Linda Barrett Osborne - Come on in, America : the United States and World War I

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For Bob, who relived World War I with me day after day and never lost interest

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Osborne, Linda Barrett, 1949 author.
Title: Come on in, America : the United States and World War I / Linda Barrett Osborne.
Description: New York : Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016036830 | ISBN 9781419723780
eISBN: 9781683350583
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 19141918United StatesJuvenile literature. | World War, 19141918Juvenile literature.
Classification: LCC D522.7 .O73 2017 | DDC 940.3/73dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016036830

Text copyright 2017 Linda Barrett Osborne
Book design by Pamela Notarantonio
For image credits, see .

Published in 2017 by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of ABRAMS.
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Abrams Books for Young Readers are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.

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This poster plays on a phrase made famous by President Woodrow WilsonThe world must be made safe for democracyin calling men to join the navy after the United States entered World War I.

Introduction

On April 6, 1917, the United States Congress, following President Woodrow Wilsons request, declared war on Germany. Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the other Central Powers had been at war with Britain, France, Russia, and the other Allied Countries since 1914. The U.S. government, led by Wilson, had tried to remain neutral, not taking sides. At first, most Americans agreed the country should stay out of the messy, deadly European conflict. But as the war continued, staying neutral became more complicated. Large immigrant populations in the United States, including those from the warring countries, supported different sides in Europe. Lending money and selling weapons and other products to nations at war was good for American businesses. Some Americans, if not eager for battle, wanted to train an army to be prepared in case of war. Others were pacifists who believed war was morally wrong. Both those who believed in preparedness and those who believed in pacifism expressed strong views in Congress, in newspapers and magazines, and in public speeches.

In early 1917, Germanys renewed policy of torpedoing merchant and passenger shipseven American shipson their way to Allied Countries was the apparent cause that led to the American declaration of war. But the underlying reasons were more complex. They included the desire of American businesses to continue trading for profit and Wilsons own mission: to be one of the Allies and thus better able to influence the terms of peace. When he asked Congress to declare war, Wilson spoke about the attacks at seawe will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. He spoke against the German government, which he called autocraticruled only and absolutely by Kaiser [Emperor] Wilhelm II and not by elected officials:... the menace to... peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people.

The world must be made safe for democracy, Wilson famously stated. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve.... We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them. He concluded, the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our heartsfor democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments,... for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.

The Sontay was a French ship that was torpedoed by a German submarine in the Mediterranean Sea on April 16, 1918. Rescue boats lowered from the ship saved 299 of the 344 passengers aboard. The German policy of attacking passenger and merchant ships was one of the reasons the United States went to war.

With such idealistic aspirations on record, the United States entered World War I. It was in the war for nineteen months. Although many believed the fighting would last longer, the warring countries declared a truce on November 11, 1918. In all, an estimated 9 to 10 million soldiers died. The United States sent about 2 million men and women to Europe; approximately 53,500 Americans were killed in battle, and 63,000 more died from disease and accidents. Because we fought for a relatively short time and lost fewer people killed or woundedcompared with other countriesWorld War I has not been at the forefront of Americas memory. We pay much more attention to World War II, the Vietnam War, and conflicts of the twenty-first century, and also, looking back, to the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War.

Yet in addition to the military experience in Europe, and the grief for those who died overseas, the United States experienced momentous changes at home brought on by what was at first called the Great War, then the World War, and then (following World War II) World War I. The conflict marked the beginning of total modern warfare on a scale never before seen. The federal government became involved in business and personal affairs at a new level. The United States became the worlds economic leader. The war changed the boundaries of disloyalty and censorship. Americans were told they were fighting a war for democracy, but with racial segregation rampant in the United States, new laws passed against dissent and espionage, and bankers and industrial leaders gaining increased influence and power, what did democracy mean?

Today, with war and terrorist threats worldwide, we again face the same questions that Americans faced during World War I. How do we protect ourselves as a country? How do we portray the enemy? (Woodrow Wilson made a distinction between the German government and the German people, although many Americans did not.) How do we fight stereotypes and prejudice? How do we preserve civil and political rights while also maintaining security? Should rights be sacrificed for safety? How do we live with and confront fear?

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