The First World War remade the world for all Americans, whether they served abroad or stayed at home. For some groups, such as women and Black people, the war provided opportunities for advancement. As soldiers went to war, women and African Americans took on jobs that had previously been reserved for White men. In return for a no-strike pledge, workers gained the right to organize. Many of these shifts were temporary, however, and the end of the war came with a cultural expectation that the old social order would be reinstated.
Some reform efforts also proved short-lived. President Wilson’s wartime agencies managed the wartime economy effectively but closed immediately with the end of the war (although they reappeared a short while later with the New Deal). While patriotic fervor allowed Progressives to pass prohibition, the strong demand for alcohol made the law unsustainable. Women’s suffrage, however, was a Progressive movement that came to fruition in part because of the circumstances of the war, and unlike prohibition, it remained.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/23-3-a-new-home-front
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
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