Degrees of Allegiance

Chapter 3: "No Time for Slackers”

55 t h r e e p “No Time for Slackers” The Missouri Council of Defense and Governor Gardner’s Approach to Fighting the Kaiser at Home There can be no half-hearted allegiance. . . . Those who are against us are pro-German. Frederick D. Gardner, April 8, 1918 On April 5, 1917, one day before Congress declared war on Germany, Missouri Governor Frederick D. Gardner announced that “this is no time for slackers, copperheads, or soft pedalists. If there are any such among us, it is our duty to drive them out and brand them as traitors.” One year later, during a Third Liberty Loan campaign speech on April 8, 1918, he asserted that all pro-Germans were German spies and threatened to declare martial law in Missouri if “at any time I become convinced that there is in any community in this state an organized movement of these traitorous wretches.” If found and convicted, these enemies of the nation should “face a firing squad and thus suffer that fate which traitors so richly deserve.” Yet only three years earlier he had praised the Germans and their intellectual, economic, and industrial progress.1 Gardner’s transformation from pro- to anti-German sentiment within such a brief time symbolized the growing resentment of anything German in the state and the nation during the First World War. Indeed, public opinion in Missouri underwent a transformation during the early months of 1917. Some, although disappointed with the events that pushed the United States into the European conflict, continued to rationalize German submarine warfare as a legitimate tactic, denounced Great Britain and capitalists 56 p Degrees of Allegiance for pulling the nation into war, and reminded Wilson that he had been reelected for his ability to keep the country out of war.2 The majority, however, realized that American involvement was inevitable. The Missouri General Assembly through a joint resolution announced the state’s willingness to follow Wilson’s leadership and protect American rights “regardless of cost or of sacrifices.” Governor Gardner, although regretting that the relationship between the United States and Germany had deteriorated beyond compromise, called upon Missourians to support their president and government. English- and German-speakers alike began to unite behind the president, denounced Germany for its unwillingness to recognize American rights, and asserted their loyalty to the United States.3 The nation’s financial and industrial commitment to the Allies, Germany’s resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in January, the infamous Zimmermann Telegram in February 1917, and nearing bankruptcy of Great Britain convinced President Woodrow Wilson to ask Congress to declare war against Germany, and Congress obliged on April 6, 1917. Wilson’s progressive ideology transformed this military engagement into a crusade against militarism and to make the world “safe for democracy.” As the president asked for the mobilization of every available resource to wage this righteous war, he could not be sure that the American public would support this war because he had been elected on the mandate to keep the country out of war. Furthermore, the nation would fight a global military conflict with a country that had sent one of the largest immigrant groups to the United States. Thus, in order to unite the American public in support of a war against Germany, Wilson established the Committee on Public Information (CPI) by executive order on April 14, 1917.4 George Creel, a “prominent muckraker” and reform-minded newspaperman from Kansas City, Missouri, who headed this government agency, believed that the government should educate the public about the unavoidable yet moral obligation for the United States to enter the conflict, explain the government war programs, and define patriotism in order to create a “whitehot mass instinct” for war. Loyalty in this context meant that every American should purchase Liberty Bonds and War Savings Stamps to finance the war. Ideally, men would answer the call to the Selective Service and, when drafted, enter the military willingly and joyfully without asking for exemptions . Women ought to become the soldiers of the home front, knit sweaters, conserve foodstuff, and volunteer for the Red Cross. Children should write patriotic essays in school, cultivate victory gardens, invest in Baby Bonds, and buyThrift Stamps. In accordance with Woodrow Wilson’s definition of Americanism , any expression of dissatisfaction, disagreement, or outright unwillingness to do any of the above would be interpreted as supporting the enemy.5 “No Time for Slackers” p 57...