World War I as a progressive conflict

World War I was a progressive war

Progressivism and World War I

For World War I to be called a 'Progressive War,' may initially sound strange to some modern ears. After all, many progressives are and were ardent pacifists, including during the era when Wilson waged his public relations campaign to enter the 'War to End all Wars.' Yet contrary to this sentiment, some progressives saw the war as a war of internationalism, and a repudiation of the idea that America could ignore what went on in Europe. For them, the war was a flowering of America's acknowledgement that it was no longer able to defend itself by shielding its borders with two oceans, and it had to take an active part in affairs around the globe.

Of course, even the pro -- and anti-progressive advocates would admit that America's intervention in Europe was not entirely charitable, humanitarian, and a way of making the world safe for democracy. There were long-lying tensions between Germany and America that had become inflamed by increasingly aggressive German behavior, such as the German's use of submarine warfare and the sinking of the Lusitania. However, one of the reasons for this deterioration in international relations was America's retreat from its initial declaration of neutrality, and its increasingly partisan stance favoring Great Britain over Germany, even before America was officially involved. The sinking of American commercial ships, according to Wilson, finally showed that the U.S. was and would be affected, economically and politically by the war, so long as it went on. The infamous Zimmerman Telegram that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico, in exchange for obtaining the territories lost during the Mexican-American war for the Latin American nation's support was the final straw and rallied popular support for intervention.

As America mobilized, Wilson characterized those voices who opposed his policy as anti-American. However, opponents to the war comprised not simply Republican isolationists, but also progressives who saw the National Defense Act of 1916, the Navy Act of 1916, and the War Revenue Act of 1917, all used to finance and prepare the nation for war, as an overreaching of Wilson's powers as president and as a repudiation of democratic progressivism. They saw the war as a way of supporting an outmoded way of life in Europe, not a war in favor of American democracy. Populist progressives also thought that such funds and focus could be better turned to help people at home. This was one reason that the great progressive voice and leader Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned when it looked like the country's entry into the war was inevitable. The anti-war progressive sentiment more quietly intensified as those who opposed the war were silenced through repressive means. However, the internationalism of Wilsonian progressivism and interest in world affairs did acknowledge the increasingly diverse composition of America as a whole, by acknowledging America's connections to the greater world.

Immigrants served in uniform with to people with long lasting family ties to America -- but were often discriminated against, even while fighting for their country. Xenophobia against people from the ethnic groups America was fighting rose in intensity. Much as French Fries became Freedom Fries for a brief period during the contemporary 'war on terror,' so frankfurters, a German dish, became the more America-sounding hot dog. More seriously the Red Scare, the Palmer Raids, anti-immigrant and anti-African-American sentiment as a result of new migrations of people within the United States created the paradox of the government engaging in censorship and civil rights violations, ostensibly to make the world 'safe' for democracy. However, given that anti-immigration sentiment had shared a less-than-noble place in the Progressive Movement, along with support for the American working man, perhaps these actions do not completely counter the idea that the movement to war was progressive, encompassing the ugly as well as the noble progressive sentiments of past eras. However, progressive intellectuals like Walter Lippmann, author of Drift and Mastery, would likely counter that such anti-immigration sentiment had nothing to do with real progressive faith in science and reason, as opposed to hatred, ignorance, and folklore.