Historians on the Homefront

American Propagandists for the Great War

George T. Blakey

• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780813151298
• eBook ISBN: 9780813185842
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historiography
• Index: History

When Woodrow Wilson called on the American people to mobilize for war in April 1917, it was hardly surprising that historians should respond to their one-time colleague. Mobilization produced three organizations staffed by many of America's leading historians. All three organizations, the author shows, viewed as their task the mobilizing of America's intellectual resources in support of Wilson's war policies.

The postwar decade saw an inevitable cooling of wartime passions and a reevaluation of the causes of the war. George T. Blakey examines the postwar reaction to the activities of the CPI, NBHS, and NSL, which included congressional investigations and acerbic attacks in popular and scholarly periodicals. A number of the historians came to regret their wartime propaganda work; a few of these joined the ranks of the revisionists and turned on their colleagues. Others merely strengthened their Germanophobia. The majority, Mr. Blakely finds, resumed their academic careers, apparently untouched by the part they had played in mobilizing the American war effort. The question of scholarly integrity versus propaganda has never been fully resolved, the author concludes, but later generations of historians can still learn much from the example of America's World War I historians-turned-propagandists.

Index

The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below

Adams, Charles Kendall

Adams, Ephraim D.: and NBHS

and NSL

Adams, George B.: and intervention

advice to Notestein

Adams, Henry: as historian

as prophet of change

Adams, Herbert Baxter: founding of AHA

founder of historical seminar

Addams, Jane

Adrian, Mich.

AHA. See American Historical Association

Akron, Ohio

Alabama

“Alabama” claims

Alaska

Allen, William H.

Allied Maritime Transport Council

Allies: threat to

ideals of

and America

and Russia

mentioned

Alsace-Lorraine

Altschul, Charles

America at War

America Goes to War

American Historical Association (AHA): leadership of

founding of

meetings of

and History Teacher’s Magazine

American Historical Review: editors of

founding of

and NBHS

and The War Message

and revisionism

American Mercury

American Nation series

American Political Science Association

American Revolution: E. B. Greene on

and Thomas Paine

C. H. Van Tyne on

and England

in textbooks

American Revolution in our School Textbooks, The

America’s War Aims and Peace Programs

Anderson, Frank M.

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Armistice: and NSL

and demobilization

effect on education

mentioned

Atlantic Monthly

atrocities: reported in German War Code

demand for

and German War Practices

NBHS on

in Two Thousand Questions and Answers

in The Study of the Great War

in Questions on the Issues of the War

mentioned. See also Bryce Report

Attila the Hun

Australia

Austria

autocracy: versus democracy

attacks on

Aydelotte, Frank

Bagley, William C.

Baker, Newton D.

Balfour, Arthur: quoted

Balkans

Baltimore, Md.

Bancroft, George

Barnes, Harry Elmer: on Shotwell

on censorship

and revisionism

Battle Line of Democracy, The

Beard, Charles A.: on war hysteria

on intervention

War Cyclopedia

mentioned

Becker, Carl L.: on idealism

as pamphleteer

The United States: An Experiment in Democracy

and History Teacher’s Magazine

and revisionism

later career

mentioned

Belgium

Berlin, University of

Bernhardi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• I. The Dilemma of War
• II. Mobilizing the Historians
• III. Professors & Pamphlets
• IV. Using & Abusing Oratory
• V. Historians as Censors
• VI. In & Out of the Classroom
• VII. Criticisms & Conclusions
• Bibliographical Essay
• Index