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WWI Wasn't Such A Great War

The recent PBS documentary on America in World War I was a mind-changer, at least for me.

I had known about some of the troubles at home during this period — the race riots and the suppression of free speech — but, for me, they had been overcome by the heroic doughboys in France and Belgium, turning the tide of the conflict, and of the spirited George M. Cohen song “Over There,” which must be the most animating tune ever written.

The facts, though, are dark. Black regiments were eager to see battle in order to prove that they were worthy citizens. But when they got home as winners, they were treated as badly as ever. Whites persecuted them in scores of cities. Even before the war began, President Wilson had brought back Jim Crow in Washington, D.C.

There were thousands of prosecutions of American citizens, either because they had said something critical about the war effort or simply because they were of German ancestry. It was the worst time for civil liberties in our history, not excepting the notorious McCarthy era in the 1950s.

But at least America was on the winning side. And because Woodrow Wilson got so ill, his wife became an unofficial acting president—thus becoming the first and only female president in our history.

It was still a pretty bad time, and likely worse than the one we have now.

This is Tom McBride, and that’s my perspective.

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