In one line: From 4 March 1913 to 4 March 1921 the United States was governed by the administration of Woodrow Wilson, which took the country into the First World War in April 1917, created a federal propaganda agency, enforced the Espionage and Sedition Acts against anti-war speech, and segregated Black and white staff in several federal offices.
The leader and the people under the leader
Photo: Harris & Ewing, Public domain (Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) Woodrow Wilson
President of the United States · 1913 to 1921
Woodrow Wilson: Read more
Head of state and head of government under Article II of the Constitution; asked Congress to declare war on Germany on 2 April 1917, created the Committee on Public Information by executive order on 13 April 1917, and signed the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918.
In their words
“You deal in the raw material of opinion and, if my convictions have any validity, opinion ultimately governs the world.”
“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion.”
“authority to exercise censorship over the press to the extent that that censorship is embodied in the recent action of the House of Representatives is absolutely necessary to the public safety.”
“Throughout the century men of the sturdy stocks of the north of Europe had made up the main strain of foreign blood which was every year added to the vital working force of the country, or else men of the Latin-Gallic stocks of France and northern Italy; but now there came multitudes of men of the lowest class from the south of Italy and men of the meaner sort out of Hungary and Poland, men out of the ranks where there was neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence; and they came in numbers which increased from year to year, as if the countries of the south of Europe were disburdening themselves of the more sordid and hapless elements of their population, the men whose standards of life and of work were such as American workmen had never dreamed of hitherto.”
“The white men of the South were aroused by the mere instinct of self-preservation to rid themselves, by fair means or foul, of the intolerable burden of governments sustained by the votes of ignorant negroes and conducted in the interest of adventurers: governments whose incredible debts were incurred that thieves might be enriched, whose increasing loans and taxes went to no public use but into the pockets of party managers and corrupt contractors.”
“Here was a very tempting and dangerous instrument of power for days of disorder and social upheaval, when law seemed set aside by the very government itself, and outsiders, adventurers, were in the seats of authority, the poor negroes, and white men without honor, their only partisans. Year by year the organization spread, from county to county, from State to State. Every country-side wished to have its own Ku Klux, founded in secrecy and mystery like the mother "Den" at Pulaski, until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, an "Invisible Empire of the South," bound together in loose organization to protect the southern country from some of the ugliest hazards of a time of revolution.”
All 24 quotes from Woodrow Wilson, and 3 often attributed but not verified
In the archive: Wartime censorship in the First World War: Britain, Germany, France and the United States, Votes for Women and the anti-suffrage campaigns, 1908 to 1920
White House and advisers
Photo: Harris & Ewing, Public domain (Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) Thomas R. Marshall
Vice President of the United States · 1913 to 1921
Thomas R. Marshall: Read more
Presided over the Senate for both of Wilson's terms; no transfer of presidential powers took place after Wilson's stroke of 2 October 1919.
In their words
“One of the most annoying things was the everlasting clatter of the militant suffragettes. I think the adoption by the Senate of the Nineteenth Amendment was portrayed in the Scriptures by the unjust judge who got tired of hearing about it. The amendment really was submitted to the people in self-defense, to get rid of these women in order that some business might be transacted.”
“I called her attention to the fact that I had announced that women had a right to shave and sing bass if they wanted to, but that I was not going to assist in the process.”
“I was having some difficulty myself in remaining neutral. I had almost reached the conclusion that the only way to be strictly neutral was to be a congenital idiot.”
All 4 quotes from Thomas R. Marshall, and 1 often attributed but not verified
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain (published in the United States before 1931) Edward M. House
Confidential adviser to the President (no office) · 1913 to 1919
Edward M. House: Read more
Held no office but carried Wilson's messages to European governments in 1914 to 1916, organised the scholars' group known as The Inquiry in 1917, and sat on the American delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.
In their words
“Failure to acquiesce in this, or any attempt to foster the policies of the late government, would be considered seditious, and would be punished by death.”
“The situation is extraordinary. It is militarism run stark mad. Unless some one acting for you can bring about a different understanding, there is some day to be an awful cataclysm.”
“It was my opinion that we ought not to let our desires run away with our judgment in the matter of making peace. For instance, if Turkey and Austria were willing to break away from Germany, or were willing to force Germany to make peace, I thought certain concessions should be made to them other than what we would have in mind in the event we had our complete will.”
Photo: Clinedinst, Washington, D.C., Public domain (published in the United States before 1931) Joseph Tumulty
Secretary to the President · 1913 to 1921
Joseph Tumulty: Read more
Managed Wilson's schedule, correspondence and contacts with the press, Congress and the Democratic Party from the White House.
In their words
“Replying to your recent letter and enclosures, I beg to say that it is true that 'The Birth of a Nation' was produced before the President and his family at the White House, but the President was entirely unaware of the character of the play before it was presented and has at no time expressed his approbation of it. Its exhibition at the White House was a courtesy extended to an old acquaintance.”
“It is clear, as the editorial appearing in this morning's New York World says, that the "hyphenate vote is a definite factor that cannot be discredited"; and that from the activities of the German-American Alliance every effort, as their own supporters declare, should be made to elect Justice Hughes.”
“There is a tremendous drive against League, resembling German propaganda, backed by Irish and Jews. Irish openly opposing; Jews attacking along collateral lines.”
Cabinet
Photo: Harris & Ewing, Public domain (Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) Robert Lansing
Secretary of State · 1915 to 1920
Robert Lansing: Read more
Succeeded William Jennings Bryan in June 1915, conducted foreign policy through the entry into the war and the Paris Peace Conference, and resigned on 13 February 1920 after Wilson said he would accept it.
In their words
“When the President talks of "self-determination" what unit has he in mind? Does he mean a race, a territorial area, or a community? Without a definite unit which is practical, application of this principle is dangerous to peace and stability.”
“The more I think about the President's declaration as to the right of "self-determination," the more convinced I am of the danger of putting such ideas into the minds of certain races. It is bound to be the basis of impossible demands on the Peace Congress and create trouble in many lands. What effect will it have on the Irish, the Indians, the Egyptians, and the nationalists among the Boers? Will it not breed discontent, disorder, and rebellion? Will not the Mohammedans of Syria and Palestine and possibly of Morocco and Tripoli rely on it? How can it be harmonized with Zionism, to which the President is practically committed? The phrase is simply loaded with dynamite. It will raise hopes which can never be realized. It will, I fear, cost thousands of lives. In the end it is bound to be discredited, to be called the dream of an idealist who failed to realize the danger until too late to check those who attempt to put the principle in force. What a calamity that the phrase was ever uttered!”
“From all this I am forced to the conclusion that a bargain has been struck by which the Japanese agree to sign the Covenant in exchange for admission of their claims. If so, it is an iniquitous agreement. Apparently the President is going to do this to avoid Japan's declining to enter the League of Nations. It is a surrender of the principle of self-determination, a transfer of millions of Chinese from one foreign master to another. This is another of those secret arrangements which have riddled the "Fourteen Points" and are wrecking a just peace.”
Photo: Harris & Ewing, Public domain (published in the United States before 1931; Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) William G. McAdoo
Secretary of the Treasury · 1913 to 1918
William G. McAdoo: Read more
Ran the Liberty Loan campaigns and, from December 1917, the federal railroads as Director General; left the Treasury in December 1918, and his department separated work areas by race in some offices from 1913.
In their words
“If the thousands of patriotic citizens of this country want to win this war now is the time for them to show it. If they don't subscribe for this loan and lend their money to the Government, they are helping the enemy. Every person who refused to subscribe or who takes the attitude of 'let the other fellow do it' is a friend of Germany, and I would like nothing better than to tell it to him to his face.”
“Let us meet that challenge by a subscription to our second Liberty Loan, on the 27th day of October, nine days after the close of the German loan, which will make clear to the German military despotism that America marshals not alone her brave soldiers upon the field, her invincible navy upon the high seas, her industries throughout the length and breadth of this land, but as well her financial resources, and that she is determined to use them all, without stint and regardless of sacrifice to vindicate American rights, outraged too frequently by German infamies.”
“every American dollar is back of them, and that lines of communication and supplies would be kept open. We must be just as willing to sacrifice all our money as they are willing to sacrifice their lives for us.”
Photo: Harris & Ewing, Public domain (Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) Albert S. Burleson
Postmaster General · 1913 to 1921
Albert S. Burleson: Read more
Ran the Post Office, which under Title XII of the Espionage Act refused to carry periodicals such as The Masses and withdrew mailing privileges from the Milwaukee Leader, and which segregated Black and white clerks in some offices from 1913.
In their words
“We shall take great care not to let criticism which is personally or politically offensive to the administration affect our action. But if newspapers go so far as to impugn the motives of the government and thus encourage insubordination, they will be dealt with severely. For instance, papers may not say that the government is controlled by Wall Street, or munition manufacturers, or any other special interests. Publication of any news calculated to urge the people to violate law will be considered grounds for drastic action. We will not tolerate campaigns against conscription, enlistments, sale of securities or revenue collections. We will not permit the publication or circulation of anything hampering the war's prosecution, or attacking improperly our allies.”
“The trouble is [...] that most Socialist papers do contain this matter.”
“No one connected with the Government, from the President down, seeks by reason of these laws to avoid criticism, or even attack, but no publication containing matter which falls within the prohibition of the law will be permitted to circulate.”
In the archive: Wartime censorship in the First World War: Britain, Germany, France and the United States
Photo: The Elliotts, Public domain (published in the United States before 1931) Thomas W. Gregory
Attorney General · 1914 to 1919
Thomas W. Gregory: Read more
Headed the Justice Department and its Bureau of Investigation while the Espionage and Sedition Acts were passed and enforced, and gave official recognition to the volunteer American Protective League; left office on 4 March 1919.
In their words
“The care used by the department in its desire to do nothing to interfere with the legitimate exercise of the right of free speech is shown by the fact that in practically every case convictions were secured and substantial sentences imposed. In one instance the convicted defendant was sentenced to serve 20 years in the penitentiary.”
“One of them in particular, which is nation-wide in scope and which is known as The American Protective League, has proven to be invaluable, and constitutes a most important auxiliary and reserve force for the Bureau of Investigation.”
“To all the disloyal in this country a message will be sounded which they can understand through the criminal courts. May God have mercy on them, for they need expect none from an outraged people and an avenging Government.”
All 4 quotes from Thomas W. Gregory, and 1 often attributed but not verified
Photo: Harris & Ewing, Public domain (Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) A. Mitchell Palmer
Attorney General · 1919 to 1921
A. Mitchell Palmer: Read more
Headed the Justice Department when it raided radical organisations and arrested several thousand people in November 1919 and January 1920; earlier Alien Property Custodian from 1917.
In their words
“Like a prairie-fire, the blaze of revolution was sweeping over every American institution of law and order a year ago. It was eating its way into the homes of the American workman, its sharp tongues of revolutionary heat were licking the altars of the churches, leaping into the belfry of the school bell, crawling into the sacred corners of American homes, seeking to replace marriage vows with libertine laws, burning up the foundations of society.”
“A small clique of outcasts from the East Side of New York has attempted this, with what success we all know. Because a disreputable alien—Leon Bronstein, the man who now calls himself Trotzky—can inaugurate a reign of terror from his throne room in the Kremlin; because this lowest of all types known to New York can sleep in the Czar’s bed, while hundreds of thousands in Russia are without food or shelter, should Americans be swayed by such doctrines?”
“My information showed that communism in this country was an organization of thousands of aliens, who were direct allies of Trotzky. Aliens of the same misshapen caste of mind and indecencies of character, and it showed that they were making the same glittering promises of lawlessness, of criminal autocracy to Americans, that they had made to the Russian peasants. How the Department of Justice discovered upwards of 60,000 of these organized agitators of the Trotzky doctrine in the United States, is the confidential information upon which the Government is now sweeping the nation clean of such alien filth.”
Photo: Harris & Ewing, Public domain (Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) Josephus Daniels
Secretary of the Navy · 1913 to 1921
Josephus Daniels: Read more
Headed the Navy Department through the war, including the transport of American troops to France, and banned alcohol aboard Navy ships from 1914.
In their words
“The use or introduction for drinking purposes of alcoholic liquors on board any naval vessel, or within any navy yard or station, is strictly prohibited, and commanding officers will be held responsible for the enforcement of this order.”
“An Investigation Section was formed to seek out and take into custody persons who were, by sabotage, explosion, fomenting strikes or other means, seeking to prevent or retard the manufacture of munitions; to discover and thwart any attempt to damage vessels, shipyards, bases or factories; to counteract German propaganda and, in general, restrain the activities of Germans and German sympathizers.”
“Arrests of suspects sent fear into the hearts of any who might be plotting sabotage. In one day I ordered the arrest of more than a score in one plant.”
Photo: George Grantham Bain (Bain News Service), Public domain (published in the United States before 1931) Newton D. Baker
Secretary of War · 1916 to 1921
Newton D. Baker: Read more
Directed the Army's wartime expansion and the draft under the Selective Service Act of 18 May 1917, and named Pershing to command the American Expeditionary Forces.
In their words
“The whole business of mobilizing the mind of the world so far as American participation in the war was concerned was in a sense the work of the Committee on Public Information.”
“We had an alternative to face when we went into this war. The instant reaction of habit and tradition was to establish strict censorship, to allow to ooze out just such information as a few select persons might deem to be helpful, and to suppress all of the things which these persons deemed hurtful.”
“I can easily imagine a man whose affiliations, for instance, would be with a German ancestry and German traditions, making an indiscreet remark and arousing a very great deal of resentment, and following this a heady community impulse not only against him and his remark, but generalized against all persons who bore the same kind of name or the same sort of traditional affiliation. And I can easily imagine a community getting itself worked up into a pretty feverish state of opinion, and feeling that it ought to resent as disloyal what was perhaps only a thoughtless and unmeant indiscretion.”
“This is the time for physicians of public opinion to exercise a curative impulse. You gentlemen and the young men who are in your colleges, who go to their homes from your colleges and write to their homes from your colleges, making up thus a very large part of the direction of public opinion, you can exercise a curative influence by preaching the doctrine of tolerance, by exemplifying the fact that it is not necessary for a nation like the United States, which is fighting for the vindication of a great ideal, to discolor its purpose by hatreds or by the entertainment of any unworthy emotion.”
“Not to add a square inch to the territory of the United States; not to take from any man, woman, or child living in the world a single thing which belongs to him; not even for the glory of successful arms; but in order to reestablish those principles of national justice without which national continuance and life can not prevail, and to give to the stricken peoples of the world who have been fighting for the right, rest and respite to rehabilitate their almost destroyed civilization.”
Armed forces
Photo: New York Times Co., Mid-Week Pictorial, Public domain (published in the United States in 1919; Library of Congress: no known restrictions on reproduction) John J. Pershing
Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces · 1917 to 1919
John J. Pershing: Read more
Named in May 1917 to command the American forces in France, insisted that they fight as a separate army, and led them in the Meuse-Argonne offensive of 26 September to 11 November 1918.
In their words
“The rifle and the bayonet are the principal weapons of the infantry soldier. He will be trained to a high degree of skill as a marksman, both on the target range and in field firing. An aggressive spirit must be developed until the soldier feels himself, as a bayonet fighter, invincible in battle.”
“The enemy has capitulated. It is fitting that I address myself in thanks directly to the officers and soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces who by their heroic efforts have made possible this glorious result. Our armies, hurriedly raised and hastily trained, met a veteran enemy, and by courage, discipline and skill always defeated him. Without a complaint you have endured incessant toil, privation and danger. You have seen many of your comrades make the supreme sacrifice that freedom may live.”
“However, a situation might arise which would necessitate the temporary use of all American troops in the units of our Allies for the defensive, but nothing in the situation justified the relinquishment of our firm purpose to form our own Army under our own flag.”
All 5 quotes from John J. Pershing, and 1 often attributed but not verified
War agencies and information
Photo: George Grantham Bain (Bain News Service), Public domain (published in the United States before 1931) George Creel
Chairman, Committee on Public Information · 1917 to 1919
George Creel: Read more
Chaired the committee created by Executive Order 2594 on 13 April 1917, which ran the Four Minute Men, the Division of Pictorial Publicity, the Official Bulletin and the Division of Films; the committee was wound up in 1919.
In their words
“In all things, from first to last, without halt or change, it was a plain publicity proposition, a vast enterprise in salesmanship, the world's greatest adventure in advertising.”
“We did not call it propaganda, for that word, in German hands, had come to be associated with deceit and corruption. Our effort was educational and informative throughout, for we had such confidence in our case as to feel that no other argument was needed than the simple, straightforward presentation of facts.”
“Nothing, it seemed to me, was more dangerous, for people did not need less criticism in time of war, but more. Incompetence and corruption, bad enough in peace, took on an added menace when the nation was in arms. One had a right to hope that the criticism would be honest, just, and constructive, but even a blackguard's voice was preferable to the dead silence of an iron suppression.”
“We wanted to reach the people through their minds, rather than through their emotions, for hate has its undesirable reactions. We wanted to do it, not by over-emphasis of historical appeal, but by unanswerable arguments that would make every man and woman know that the war was a war of self-defense that had to be waged if free institutions were not to perish.”
“A chief offense of the Committee was its attitude in regard to "atrocity stories." From the very first we held that unprovable accounts of "horrors" were bound to result in undesirable reactions, for if the Germans could manage to refute one single charge, they would straightway use it to discredit our entire indictment.”
In the archive: The Committee on Public Information: how the U.S. government sold the First World War at home (1917-1919)
Photo: C.P.I. photographer (Committee on Public Information), War Department collection, Public domain (PD-USGov-Military) Herbert Hoover
U.S. Food Administrator · 1917 to 1919
Herbert Hoover: Read more
Named by Wilson in May 1917 and headed the Food Administration from its creation in August 1917, which ran voluntary food-saving campaigns through pledge cards and posters; after the Armistice he directed food relief to Europe.
In their words
“This necessity was so great that our Allied colleagues considered it our duty to impose a compulsory ration upon the American population. My colleagues and myself, however, believed that the spirit of self-sacrifice of the American people could be relied upon for so great a service as to accomplish the necessary results upon a voluntary basis.”
“The plan of organization adopted was to assemble, as far as possible, the voluntary service of individuals in administrative work and the voluntary co-operation of the householders, farmers and the food trades. The results amply demonstrated the high sense of service in our people, as it proved that measures of legal force were needed for an infinitesimal per cent.”
“A large amount of propaganda was initiated to secure the substitution in consumption of littoral for deep sea fishes.”
Photo: George Grantham Bain (Bain News Service), Public domain (published in the United States before 1931; Library of Congress: no known restrictions on publication) Bernard Baruch
Chairman, War Industries Board · 1918 to 1919
Bernard Baruch: Read more
Chaired the board from 4 March 1918, which set priorities and prices for war materials; the board was dissolved in January 1919.
In their words
“It is not enough to mobilize the Nation's military strength. There must be a mobilization of her full economic resources — industrial, agricultural and financial. These must be organized, coordinated, and directed with the same strategy that governs the operations of the purely military arms of service.”
“The abnormal conditions of the war demand sacrifices. It is the price of victory. Only actual needs, not fancied wants, should and can be satisfied. To save heavy and long privation, temporary deprivation must be the rule. America's willingness to accept these conditions marks her ability to quicken the end of the conflict.”
“It is with great pride I inform you that there was not a slacker to be found among the industries. Not one had to be coerced. They governed themselves by the answer to a single question, namely: "Do the continuation of our enterprises help or hurt the war program?" The choice was unanimous for service rather than profit — for national need instead of individual expediency.”
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