. She in turn is running back to him and saying you should try really hard to become an officer because this will be a great job reference for you when you get out of the service. The whole point of the poster is to encourage soldiers to work for an honorable discharge. Do what you are supposed to do, you will not gain some purpose of personal benefit, but you could have this that you would have that you could literally use to present to lawyers after the war. There is also an interesting way in which they talk about something that david mentioned. Which is liberty bonds. He quite rightly talks about what this means in terms of financing the war effort. But these are investments for them. About thealk importance of lucille taking half their earnings and putting it into liberty bonds. This becomes a way to think about their financial future, securing it through investment that the military is offering. They emphasize to people lend your money to the government. Certainly it is a patriotic thing to do but there is some selfinterest as well. The u. S. Treasury pay you interest every six months. This one is my absolute favorite. It makes me wish i could buy a liberty bond at 4 interest. What i am getting in my civics is so pathetic. People dont have to choose. It is clearly the patriotic thing to do. You could beime saving for this Bright Future and the government is going to help you. As we know when the war turns out not to make peoples lives better and specially not to make their financial situation better there will be a strong disillusionment of veterans coming home and this will animate a lot of their postwar crusades or compensation from the government. It is hard for us to understand why this becomes a critical into if you dont take account the ways in which the government is raising these expectations as men come in. We continue to look at military services as a way you can in fact improve your life and end up in a better position when you leave the service and the general sentiment begins with the first world war. Another important component in terms of the expectations people have about what the wars going to do and how it is going to go comes from the actual way the america the actual way america races the bulk of its forces. The United States will raise 72 of its army the majority will not to volunteer even if they come in with the same expectations. But i saying conscription suppose as many of you know, that is not what the draft is called in the first world war. The government is careful to rebrand the draft. People didnt remember the draft riots in 1863. There wouldoncerns be objections to raising the bulk of the forces to conscription. Was still ae significant portion of the American Population still unsure about this war, to immediately institute a draft gave the impression that you are forcing an unwilling country against its will into this conflict. Instead of calling it the draft they call it what we still call it, Selective Service. It that are to be selected than to be drafted . I would like to be selected. This is an important reframing of what is going on. The Selective Service act and processes presented as a process in which all men are eligible for some form of service to the nation. In 1917,he first draft and then in 1918 he goes out. It is claimed every man has a responsibility to the nation and that is demonstrated through registering for the draft. It will be the local boards who make a determination about who is best serving the war effort in the military and whose best serving it by remaining at home and working in the economy. All those homefront activities thecontributing to the war question is where you are selected to be placed. Returning veterans will come back to the end of the war because a lot of that rationale is quickly discarded in a postwar period by the government. They want to remind the government of what it claims. To get a sense that all men in the draft eligible age of range are required to render their service, we can see this rationale being explained through the process by which the draft worked. Unlike in the civil war were the draft had been an individual process individual men filled out their forms and homes in the way that it is now. There were two National Registration days. Every man of where the draft eligible ages would go to their polling places and in full view of their friends and neighbors would register for the draft. You can get kind of a sense of which is making it a patriotic festive day. All these men show up at the same time to register. It was also a way to keep tabs him those men who did not show up and gave local communities the ability to publish their names in the newspapers and to enlist the community in exerting up to her pressure on men to comply with Selective Service regulations. I did a project where a look at a bunch of newspapers just to get a sense of how did this play out in communities throughout the nation. The one on the left is harrisburg pennsylvania. This one is san bernardino. You can see this beautiful graphic around the front page where you have men standing in tell from their hats they come from all different walks of life. Wait to hand in their draft registration cards to uncle sam. Im afraid to click this. As you can see here in the center of this image you have the cartoon and then you have photographic evidence in case you doubted this was happening. My alltime favorite is this one , which i think sums it up exactly right. Patriots will register gladly. That is exactly right. And the cartoon in the center is almost instructive here because you come in from all walks of life. Those of you have seen a lot of british propaganda see this as plagiarizing from that famous line, whichinto shows lots of hats and men from British Society as they march off in the distance. This is exactly what is happening in the top of this. And you look like the men in the early propaganda poster. The part i want to Pay Attention to is this part down at the. Ottom this is a judge speaking sternly to the draft dodgers, the men who did not sign up. You are going to spend a year in jail, thats your punishment for not registering. And not only will you be drafted in aou will be put noncombatant job. What is interesting is that this is june of 1917. What itconception of means to be in the military is still very much that being in the military means fighting on the western front. It means being a combat and soldier, and means learning how to fight. But the reality for it is 60 of the men who served will serve in noncombatant roles. Some of them will be having technical jobs, some laboring jobs. Being a noncombatant means you are not it supposed to danger. Thats not exposed to danger. You have other things you are doing. You can see in a cartoonlike this were the point is your punishing somebody by putting that in a noncombatant role, youre not actually elevating this to the status or preparing them for the reality that many of them will not get anywhere near the restaurant front. About the was talking problems america has in the supply lines and logistics, that is absolutely true from an organizational standpoint and also true from a morale standpoint. Many men are not prepared for the reality of what their contribution is going to be for the war effort. They know these are not going to be the contributions that are honored when they come back to the country. This is setting up a lot of problems for the military and the future. We can imagine the scenario, and these are africanamerican soldiers who are men, like the majority of american soldiers who came from workingclass or rural backgrounds, never expected in their life to go further than 40 miles in the place they were born. They were now drafted into the military they see parts of america they have never seen. They see a city they have never seen. Never been on this kind of voyage before. And they arrive in france. Not only africanamerican soldiers, this is what they see. Again david gave us a nice view coming in. And they see this. The reality of america sending tons of munition and eight overseas. End aid overseas. This is as far think it in france and when we look at what their work looks like, we can see looks like they are laborers, that they are not being treated by sold treated like soldiers. In many senses it looks like a lineal Factory Assembly outside as these boxes are coming off of the ship. Even the way that this whole picture is staged is so revealing of africanamericans experiences in the first world war. Here has his uniform on. But over his uniform he has work overalls. The man supervising him is white. So the racial hierarchy is in place and they are drafted, but drafted for their labor, not made to feel like a soldier at all. Course, ae intent of change is little when i came to american Race Relations. Not just the fact of being in france but being in contact with white friends who treat them like americans for the first time. There are opportunities africanamerican soldiers take to organize collective protests in the United States and overseas. Educated africanamericans come in contact with uneducated africanamericans. You need someone who can write to sendorganize ways your grievances higher up the to send yourand reports to africanamerican to make clear the abuses that are existing. Efforts to arm themselves in france to protect themselves from racial attacks by white soldiers. When we start thinking about a different impact the war would have on American Society namely the impact on the civil rights movement, i would urge you not to think about africanamericans waiting until he got home to participate in civil rights protest. Situation, there were many units that organized and protested while they were in uniform. The fact they were behind the lines gave them the time and ability to do this. They are ready to go. They are already politicized and ready to join the naacp, which they to enlarge numbers. Contested and is what you might expect. Two examples of activism on the part of american soldiers was going to be contested. Example comes from another , adiers letter collection white soldier from dallas texas. He has a terrible war experience. Unit in a Field Artillery but is constantly getting sick. In and out of the hospitals constantly. He makes it to the end of the war and rights the last letter to his family saying you can expect mean three weeks. He never makes it home. A lot of his letters are about his health problems. And he feels many ways that he is fighting a personal battle to maintain the color line in france. And hospital administrators keep putting him next to africanamerican soldiers when he goes into the hospital. I want to read about a fight he had with the supervisor in one of these wars. Writes, he gave me that between two negroes. I said im from texas. In the mess hall i had the same trouble. One man who is in charge asked me where i was going, i said to another table. He says you make it to them now as opposed to later. I said no i wouldnt. I gave that quotes between different conference. Emphasis on his insistence of making this his own personal crusade. Its interesting what the man is telling me to get used to it. Whys hes adjusting that he should change his mind at all . This is an interesting way to look at that letter. There isa sense that an opening to be some changes in Race Relations and civil rights. I think there are some africanamerican soldiers who sense that as well. Example comes from this propaganda poster, which also mimics a traditional scene you would see in many propaganda , africanamerican as well as the white community. It is not produced by the government. It is seemingly innocuous because it champions patriotism, service to your nation, you have the service flag there. The portrait of lincoln is quite prominent, that is a traditional in some respects it seems like propaganda normal. Nothing really to note here. For us tobe harder find because a lot of these Companies Went out of business, they didnt stay around for very long are you how to we actually access them . And we have this poster because it was sent by a into the postmaster general, asking him if this was the type of material that should be the end the terms of the espionage act. Will we could be looking at now her it waso bordering on sedition. And clearly the point of the aspirational aspects of this poster in terms of economic and patriotic in terms that we are equal here, she clearly seems to find a sense of. Wartime moments, politicizing people that setting up teacher conflicts to come. Is one of the worst years of racial violence in wire americanry soldiers fighting when it comes to politics . What are they thinking about the war and Woodrow Wilsons war . The principle that he gives