Woodrow Wilson and World War I, 1917-1921

The New American Nation Series

by Robert H. Ferrell

Illuminates the crucial role of Wilson as a wartime president and his tragic inability to gain passage of the Treaty of Versailles

Genres: American History, Nonfiction, History, World War I, Biography

346 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Robert Hugh Ferrell was an American historian and author of several books on Harry S. Truman and the diplomatic history of the United States. He served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during the Second World War and was an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He received a B.S. in Education from Bowling Green State University in 1946 and a PhD from Yale University in 1951, where he worked under the direction of Samuel Flagg Bemis and his dissertation won the John Addison Porter Prize. He went on to win the 1952 Beer Prize for his first book, Peace In Their Time, a study of the making of the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

He taught for many years at Indiana University in Bloomington, starting as an Assistant Professor in 1953 and rising to Distinguished Professor of History in 1974. He has held several notable visiting professorships, including Yale University in 1955 and the Naval War College in 1974.

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The entry of the US into WWI in the last year of the war resulted in the defeat of Imperial Germany....not necessarily due to the leadership of the American military (which was poorly prepared) but because of the addition of two million men to the Allied armies, numbers that Germany could not overcome. But when President Woodrow Wilson began to take the leadership of the armistice treaty and negotiating with Germany without consulting England, France or Italy, the in-fighting among the Allies began. His major objective was to develop the League of Nations which he believed would go down in history as his greatest accomplishment. This book follow the machinations of Wilson as he attempted to dominate the treaty and his ultimate failure when his own country refused to ratify the League. This is a well researched book which is not particularly complimentary to Wilson but is unbiased in the presentation of the facts. Recommended.

[Jim Gallen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert H. Ferrell’s Woodrow Wilson & World War I: 1917-1921 says much about the War and examines Wilson’s role in it.

Beginning in April 1917 with the President’s abandonment of neutrality and his War message to Congress, it reviews of the strengths of a nation that had grown out of the ashes of the Civil War in which Wilson spent his Southern boyhood. Europe’s road to war is then explained.

The next subject is the officers and politicians who organized America’s great effort including to Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge who amended the draft bill, the enlistees and draftees who filled the ranks, reforming War Secretary Newton Baker and Chief of Staff Peyton who organized a greatly expanded Army to be ready for the unprecedented demands of the War.

The American’s were a paper tiger until its army had been transported “Over There”. The convoys to carry the American Expeditionary Force and supplies across the Atlantic were the responsibility of the U. S. Navy that performed it without losing a troop ship. The toll taken by German U-Boats dropped with American sailors on patrol. Sections deal with the AEF itself, its leaders, men and the equipment they used, the industrial mobilization that produced the weapons and munitions with which the Army fought and the campaigns in which it was involved.

Although on a much more modest scale, the World War I mobilization of industry served as a model for that of World War II. The description of the expansion of shipping to replace Allied losses and the explosion of domestic railroad capacity demand admiration. Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo effected the daunting task of financing of the War, both through the American government and in loans to Allied nations, that was a substantial American contribution.

Though an “Associated “ rather than an “Allied” Power, the need to cooperate with Allies was a consuming interest for Gen. Pershing, the President, and his aid, Col. House.

The entry of the AEF into accompanied the collapse of the German War effort. As diplomacy moved to the fore initial German peace feelers were directed to Wilson, rather than to European players, enabling Wilson to advance the Fourteen Points that he proposed to form the basis of a peace settlement. Among the many issues involved were the dismemberment of the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires, the status of Poland, the place of the Bolshevik government of Russia in the new world order and, most importantly to Wilson, the establishment of the League of Nations.

The restoration of peace brought domestic politics to the surface. Senate opposition to ratification of the Peace Treaty set off a confrontation into which Wilson threw his heart and soul and, ultimately, his health in an unsuccessful appeal to the people to demand ratification of the Treaty. Demobilization drove millions of men back into the workforce right as the nation was facing rising demands of women for suffrage and other Progressive Era reforms. Throughout and after the War the Civil Rights of Americans were debated and, by the standards of later days, abridged for German-Americans and those suspected of Bolshevik leanings. Race riots erupted in cities across the land. Finally, all must be submitted to the people and the Democratic ticket of 1920, that gave some support to Wilson’s post-war program suffered a crushing defeat that was taken as a repudiation of his stewardship of the White House.

I found Woodrow Wilson & World War I to provide insights into America’s involvement in the War and Wilson’s role in it that I had not gathered in other readings. I had never read that submariners who survived a depth charge attack were so shell shocked for days to the point that they could not function effectively. Hooverizing represented deprivation before the depression, as he urged Americans to voluntarily endure meatless and wheatless days and clean their plates. Originally copyrighted in 1985 this tome reflects the judgement of a different time, a time when the War was still a living memory for some. Wisdom was not invented in the Twenty-First Century. A balanced appreciation of history requires a distillation of many viewpoints gathered by historians over a span of time. This book has much to add to our understanding of its subject.

[Glenn Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A harsh bio on President Wilson and his policies. Not so much as a bio-centric book, but a book on the times of the Wilson Administration-the economy, the military and more. The book went deeply into how sickly Wilson was and how little he actually worked, how he looked down on so many and more.
An easy read.

[Mark Singer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to the dual story of US President Woodrow Wilson and the American intervention in the Great War. The phrase "tragic figure" is an overused cliche, but best describes Wilson near the end of his second term as President. He was idealistic, and refused to see any value in the opinions of his political opponents. His absolute unwillingness to compromise with the Republicans in the US Senate, combined with his stroke, led to the Senate rejection of the Versailles treaty and US membership in the League of Nations.
Ferrell did his research: the text alone is 235 pages, and there are 64 pages of footnotes and a 30 page bibliography.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent look at U.S. diplomatic history during World War I. A little dated (book came out in mid 1970s), but some good insight I hadn't read elsewhere. Does offer particuarly good analysis of President Wilson's incapacities following his stroke.