World War I

"The size of the federal government in the United States took a quantum leap with U.S. entry in World War I. It is a textbook case of how a military crisis abroad can be parlayed into opportunities for significant institutional change in the relationship between government and individual. U.S. entry into the European war was not a foregone conclusion. The American public did not favor it, and in 1916 President Wilson campaigned on the slogan, “He kept us out of war.” But there were forces at home and abroad seeking to lure the United States. Certain economic interests, holders of British bonds for example, wished to help Great Britain and protect their financial stake in the empire. Moreover, Wilson found the prospect of steering an historic transfiguration of the world irresistible. Thus the ruling establishment had considerable incentives to interpret events as justifying American entry, and British officials, particularly Winston Churchill, strove to bring the United States into the war. When armed and navy-escorted American merchant ships were sunk in the Kaiser’s declared zone for unrestricted submarine warfare, established in retaliation for Britain’s starvation blockade against Germany, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war."