World War I

Ever since George Washington proclaimed the United States to be neutral in the Wars of the French Revolution, the United States had a long history of remaining neutral when Europeans were at war. When World War I broke out in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson remained committed to American neutrality, running for re-election with the slogan, "He kept us out of war." In 1917, the Zimmerman Telegram and Germany's announcement that it would resume a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare did what the Lusitania could not: it drew the United States into World War I. The United States government proceeded to mobilize the nation for total war with a massive propaganda campaign aimed at increasing enlistments, selling war bonds, conserving resources, and dehumanizing the enemy.