University Place

The Wisconsin Home Front During World War I

[Katie Schumacher, Wisconsin Historical Museum]

Today we are pleased to introduce Leslie Bellais as part of the Wisconsin Historical Museum’s History Sandwiched In lecture series.

Leslie is the Wisconsin Historical Society’s curator of social history and has been working for the society for nearly 27 years. As the curator of social history, she oversees the society’s collections of costumes, textiles, and personal artifacts, which include around 2,000 dresses, 250 men’s suits and coats, children’s clothing and jewelry, among many other things. Here today to discuss the Wisconsin home front during World War I, please join me in welcoming Leslie Bellais.

[applause]

[Leslie Bellais, Curator of Social History, Wisconsin Historical Society]

Thank you very much.

So, you might be wondering why a curator who mainly handles clothing and textiles is doing a talk on the Wisconsin home front during World War I. I want to let you know that 25 years ago for the 75th anniversary of Wisconsin, of the United States entering World War I, I did an exhibit here called Over Here, The Wisconsin Home Front During World War I. I was asked to do it. I was very unhappy that I was asked to do it because what does this has to do with clothing and textiles? But I found it to be a fascinating topic. And more recently I’ve gone back to school to get my PhD with this as my dissertation topic with – with an emphasis, though, on the question of loyalty and disloyalty in Wisconsin. And it’s – its called Traitor State: The Wisconsin – wait. Crisis of Loyalty in Wisconsin During World War I.

So, that’s what I’m basing this talk on. I’m taking a little bit from that exhibit 25 years ago and a little bit from my dissertation and trying to put it together in one package. So, obviously, I’m going to focus a little bit more on the political situation and the polit – the politics and not so much on the other parts of the home front. So, this is – this is just an overview.

Now, the first thing I want to mention is that Wisconsin did have a loyalty issue.

I think I can do it this way.

And these –

[slide titled, Disloyal Wisconsin!, featuring these three quotes from contemporary newspapers – Wisconsin, the hotbed of Disloyalty (Montgomery [Alabama] Advertiser), There is probably more disloyalty per square foot in Wisconsin than in anywhere else in the country (Los Angeles Times), and There may be few spots as intensely pro-German as there are in Wisconsin (Washington Post)]

– are quotes from newspapers from around the country, primarily in the spring of 1918, that – that focused on Wisconsin. And the first one I think, kind of, sums it up for a lot of people in the United States at the time, that Wisconsin was the hotbed of disloyalty. And that the – and the Los Angeles Times even said there’s probably more disloyalty per square foot in Wisconsin than anywhere else in the country. So, these are the kind of comments that caught my attention and made me want to understand more about why Wisconsin and why was – we – and why was this state such the focus of – of such animosity.

[Leslie Bellais]

So, but before I go into that, I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page in terms of World War I and how the United States fits into that story.

So, first we have the European War. The European War really begins, or the catalyst happens on June 28, 1914, with –

[slide titled, The European War, featuring a photo of British soldiers charging in the Battle of the Somme in 1916]

– the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia by a Serbian. He’s visiting Bosnia and he gets assassinated by a Serbian. One month later, to the day, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia for that action –

[Leslie Bellais]

– and then there’s all these treaties that European countries have signed that if you go to war, I’ll go to war with you. And there’s this domino effect that puts all of Europe into war by August 4th. And so, we have a war that doesn’t seem to really have much purpose except that people are maintaining their – their – their treaties.

So, what happens is – is Germany also uses this chance to put in-into place a – a plan it had thought about for some time about defeating Europe and becoming, sort of, the owners of France especially. And so, they attack Belgium, they attack France by going through Belgium and, kind of, wiping out a lot of Belgium, which makes people in America very concern – they’re very concerned about the Belgian – about the Belgian population and the Germans – and what Germany is doing to it. But most importantly what happens is that after Germans ended up in France, Britain is in the war, France is in the war, Italy, Austria-Hungary are all fighting each other. The – basically, what the problem is, the defensive technology outstrips military tactics. And what happens is that we end up with a trench warfare – a trench warfare war where lots of people are getting killed but there’s not a lot of land movement in terms of actually acquiring land. If you acquire land, you probably get pushed back into the trenches you just came from. So, it’s a stagnant war. So, for two-and-a-half years there’s this major stagnation.

Now, during this time, there are some variety of opinions about what America should be doing about the European War. And those appear in Wisconsin. And I picked three individuals –

[slide titled, Wisconsin before Americas Entrance into the War, featuring three photographs of the three different people with differing views of the war in Wisconsin. Julia Grace Wales, who represents the pacifist movement, Governor Emanuel Philipp, who represents the neutrality or moderate movement and Wheeler Bloodgood, who represents the preparedness movement]

– to represent each of the three points of view. And we’ll begin with Julia Grace Wales, on the left. She was a pacifist. She was an instructor in English in the University of Wisconsin and was basically not a very significant person until she had this idea. Well, first I should – I’m just going to back up and say pacifists, at this time, argued that war was uncivilized and a step backwards in human evolution. So, they felt very passionately and strongly about this. Julia agreed with these – with these – with this approach and, in 1915, wrote a – an idea out called Continuous Mediation Without Armistice. So, her idea is to continuous – continuously mediate with the belligerents until a settlement without military victory could be reached. And that was the important thing, without military victory. It received national, international attention. In fact, Henry Ford was really behind it and –

[Leslie Bellais]

– and helped fund a lot of her – her – her missions to Europe so that she could promote this in a – in a peace court in – in Europe. But President Wilson poo-pooed it and it quickly fell by the wayside, especially by 1916 no one was talking about pacifism anymore in a – in a – in a national level. Although, there was a peace society in Wisconsin that still promoted it, and it tended to be women – a women-run organization.

Now, the main point of view taken by most Americans, including President Wilson and the governor of Wisconsin, Emanuel Philipp –

[return to the slide featuring the three portrait photographs of Wales, Philipp and Bloodgood]

– was neutrality. And neutrality believed that both sides should be treated equally and that, as a neutral country, the United States should provide armament and humanitarian aid to both sides of the – of the war. And especially because this – this state was heavily German-American, it was actually 30% of the population was German-American at the time. They overwhelmingly supported neutrality. These were people who did not want to be fighting their relatives back in Germany. And so, there was a concern that – a major concern in Wisconsin among the German-American population that they stay neutral. That the United States stay – stays neutral. In fact, both Wilson and Governor Philipp were elected to office in 1916 because of their neutrality stance, and also Philipp because of his reputation for moderation. So, this is the stand that most Americans are behind –

[Leslie Bellais]

– for that two-and-a-half-year stagnation of war.

But then we have the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. And what happened – with Americans on board – and what happens then is the military preparedness movement arises in – in the United States. In Wisconsin, it’s led by people like Wheeler Bloodgood.

[return to the slide with the three photographic portraits of Wales, Philipp and Bloodgood]

And I just love his name. So, you’ll see him throughout this – throughout this talk. He also was a leader of the preparedness movement in Wisconsin. So, they supported the idea at first that there should be a military buildup that would protect America’s neutrality and prepare the nation in case of attack. They put out numbers – they put out numbers showing how far behind the United States was compared to the British and French and German army size, navy size. The navy was a little more important because that’s how most people would get to us. And, in fact, they put out – even put out numbers stating that Germany could land probably 800,000, a little over 800,000 troops in – on the east coast within 30 days if we didn’t pay attention. They – they listed every belligerent and how – how many troops they could get here and how fast they could get here. So, they even did Japan, which they thought could overrun the United States with 200 – a quarter million troops but it would take 41 days.

So, these were the kind of numbers they were putting out there that –

[Leslie Bellais]

– kind of, scare people into – to kind of buildup enthusiasm for preparedness to build up that military that we had let, kind of, wither away after the Spanish-American War.

But then Germany, in early 1917, this is February of 1917, they had, for several – for almost 18 months, maybe two years, agreed not to attack neutral ships in – in the Atlantic and let them pass freely. But then by February of 1918, they’ve realized that a lot of these neutral ships, including American ships, are actually sending armaments to the allies. That’s England and France primarily. And they’re not very happy. So, they decide to resume attacking neutral ships by submarine. And, basically, this is what sends the United States into war with – with – into the European War.

So, what happens first is that the preparedness advocates demand retaliation. They’re the largest – largest group of people asking that America retaliate against these sinking of these military ships. They also – and they also think America should really enter the war and stop being – and stop being a bystander, and that they should enter the war on the British and French side. The Germans are the enemy. They’re the ones who killed all those Belgian innocents. They’re the ones who have – the real – the ones who are behind all of this, and they are the ones who should be punished.

They also, at the same time on a more home front point of view, begin to attack pacifists and neutralists as weak, stupid, and un-American. And those are the three things they really push. And that’s a theme that they would continue throughout the war.

So, that’s Wisconsin as we’re entering into – about to enter the war. This – our – Wisconsin’s reputation as a patriotic state is damaged even before we enter the war. And that occurs with Robert La Follette.

[slide titled, Wisconsins Reputation is Damaged, featuring a photo of Senator Robert M. LaFollette and also a photo of the back of a coin with a quote from Woodrow Wilson in March of 1917 – A little group of willful men have rendered the government of the United States helpless and contemptible.]

What happens is on – in early March, Woodrow Wilson wants to arm merchant marine ships so that they can attack those submarines that are attacking – the Germans submarines that are attacking them. Merchant marine ships are not supposed to be armed. Robert La Follette, the senator from Wisconsin, the senior senator of Wisconsin, leads a filibuster that prevents that from happening. Prevents that – that bill from going through. And Woodrow Wilson, in a very famous statement, said of La Follette and his followers that they were a group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered government of the United States helpless and contemptible. So, this is the first time La Follette is in the public eye as someone who is not supporting the war.

And, basically at this point, the preparedness movement people, and Wilson hold up La Follette up for contempt. Its – the reputation – so, this is – this is March. We enter the war in April.

[new slide titled, Wisconsins Reputation is Damaged Further, featuring a photo of the referendum ballot from Monroe, Wisconsin and a photo of the Socialist Victor Berger]

Our – our reputation is further damaged in the early year – in the – in the week of that the United States goes to war by holding a number of referendums around the state. This one is from Monroe, Wisconsin. And – and you can see that the question is, Under existing conditions, do you favor a Declaration of War by Congress? This also happened in Sheboygan and a few other – a few other places. Overwhelmingly, Wisconsinites who voted on this voted against entering the war. In fact, Sheboygan had a 98% against the war vote. Now, this occurred on April 5th. April 4th is a day that Wilson presented to Congress – a bill to Congress asking them to go to war. So, this is the day after Wilson does that. These towns all over Wisconsin –

[Leslie Bellais]

– vote against entering the war, and this becomes national news.

The day after the Congress declares war, the Socialists meet in- the Socialist party meets in St. Louis, and Victor Berger, from Milwaukee, he’s – hes the editor and owner of the socialist newspaper, the Milwaukee Leader, is there, and he is one of the leaders in getting the Socialist party to declare that entrance into the war – war would be a crime of our capitalist class against the people of the United States and against the nations of the world.

So, that is what the socialists are saying. This Milwaukee socialists who are fairly active in the party have a leading role in it –

[return to the slide featuring the photo of Mr. Berger and the Monroe ballot]

– including Victor Berger. So, this is already making the news before war – as war – before and as war is being declared.

Now, on April 6th –

[new slide titled, April 6, 1917 War is Declared, featuring photo of President Woodrow Wilson, a copy of the cover of Senator LaFollettes speech against the war and noting that almost the entire Wisconsin delegations to both branches of Congress (listed) votes against entrance to the War]

– war is declared by Congress. And Woodrow Wilson states that entering this war, America’s entrance into this war would make the world safe for democracy. He asks Congress to declare war on the 4th. As you can see, there’s a speech here, War with Germany, that occurred on April 4, 1917. You can see that right there. So, that’s the same day as Wilson is asking of them to declare war. So, he speaks out against it. And then, on April 6th, Congress votes. La Follette obviously votes against it. The junior senator from Wisconsin votes for it, and then nine of the 11 congressmen from Wisconsin vote against it. This is, sort of, the last nail in the coffin for a lot of Americans in terms of whether Wisconsin is patriotic or not. And here – and so, here’s the list of all of them. Most of these men would be voted out of their office at the next election.

Not La Follette, however.

So, then there needs to be, according – according to the preparedness men, they’re mainly men –

[new slide titled, Damage Control, featuring the portrait of Wheeler Bloodgood and an additional photo of a Loyalty Parade that happened in Madison on March 31 of 1917]

– there needs to be some damage control. We need to get Wisconsin’s reputation back on track. And, in fact, the reputation becomes, acquires a name in July of 1917 when the Princeton Daily Democrat, which is actually in Indiana, not New Jersey, had become by now offended by Wisconsin’s Kaiser-loving senator, as he – they called it, and sickened by its pro-German attitude, asked – Will Wisconsin be known when the war is over as the traitor state? And that becomes the term used to describe Wisconsin from this time on throughout the war.

So, preparedness advocates, like Wheeler Bloodgood, take the lead in retaliating against this humiliating –

[Leslie Bellais]

– charge against them. This humiliating moniker, you might say. And so, shortly after La Follette has his filibuster, he starts proposing founding the Wisconsin Defense League. Now, Wisconsin Defense League is out of Milwaukee. He’s a Milwaukee, like I said, a Milwaukee lawyer. It’s a volunteer organization whose purpose was to defend Wisconsin’s honor. And, as you can see, other people around the state were also trying to show Wisconsin as a loyal state. As you can see here, this is a loyalty parade from Madison on March 31st. So, that’s a week before, about a week before the United States declares war against Germany.

So, here we are, we’re starting the war. Most Americans are still confused. Now, why – why are we fighting this? Why are we going to this? So, most Americans, including a huge majority of Wisconsinites, still need to be convinced. So, what Woodrow Wilson does is form –

[slide titled, Most Americans Still Need to be Convinced, featuring a photo of George Creel at the Committee of Public Information, an illustrated movie war poster for the film Pershings Crusaders and a government booklet titled, How the War Came to America]

– the Committee on Public Information, created – with – headed up by George Creel, who was an advertising man. So, what they did is decide to hire – hire professional advertisers and also professional illustrators. Some of the best illustrators at this time were brought into the movement because posters became a – a major way of getting message across and having the best artists on board really made that much easier.

So, they were – they did what George Creel later described as a vast enterprise in salesmanship, which is to sell the war, the reasons America should be in war, to the American public. And they did it in a number of ways. One of the first ways was to put out movies, which are still relatively new at that time, and this one, Pershing’s Crusaders, was, as you can see, the first official American war picture. But mainly how they did it was through booklets and posters. And the booklet, this is part of the Red, White, and Blue series, How the War Came to America, is one of the – one of the major booklets on describing why America had to go to war.

And what most of these things do is promote the idea – promote the idea that the Prussian autocracy is evil compared to the virtues of American democracy. So, we are fighting an autocratic evil –

[Leslie Bellais]

– with – with the wonderfulness of democracy and that this will eventually make the world safe for democracy so all these countries can lose their autocratic heads of state, and all become democracies.

So, this is how – how Americans are convinced, and some Wisconsinites are convinced. In fact, a lot of Wisconsinites are convinced that we need to be in the war. And they do actually become active in, Wisconsinites become active in the war effort.

And I’m just going to go over a few ways you could become active in the war effort. One of the first ones was food conservation. The Food Administration was founded in June 1917 –

[slide titled, Many Wisconsinites Participate in the War Effort, featuring an illustration from the Food Administration saying, Food is Ammunition – Dont Waste It., photos of a store window in Madison, Wisconsin featuring two American flags as a backdrop and two silhouettes on of Uncle Sam and one of the Kaiser with the quote – Are you eating to please Uncle Sam or the Kaiser? and a menu from the Hotel Wisconsin in Milwaukee featuring Meatless Tuesday]

– to monitor food across the United States with the idea to conserve food for American and allied troops, especially wheat, sugar, and meat. Those were the three things you were expected to give up. And the emphasis was really on wasting less and replacing those foods sent overseas, primarily the starches with corn and potatoes. So, they would not send corn and potatoes over. They sent wheat and sugar over.

So, this was the idea. And the – the Wisconsin Food Administration introduces the idea of –

[Leslie Bellais]

– meatless Tuesdays and wheatless Wednesdays. And you can see here – if I can make this work –

[return to the slide featuring the illustrated poster, menu and window display]

– that the Hotel Wisconsin in Milwaukee has got a menu here for meatless Tuesdays. So, Wisconsin did participate in this. We also have a number of store windows from Madison who helped promote food conservation with window displays, including this one that remind – asks you, Are you eating to please Uncle Sam or the Kaiser? So, there was a lot of pressure to eat appropriately. Some of the window displays also promoted victory gardens, which was the first time this idea was – was promoted. It becomes more – it becomes a bigger thing in World War II.

[return to the, Many Wisconsinites Participate in the War Effort slide, now featuring and illustration of a light bulb from the U.S. Fuel Administration with the phrase, Light Consumes Coal, Save Light, Save Coal, and a poster from the American Red Cross telling people to save various fruit pits to save soldiers lives from German poison gas]

Other conservation efforts that Wisconsinites were asked to participate in, including being asked not to waste fuels. Since light consumes coal, turn the lights off. Electric lights off. Metals which could be used to make ammunition. And even fruit pits, like you’re seeing here, which were used to make – I don’t know if they tell you but, yes, it was used in respirators and it absorbs German poison gas, supposedly.

So, and then Wisconsin businesses we know helped save coal and electricity by observing heatless Mondays in January and February of 1918, which probably wasn’t a lot of fun.

[Leslie Bellais]

Another way you could participate in the war effort was becoming a volunteer of American Red Cross. This was mainly something women did. And the Red Cross’ goal in the war, they saw their goal as being a major link between the soldier –

[return to the Wisconsinites Participate slide, now featuring a Red Cross poster with needles and thread and the quote Our Boys need socks, knit your bit, a photo of two Red Cross volunteers in Madison – Alice and Bettina Jackson and a photo of the congregated Dunn County Red Cross Stout Institute]

– and their relatives. So, they offered suggestions for troop-supporting projects, like knit your bit, like you’re seeing over there, and they asked women to knit sweaters, scarves, helmet liners, and wrist mitts, which are just little kind of short, like the lower half of a – of a glove or a mitten. This was – this was a somewhat successful project. They found a lot of the stuff made was not very well made and had to be – couldn’t be used or sent to soldiers. But it made the women feel good.

They also were asked to roll bandages and to send letters and packages to their loved ones over in Europe. And here we’re seeing a Dunn County Red Cross meeting at the Stout Institute to do some sewing. I don’t know what they would be sewing, but that’s what they’re doing. And then we have two sisters from Madison, Wisconsin, who – who served in – as Red Cross volunteers during the war.

[a new version of the Wisconsinites Participate slide featuring two photos of factory uniforms worn by women during the War, two photos of women working in the War effort – one at a factory and two on a farm, and an illustrated poster Join the job for victory featuring several cranes building new buildings]

And, finally, a fourth way to participate in the war effort was to be On the job for victory. Now, Wisconsin backed, Wisconsinites backed the war effort in their jobs in their offices, factories, and farms. And you could do it in any way, but the main emphasis the government made was that you needed to be quick and efficient at your job and remember that well-made war products could defeat the enemy and keep American soldiers alive. So, don’t rush so fast that you’re making something that might, a – a grenade that might explode in a soldier’s hand, for example. You want to make good – good quality products.

Now, Wisconsin was in a draft. This was a draft – the – the soldiers were raised first by volunteer and then by draft. And so most men went off – most young men went off to war, so industries began hiring women for production and service jobs. And you can see, in the lower right, a woman in a – in her coveralls from the four-wheel drive factory in Clintonville. And then above it is a woman’s coveralls in our collection from the World War I era. And also, the other thing is Wisconsin looked to train and – recruit and train women and teenagers who were too young to go to the war to be farm laborers. And so here you’re seeing, I believe this is a posed shot. It looks too cute with her pipe in the mouth and everything.

[laughter]

They – to – to be farm labor. And, actually, the outfit above – above that picture is a farmerette costume from Wisconsin in – in World War I era. So, you could dress up in this little outfit to go out and help the farmer.

[Leslie Bellais]

We do know that farming was very productive during the war years. And, in fact, 1917 Wisconsin had its largest total crop production to date. Almost all of it in wheat because that’s what the federal government was asking for to send to soldiers.

Now, all of these initiatives, maybe not the Red Cross, but the on the job for victory, the food conservation, any other conservation efforts were all run by the Wisconsin Council of Defense. And that was the state’s governmental agency that ran the war effort. So, it’s a governmental agency as opposed to the Wisconsin Defense League, which was a voluntary effort. Wisconsin was very proud and whenever – of being the first state to have a Council of Defense and whenever it was accused of being unpatriotic, that was often mentioned, that – that Wisconsin created the first Council of Defense and began organizing the war effort within the state.

Now, one of the other major things the Council of Defense did was run the liberty loan drives. Now, the federal government realized –

[slide titled, Liberty Loan Drives, featuring an illustrated poster of flames around the Statue of Liberty and the phrase, That Liberty Shall Not Perish From the Earth. Buy Liberty Bonds., and two photos, one of a Liberty Loan parade in Waupun and the other of a Liberty Loan parade in Hartford]

– it had to raise about $30 billion to pay for the war. The treasury secretary, William McAdoo, decided not to raise taxes, which is what most people thought he would do, but instead to make the process voluntary, which is an interesting word considering what happened, for Americans by issuing war bonds, which were normally called liberty bonds. Now, four times during the war and one time after the war liberty bond drives were held. And they raised $24 billion. So, the other $6 billion was covered by the federal government. The rest was raised through – through liberty loan drives.

Now, unfortunately, Wisconsin did not make its quota. Each state was given a quota of how much money they were expected to raise in the first and second drives, which occurred in the spring and fall of 1917. And those Wisconsin patriots, who are mainly made up of the preparedness movement advocates, decided they had to find more coercive ways to make sure all Wisconsinites bought their fair share of bonds.

But I just want to show you some of the- this is one of the posters that the Committee for Public Information put out for the fourth liberty loan drive. And you can see how they really hit at an emotional level here by showing the Statue of Liberty and New York City burning. If you don’t buy your liberty bonds, this is what could happen.

We also had liberty loan parades throughout Wisconsin during the time that the drive was on. The one on the top is from Waupun, and I really like it. These are Red Cross volunteers with a banner that says We – we will take the germ out of Germany.

[laughter]

Whatever that means.

And then the bottom one is from Hartford in Washington County. And, again, I seemed to pick Red Cross volunteers. There’s several pictures from this point of view of this march. But it’s basically Stand back of your country, buy a liberty bond. And that’s sort of what the emphasis is.

[Leslie Bellais]

So, most of this was, sort of, just rah-rah, pep – pep rally kind of stuff. But, like I said, in Wisconsin, because they felt they had not lived up to their quota – they had not lived up to their quota in their first two drives that more coercive measures had to be used. And so, one way you could – it was done was anybody who worked as a – a wage earner, that means they got a paycheck, their – their employers could basically threaten them with the loss of their jobs, or, more easily, which is what usually happened, is they just deducted bond payments from their paycheck. So, the urban community was not such a problematic community for – for raising liberty loan bonds or paying for liberty loan bonds as other groups were. In small towns and rural areas, we know that the Council of Defense members and sometimes the Defense League members met with the banker of that area or the bankers of that area and sat down and figured out what each person could afford, and that became their bond quota. So, the idea now was not that the state had a quota or that a county had a quota. Now, by the third liberty bond drive, they are getting down to individuals. And do we have records in our – in our collection from different counties around the state that show, you know, this person should be able to afford $200 in – in – in liberty bonds. And it goes down the – down the list about how much they should afford.

So, then what happens is some of these people felt, especially farmers who were self-employed, and had – they were hard to boss around is what – is what the Council of Defense members found, is that they had to use other ways to get them to buy their liberty bonds, usually stigmatism –

[slide titled, Fair Warning!, featuring two photos, one of a warning in a newspaper that people who do not buy their fair share of liberty bonds will be published and a second photo of two large signs one listing the members of the community who served in the War and a smaller sign listing those individuals in the community who did not buy liberty bonds]

– and sometimes resorted of physical force.

And these – these pictures I have up right now show the stigmatism. The one on the – on the left is a newspaper article from the Washing – I think it’s West Bend Newspaper that says, “The names of those failing to subscribe to their fair share of the fourth liberty loan will be published here.” Now, this came out in October 1918, and I spent a lot of time going through the rest of the newspapers for that year trying to find out if they did publish anybody’s name. And, actually, the war ends November 11th, and it’s really not enough time, and so this is dropped. But the warning is out there.

It’s a little harder to see the one on the – on the right, but it’s a sign that’s put on someone’s property next to a service roll from the town of Genesee. And those are all the men who enlisted – enlisted in the army or military from that town. And this sign, which was another stigmat – stigmatizing, kind of, sign, says this person, whoever it is, never attends patriotic meetings, did not help his town raise first – I think it’s first aid, first, second, or third liberty loan or fourth liberty loan. He refused to register for war saving stamps, and he drove his car on gasless Sundays. Is he 100% American? But they also – we also know that they did resort, occasionally, to physical force.

And we have this letter that I found from John Mola of Fisk, Wisconsin. He wrote after the war about an experience he had. This is also in October, on October 15, 1918. So, as the war is kind of wind – winding down.

[Leslie Bellais]

Mr. Wagstaff’s mob of 42 men in automobiles called at my home and insisted that – that I should sign my mother’s bond application for $200. This mob insulted my womenfolk, jostled me about, called me vile names, and tried in every way to cause me to say something, that they could then beat him up for. Failing in this, Mr. Wagstaff said, We will take him to town. So, they knocked me down and I’m struck again while I was down. They forced me into an auto and took me as far as my next neighbor’s place. As they were getting out of their cars, they cried, Let’s go back and burn his buildings, the yellow dog. Well, I was abducted and I paid the ransom by signing my mother’s bond application. Then they let me go home, and they drove on to abuse other people.

So, this is, kind of, what’s happening in Wisconsin. It’s happening around the country, but Wisconsin probably feels it more because it has this traitor state moniker hanging of its head, and there’s a lot of pressure for people not – for people to prove that that is not true.

And the people doing this are what historians nowadays call hyperpatriots. So, the rise of hyperpatriums – patriotism and theyre –

[slide titled, The Rise of Hyperpatriotism, featuring an editorial cartoon showing Uncle Sam bullying people who represent the Right to Free Speech]

– the hyperpatriots are really the perpetuators of these coercive tactics. And they can be described as – as people who favored national security over civil rights and called those who disagreed with them unpatriotic or un-American. And I like this cartoon because it kind of sums up hyperpatriots in a nutshell. So, basically, they’re saying all their enemies, talking about the right of free speech, an American right, but they’re saying, Talk is free in this land, but there are times when we don’t care to listen to it. So, all these little people, Uncle Sam is throwing all these little people around who are the enemies. And, in case you can’t see, the enemies include spies, labor and union agitators, conscientious objectors, pacifists, Germans, the Irish – the Irish were anti-British which put them on the wrong side of the war – food speculators, socialists are down in there, and another person I’m not quite sure what they mean but sentimental obstructionists.

So, this is – and this is what these people are creating. They’re creating treason, lies, sophistry, and disloyalty, among other things. So, this is, in a nutshell, how the hyperpatriots view those that – view those that are not helping the war and also their feelings about what should be done with them.

Now, the hyperpatriots in Wisconsin lash out at three main people or groups. The first one –

[slide titled, Anti-LaFollette, featuring a cartoon of the cover of Life magazine showing the Kaiser pinning so many Iron Crosses on Senator LaFollette that you can barely see the clothes that he is wearing, and statement of displeasure with Senator LaFollette signed by the members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Anti-LaFollette Round Robin]

– of course, being La Follette. They lash out against him really right from the beginning, as we saw with the creation of the Wisconsin Defense League. And he really becomes the symbol of treasonous and seditious behavior, partly because, unlike the congress – those nine congressmen who voted for the war, once the war was declared, they said, Okay, that’s fine, I’ll support the war effort. La Follette said, No, I’m not doing that, I’m going to be against the war through this whole war period. So, this really got under people’s skin. So, they ramped up his – and so you can see this is a – a cover of the Life magazine. Life magazine is not the Life magazine you might know from later, but it was a political magazine, and it shows the Kaiser pinning medals of honor all over La Follette. So, that was one of – one of the things that happened.

But it really ramped up once in –

[Leslie Bellais]

– September of 1917. He was misquoted as saying that America had no grievance against Germany. The national press just went ballistic. But he was misquoted, and he actually had said just the opposite. People didn’t know that because the A.P., the Associated Press, published it and every newspaper in the country ran with it. So, the United States Senate considers him treasonous for seditious behavior and decides – and decides to consider expelling him from Congress. The Wisconsin legislators over in the Capitol here pass – pass a bill that agrees with that decision. And – and – oh, also the governor, Philipp, states publicly that Wisconsin loyalty problems primarily stem from La Follette’s actions and words.

So, what happens is he’s hung in effigy at the football goal post on U.W. campus. And then, in 19 – February of 1918 on campus, this round robin petition is sent among U.W. faculty condemning his behavior. 400 of the 404 faculty members signed it, including Julia Grace Wales, the pacifist. I found her name on this list. What this basically says is that they are protesting LaFollette, especially against those utterances – utterances and actions of Senator Robert LaFollette which have given aid and comfort to Germany and her allies in the present war. We deplore his failure loyally to support the government and the persecution of the war. In these respects, he has misrepresented us, his constituents.

So, that is – he is – in – in the American mind, he is Wisconsin. And how could Wisconsin have elected this man to represent them? And that really becomes the big issue.

But there’s also a socialism problem. Milwaukee has the largest and most vocal group of socialists in the United States.

[slide titled, Anti-Socialism, featuring a campaign poster for Victor Berger in his run for Senate portraying him as the candidate for peace]

And so, several government agencies, federal and state, try to eliminate the Socialist party during the war. Really to no avail. So, Victor Berger is the most harassed of all of these people. First off, the postmaster general denies his newspaper, the Milwaukee Leader, second class mailing privileges because its treasonous and seditious. This means all of his papers – all of his papers were sent out by mail. He did not – it was not door-to-door delivery or the extra, extra you saw on the street. So, this destroyed his – his business. He’s also decided that in February of 1918 that he’s indicted for treason under the Espionage Act. Despite this, he ran for the U.S. Senate in April of 1918, and this is a poster of – of him running for U.S. senator that someone has defaced and saying that he wants peace of the Russian kind. Remember, by now Russia has stepped out of the war, having its own revolution and has – and has become communist. And he’s also been decorated as the Kaiser.

So – so, he ran for senate. He lost that but he did win the seat in the House of Representatives as a – as a representative from Milwaukee that fall, horrifying the United States Congress, who would not let him take his seat. And they sent him back and said, He is – he is under indictment for treason –

– we will not seat him; Milwaukee, have another election. They reelected Victor Berger.

[laughter]

And then he was sent back, and Milwaukee was told to have another election. They reelected Victor Berger.

[laughter]

So, they weren’t going to give up on Victor Berger. At the same time, Daniel Hoan, the mayor of Milwaukee is also a socialist, and Wheeler Bloodgood, our favorite preparedness advocate, declared before the April election that if he wins, if Hoan wins, he would ask the federal government to impose martial law because Milwaukee would no longer be American.

He does win, and the United States does not impose martial law on Milwaukee. The governor actually announces beforehand that if Hoan wins by a plurality of votes, he is legally mayor of Milwaukee and that’s the end of the discussion.

And then, finally, there’s an anti-German tendency –

[slide titled, Anti-German, featuring a photo of a German book burning at Baraboo High School along with a Liberty Bond one sheet declaring Beat back the Hun with Liberty Bonds with an illustration of a German as a villain]

– throughout the country, but Wisconsin sees a lot of it. This is based partly on war propaganda put out by the Committee of Public Information that left many nervous about German spies and traitors. Germans are generally portrayed in their work as monsters or subhuman creatures, like you can see in this poster Beat back the Hun. This is not a real human, loving, delightful human being we’re seeing here. And there’s also an irrational fear of anything German overtook America and lasted throughout the war. So, German-Americans become known as hyphenates because their name is hyphenated, German-American, and as enemy aliens. And those are the two terms that are used –

[Leslie Ballias]

– to describe the Germans. They are not viewed as true Americans. So, many rush – in Wisconsin especially – to become naturalized citizens. Some of them had lived there since they were infants, coming over to the United States as infants, grown up as Americans, but now, having their – their loyalty challenged, decide they now need to naturalize. So, there is a huge wave of Germans getting their naturalization papers at this time.

Around Wisconsin, one of the favorite things to do was to ban the teaching of the German language in elementary schools. So, they removed it from elementary schools. Allowed it to continue in high schools but not in elementary schools, where they felt children wouldn’t know better about their being indoctrinated in German propaganda. So, this picture that you’re seeing here, it says –

[return to the Anti-German slide featuring the German book burning]

– “Here lies the remains of German in Baraboo High School, B.H.S.” And this occurred the day of graduation of Baraboo High School in 1918 when the students, after graduation, took all the German books out to the street and burned them. Other things like this happened around the state. We know that Shell Lake, Spooner, and Westby, for example, all did a German book-burning, usually with images of the Kaiser thrown in in a public bonfire setting.

So, the hyperpatriots in Wisconsin –

[new slide titled, Hyper-patriots in Wisconsin, featuring a copy of the Loyalty Legion pledge and a Sedition Map of Wisconsin by the Loyalty League of Wisconsin with areas of supposed sedition highlighted on the map in numbered grey areas]

– decide that the Wisconsin Defense League’s name sounds too much like the Council of Defense, and people are getting them confused. So, they changed their name to the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion in September of 1918. And this, on the left, is the back of their membership card or membership, where you fill out for registration so that you know what you’re signing up for. And you can see all the things that they are interested in doing. Their main focus, when you read their papers, is that they really wanted to focus on education and make sure Wisconsinites are educated about what American loyalty and patriotism is and to replace all of Wisconsin’s disloyal representatives, especially LaFollette, with loyal ones. But you might also note that number five is to seek out and bring traitors to punishment. And they frequently referred potential traitors to the American Protective League.

The American Protective League worked with what was not quite the F.B.I. yet but would become the F.B.I. It was – it was volunteer citizens, private citizens, actually they were paid, now that I think about it, private citizens who worked with the federal government to identify potential traitors, especially German sympathizers.

[Leslie Bellais]

And on the right, you’re seeing the Sedition Map – the Wisconsin – put out by the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion –

[return to the Hyper-patriots in Wisconsin slide featuring the pledge and Sedition Map]

– though here is says the league. They got that wrong. This appeared in the New York Sun. The Wisconsin Loyalty Legion provide this, and it shows you the areas of sedition in Wisconsin, which are primarily areas of heavy German population. I was thinking when they looked at this, this helps reinforce Wisconsin as a disloyal state and is being put out by the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion, but that’s – thats their issue.

So, this is one way that the Wisconsin, the hyperpatriots, or the Loyalty Legion especially, dealt with – with – with disloyalty and lack of patriotism in – in Wisconsin.

[new slide under the Hyper-patriots in Wisconsin banner featuring a poster for J.M. Becker of Monroe Wisconsin and a cartoon of Mr. Becker with a pack on a stick saying Berlin for me]

Another way, like I said, was to use coercive behavior. Judge Becker, who was a circuit judge in Monroe in Green – I think that’s Green County, described the war aloud as a rich man’s war. And he warned farmers to beware of war taxes. These words are seditious statements. Because of these comm-comments, he was sentenced to a year in prison. And this sign was put up on his property. And it says, this little picture of Becker holding, kind of, like, a pack off a stick and it says, Berlin for me. So, this – and being in yellow is very important because yellow is the – is the color of cowardice.

So, he was actually – he – the federal court eventually reversed the conviction in 1920, but his career was ruined.

And finally –

[new slide under the Hyper-patriots in Wisconsin banner, featuring the headline of the Ashland Daily Press on April 1, 1918, that says, Professor of Northland Tarred And Feathered, Taken From Room By A Mob]

– another way to handle people who were not particularly loyal was done by the Knights of Loyalty, a group, a self-styled group out of Ashland, Wisconsin, who decided that the professor who taught German in Northland – at Northland College needed to be tarred and feather, which he was. This was the worse incidence of coercion in Wisconsin during World War I. When another person spoke out and said, I – I know who these people are, I knew who the Knights of Loyalty are, they were masked kind of like K.K.K. kind of look to them, he was also tarred and feathered to silence him. In the end, three people were tarred and feathered in Northland, I mean in Ashland to prevent to – by – by this group that had no other connection to other hyper-patriots to make sure the Germans in that area knew where they stood.

Now-

[new slide titled, Election to Replace Paul Husting Brings Disloyalty Issue to a Boiling Point, featuring a campaign poster for Victor Berger for U.S. Senate as well as portrait photos of Paul Husting – the junior Senator from Wisconsin, and his challengers, Joseph E. Davies, and Irvine Lenroot]

– just to kind of finish up, the last gasp of – of all of this angst occurred in April 2nd, mainly March and April of 1918. Paul Husting, who you see here on the left, was the junior senator from Wisconsin. He was very pro-America into the war. He was everything a hyper-patriot or preparedness advocate would love. Unfortunately, on October 21, 1917, he was on hiatus out in a – in a lake, duck hunting, he stood up to shoot, well, he stood up to shoot, well, actually, let me get this right. He was sitting in a boat with his brother. His brother went to shoot a duck and he stood up to shoot a duck as well, and the bullet went right through him and killed him instantly. So, all the sudden Paul Husting, their advocate, is dead. Who is going to replace him? This causes a lot of issues.

The primary election held in March comes down to the republicans. You have to know that the republicans at this time are divided into two groups, the stalwarts, who were more the preparedness, Loyalty Legion type, and the progressives, who – who support LaFollette. And there is a LaFollette republican running, and there’s a lot of concern that he will win. He does not win. So now, as we go to the general election, we have Joseph E. Davies running for senator as a democrat, Irvine Lenroot running as the republican. Both of these men are considered loyal and acceptable; it doesn’t matter who wins. The Loyalty Legion always says it’s not partisan, it’s pro-loyal. But the third person running for senate was Victor Berger. Now this becomes a problem.

So, discussion of Wisconsin’s loyalty reaches a fevered pitch in the weeks before the election. The Colorado Springs Gazette, for example, writes, the unity of the nation and the cause of humanity is on trial in Wisconsin. The verdict is weighted with impressive patience. The Chicago Daily News described Berger as –

[Leslie Bellais]

– an anti-American candidate who asks votes from disloyalists, from quitters, yellow-bellies, Germans, anti-nationalists, pacifists, and hallow-headed altruists.

There you go.

So, in the end, Lenroot won.

[return to the Election to Replace Paul Husting slide featuring the portrait of Mr. Lenroot]

So, the republican won. However, Victor Berger got 25% of the vote. This freaks people out a little bit, and it takes them a while to decide if Wisconsin is loyal or not, but decides in the end, Americans decide in the end they – they elected Lenroot, so let’s just let it go. And this seems to be the end of the discussion of Wisconsin and its loyalty issues for the most part.

So, to sum up –

[new slide titled, Loyalty, Patriotism and Being American, featuring a one-sheet by from the Third Liberty Loan asking, Are you 100% American? Prove it! Buy U.S. Government Bonds, as well as a contemporary photo from Milwaukee of an Americanization Pageant]

– during World War I one definition of patriotism predominated. Those who didn’t agree with that definition were ostracized by self-defined hyper-patriots. The latter privileged unquestioning support of the President and the U.S. government over everything else. And the Wisconsinites they attacked generally acted subdued in public, which means once they learned that they could go to – they could go to prison or be brought up before a court for saying things like the war is bad, Wilson shouldn’t have gotten us into the war, things like that, –

[Leslie Bellais]

they shut up.

However, they still had the ballot. And this seems to be where they spoke out the most. So, Germans, socialists, and all those who were declared as enemies seemed to have voted for men like Victor Berger and Daniel Hoan during the course of the – of the war, much to the chagrin of the Loyalty Legion.

So, they prevented the Loyal – Loyalty Legion from being completely successful and eradicating Wisconsin’s disloyal politicians. Now, after the war, Wisconsin’s hyper-patriots promoted memorials and Armistice Day celebrations, but the peace that was supposed to make the world safe for democracy, according to Wilson, did not come about. In fact, much of Europe remained unstable. And what happens is the wisdom of LaFollette and Berger become evident – more evident as time goes on. So, in the end, they are the ones who are remembered and discussed and not Wheeler Bloodgood and his – and his folks.

Thank you very much.

[applause]