1917

Articles from 1917

Controlling the Radical Presses (NY Times, 1917)

Here is a World War I article that appeared on the pages of The New York Times some four months after the American entry into the war and it reported that the U.S. Government was obligated to close all news and opinion organs that questioned any efforts to prosecute the war or support the allied nations. The Times reported that the government was granted this power under Title 1, section 1, 2, and 3 of Title 12 of the Espionage Act (signed by President Wilson on June 13, 1917). Although no publications were named, the reader will be able to recognize that the only ones slandered as pro-German were those that would appeal to the pro-labor readers.


To learn how many African-Americans served in the W.W. I American Army, click here.

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Winning the War with Women (Harper’s Monthly, 1917)

Ida Tarbell (1857 – 1944), one of the greats of American journalism, wrote this article about the policy changes that were evolving in Washington and recognized that the mobilization of women in the cause of defeating Germany was a solid step in the direction of victory:

One of the many innovations of the National Council of Defense is an entirely original attempt to use the women power of the country.

Tarbell insightfully pointed out that up until that moment men and women had very little experience working together side by side.


Read a 1918 article about the women’s city.

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Hollywood Star Condemns the Draft (Photoplay Magazine, 1917)

The silent film actor J. Warren Kerrigan (1882 – 1947; played in such films as Captain Blood, Samson and Delilah and The Covered Wagon) was singled out for ridicule following a poorly conceived remark that all artists should be exempted from military service. The editors of Photoplay Magazine counter-attacked with a short list of the creative souls who have served regardless of their talents to entertain or provoke thought.

Apparently getting skewered in the press had no effect on him; he still wouldn’t register for the draft for another thirteen months.

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Alan Seeger: He Did Not Fail That Rendezvous (The Art World, 1917)

Although the U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asked Americans to be neutral in thought and deed on all matters concerning the war in Europe [before to April, 1917], the sympathies of the American people firmly stood with the French and their allies. Whether they served as soldiers or non-combatants, the American public was proud of those young Americans who expressed their outrage by volunteering to serve among the French or British armies. Numbered in that group was the Poet Alan Seegerstyle=border:none (1888 – 1916), who fought with the French Foreign Legion and was killed on the Somme. The following poem was written by Grace D. Vanamee (1867 – 1946) in response to Seeger’s very popular poem I Have a Rendezvous with Death (North American Review, October, 1916).

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The House of Lucile (Hearst’s Sunday American, 1917)

Fashion and Hollywood costume designer Howard Greerstyle=border:none
wrote of Lady Duff Gordonstyle=border:none
(born Lucy Sutherland, 1863 – 1935):

…she was the first to introduce the French word chic into the English language, particularly in relation to fashion. She was the first dressmaker to employ mannequin parades (ie. models) in the showing of clothes…She was responsible for many fads and her clothes made many people famous. She was the most expensive dressmaker of her time, and the most aloof.


Lucile was one of the few souls to survive the TITANIC sinking; click here to read her account of that sad night.

•Read about the 1943 crochet revival•

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The Effects of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare (The Atlanta Georgian, 1917)

The alarming rise in shipping losses due to the increased presence of German submarines (as foretold in the Zimmermann telegram) had made the American population sit up and take notice in a way that the war had never done before. The attached four notices were printed on the front pages of an Atlanta paper one month prior to the U.S. Congress’ declaration of war; each one pertains to military recruiting or the need for military equipment.


The widening of hostilities also served to outrage the Latin American republics: Guatemala would soon break off all relations with Germany and Brazil would declare war in October of that year.


Click here to read about the new rules for warfare that were written as a result of the First World War – none of them pertain to the use of poison gas or submarines.

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Rea Irvin Did His Bit (Life Magazine, 1917)

Cartoonist Rea Irvin (1881 – 1972) did the work of ten George Creels during America’s participation in the Great War by consistently producing a number of funny gags that served to belittle Imperial Germany. Unlike most cartoonists who were active during the Gilded Age, Irvin has been published at least once a year every year since 1925: he was the creator of ‘Eustice Tilly’ -the Regency dandy who graced the very first cover of THE NEW YORKER that is re-printed every February. Other cartoons in this series are available upon request.

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Instructions for Building Trench Shelters (Trench Warfare, 1917)

It was the preferred plan on both sides that their troops sleep in fields and forests as they briskly marched forward to the terror-struck cities of their timid and surrendering foes – but other sleeping arrangements had to be made when it was decided that trenches were necessary. Officers in forward trenches would sleep in shifts within muddy little rooms called dugouts and the enlisted men would get something worse; dubbed, shelters, these holes were simply rectangular caves carved into the walls of the trench:


Click here to see a 1915 ad for British Army military camp furniture.

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