"The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what American citizens say and do. Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned. The spirit of the nation in this critical matter will be determined largely by what individuals and society and those gathered in public meetings do and say, upon what newspapers and magazines contain, upon what ministers utter in their pulpits, and men proclaim as their opinions upon the street."
-President Woodrow Wilson, 19th of August, 1914
-President Woodrow Wilson, 19th of August, 1914
Below: Woodrow Wilson's War Message to Congress
Initially, most Americans completely opposed WW1. They believed it was a European fight. However, after the Zimmerman telegram and the sinking of several ships, congress declared war on April 6th, 1917.
"It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion." -Woodrow Wilson in his address to Congress, 2nd of April, 1917 Right: Woodrow Wilson's speech to congress Source: lib.byu.edu |
After emerging triumphant in WW1, America prospered until the Stock Market Crash in 1929, followed by the Great Depression. WW2 reignited America's economy, establishing it as the worlds biggest superpower. "America's economy performed astonishing feats during World War II. Manufacturers retooled their plants to produce war goods. But this alone was not enough. Soon huge new factories, built with government and private funds, appeared around the nation. Millions of new jobs were created and millions of Americans moved to new communities to fill them. Annual economic production, as measured by the Gross National Product (GNP), more than doubled, rising from $99.7 billion in 1940 to nearly $212 billion in 1945." -NationalWW2Museum.org, America Goes to War, 2014 Left: A graph of the national GDP and DOW Jones Industrial Average since 1909 Source: Seeking Alpha |