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176 18 Commemoration or Celebration? originally, the “second AeF,” as it was termed, was scheduled to set sail on the tenth anniversary of the signing of the armistice, but months after the American Legion confirmed its plans, French officials were informed that the convention had been rescheduled. it seems that 1928 was a presidential election year, and although the Legion’s charter touted a nonpartisan agenda, the organization remained politically involved . First World War Missouri veteran Harry truman later recalled the year that the newly organized American Legion held its convention in st. Joseph, just outside kansas City. The event exposed the future president to the hurly-burly of politics and introduced him to tom Pendergast, the “big Boss” of the political machine in kansas City (which was also home to the Liberty War Memorial erected in 1927). “The legionnaires,” truman said, were “the cream of the country, every one of them, a man’s man.” He went on to predict that “the next twenty years will see them running the country, and it will be in safe hands.”1 taking a pragmatic approach, the Legionnaires agreed that 1927 would be an equally appropriate time to schedule their overseas convention since that was the anniversary of the AeF’s creation. Using evocative phrases that no politician could resist, they reassured the French that this event would “wield a tremendous influence for world peace” and strengthen “the bonds of friendship between France and the U.s.”2 However, there were conditions attached. American officials wanted adequate accommodation in Paris held exclusively for the Legion; they also insisted on a 50 percent reduction in railroad rates, an adequate auditorium, and the waiver of passports and visas. once these points had been negotiated, the French government expected its costs for hosting the event to be an estimated 1,350,000 francs, but it was nevertheless determined to make this “a great experience to be remembered.”3 The American Legion Monthly began an aggressive campaign to encourage members to start saving for the pilgrimage. initially, only veterans Commemoration or Celebration? 177 were eligible to participate, and auxiliary women faced restrictions according to their years of membership.4 These tight constraints loosened as enrollments proved fewer than anticipated. By mid-1927, the publication ’s approach altered again as sponsors became increasingly insistent that readers had an obligation to participate: “Thousands of American pilgrims—men who but for the chance of war might be themselves sleeping at [overseas cemeteries]—will visit those cemeteries in september as a sacred obligation imposed upon them by their attendance at the Paris convention of the American Legion.”5 Was it indifference, economics, or other factors that kept enrollment lower than anticipated? The Legion’s magazine began publishing entreaties to its readers asking them to consider organizing “a universal campaign against the would-be ‘forgetters.’” Fearful that Americans were turning away from war’s memory, the article warned, “if the World War were really over and forgotten, what a dismal horrible failure it would have been.”6 As guardians of war memory, the Legion was understandably anxious to ensure that Americans remembered the efforts and sacrifices of battle and the veterans’ place therein. By keeping their self-appointed mission of consecrating the war’s memory and sanctifying comradeship, Legionnaires attempted to preserve an idealized version of the Great War on the nation’s behalf. indifference within the organization to this nurturing of collective memory threatened the Legion’s very survival and the preservation of the war experience.7 optimism, prosperity, and confidence generally characterized the nation on the tenth anniversary of the First World War. New era Americans were typically full of exhilaration for the future and enchanted with the comforts, entertainment, and conveniences of the present. Years of postwar prosperity had forged a society obsessed with material wealth and gratification, while the past became a fading memory. As interest in the war waned, civic groups became more politically adept . Those with the greatest desire to remember the war turned to the one institution that remained consistent in America’s short commemorative history, the veterans’ association. strong federal support and an ambitious public-relations campaign boosted the American Legion’s power and membership. During the 1920s, when the Legion experienced such enormous power, it essentially chartered the national course of war commemoration within the United states. The immediate postwar years were vibrant ones for the Legion, when concerns over the Bonus Bill, veterans’ benefits, employment rights, and [3.17.150.163...

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