It probably wasn’t another august madness; I doubt anybody thought the doughboys would be home for Christmas (at least not in 1917 – first they had to get over there). But 100 years ago there was a lot of evidence that America was successfully mobilizing for a fighting part in the great war. The June 17, 1917 issue of The New-York Times showed that female aviators from California had volunteered their planes and services to help Uncle Sam patrol his coasts:
west coast patriot
American doctors and nurses made up the first war unit to make it to Europe and were greeted by the king and queen of Great Britain:
welcoming the first arrivers
In other news: zeppelins again raided England; Elihu Root, an American special envoy to Russia, gave a speech in Petrograd proposing that the United States and Russia fight for each other’s freedom; a Russian Workmen’s Council and Soldier Delegates said they rejected a separate peace with the Central Powers; an American Liberty Loan was oversubscribed; and President Wilson was irritated by Congress’s delay in creating a new food administration. He wanted Herbert Hoover, the proposed “food czar,” to get started anyway:
NY Times June 17, 1917
More egg on Sumpter’s face. Wanted to title the post proto-WAC after World War II’s Women’s Air Corps – whoops. WAC was the Women’s Army Corps; apparently I was thinking of the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
All the photographs are from the June 17, 1917 issues of The New-York Times and can be found at the Library of Congress (images 1 and 6). The Food Administration poster is from the National Archives
patriotic pleading
Black Jack at West Point
