Ronald Schaffer's America in the Great War
Ronald Schaffer's America in the Great War gives new insights into World War I.
The book gave historical accounts about the war that other books negated to included.
The thesis that Schaffer tries to prove that the Great War was the start of the American
welfare state and the beginning of "big" government. America in the Great War was
structured in chronological order of the war, from America's mobilization to the actual
fighting. What the book did not include is a detail account of the fighting. This was the
biggest draw back in a otherwise well thought book.
The book begins with the mobilization of the United State's industry and man
power. The first two chapters dealt with how the Federal Government shaped the view of
the war in America's minds. The methods that the Federal Government used varied from
propaganda to coercion. The point behind the Federal Government's involvement in
propaganda was to rally the country to fight the war. The first step in shaping the
people's mind was to get the labor and industry to work together. The Federal
Government established committees and teams to persuade the minds of the United States.
One of these committees were the Committee on Public Information established in April
13 1917 by order on the President of the United States. The committee was led by
George Creel, former social reformer. He had great power in what the United States saw
and heard for the next few years. His first order was to manage American minds without
directly using propaganda and censorship. Other nations fighting the war practiced wide
spread censorship of all war related material. Creel realized that this would not work in
the United States, instead he flooded Americans with news. The news released to the
public was in such large numbers and in such great detail that Americans could not
understand all of it. The Committee on Public Information also produced films. The films
were
The book gave historical accounts about the war that other books negated to included.
The thesis that Schaffer tries to prove that the Great War was the start of the American
welfare state and the beginning of "big" government. America in the Great War was
structured in chronological order of the war, from America's mobilization to the actual
fighting. What the book did not include is a detail account of the fighting. This was the
biggest draw back in a otherwise well thought book.
The book begins with the mobilization of the United State's industry and man
power. The first two chapters dealt with how the Federal Government shaped the view of
the war in America's minds. The methods that the Federal Government used varied from
propaganda to coercion. The point behind the Federal Government's involvement in
propaganda was to rally the country to fight the war. The first step in shaping the
people's mind was to get the labor and industry to work together. The Federal
Government established committees and teams to persuade the minds of the United States.
One of these committees were the Committee on Public Information established in April
13 1917 by order on the President of the United States. The committee was led by
George Creel, former social reformer. He had great power in what the United States saw
and heard for the next few years. His first order was to manage American minds without
directly using propaganda and censorship. Other nations fighting the war practiced wide
spread censorship of all war related material. Creel realized that this would not work in
the United States, instead he flooded Americans with news. The news released to the
public was in such large numbers and in such great detail that Americans could not
understand all of it. The Committee on Public Information also produced films. The films
were