Very different understanding of neutrality than we have today. Neutrality, at the beginning of the war, did not mean inactivity. I did not mean passivity. And it most certainly did not mean impartiality. So if it doesnt mean those things, then what on earth does neutrality mean . The definition of neutrality differs with each country. Some, like belgium, will say that they never gave up their neutrality. They were invaded, right . But they always remained, officially, neutral. So they were agrieved against as a neutral country. Others like switzerland, will say, were neutral and to prove it, dylan, im going to hold your wallet, and kia, im going to hold your wallet. And thats how im neutral. In the case of the United States, neutrality will for the most part mean they will do business with whoever, and the very willingness to do business with both germans or rather the central powers and the allies is proof of their neutrality. So a lot of people are surprised to learn that at the beginning of the war, the u. S. Traded with and maintained diplomatic relations with all of the belligerent nations. Now, some of those relationships were strained to be sure. One of my favorite examples is the one of both the first and last Ottoman Empire ambassador, appointed to the United States, alfred dublinski, a polish turk. And he is appointed to d. C. And hes given one instruction on his departure from constantnople and you know that thats a hotly contested zone, right . So they tell him, go to the states and all you have to do is be charming. All you have to do is have fabulous parties, be a fabulous guest, and by all means, avoid any social or political tensions. Dublinski, who was never very good at heeding simple instructions, of course, gets to d. C. , right about the time that news of crisis is happening in the Ottoman Empire. Armenians and other christians are being attacked. And so the American Press is really pointing out that this is a problem. Well, dublinski, and certainly the ottomans, felt that wasnt very neutral. That was pretty judgy. And so he so irritates Woodrow Wilson that Woodrow Wilson has his privileges as an ambassador revoked. How timely with our current news, right . You dont behave, you lose your office. But on his way out, dublinski knew exactly how to annoy americans. What the africanAmerican Press said to that dublinski pressed on americas cancer spot, and that was that he said, how dare you, americans, who claim to be neutral, judge we ottomans about how we treat our minorities, given how you treat your own minorities. Native americans, africanamericans. So until you stop segregation, you have no business telling us about being violent or how to control our minorities. And in order to ensure having lost his ambassadorship, that he left Woodrow Wilson on the brink of a complete conniption, dublinski was photographed in black churches in d. C. , praying and singing with africanamericans, and talking about how their plight and their suffering really helped him understand who americans truly were, despite their browbeating all over the world, as purported neutrals, who were also morally superior. So what we see in the case of the United States is that the question of race will already be part of this diplomatic tugofwar, the germans will do the same, right . It will return. So in the United States, what we get from the very beginning of the war are a lot of the same kinds of concerns that had been weighing heavily on european empires that weve been talking about, right . So what were some of those concerns . That there would be that their own countries were full of dissidents who could set the place ablaze by pointing out the fishtures in american society. So hence our first picture here. So what were we looking at . Women. Women protesting in front of the white house, demanding the right to vote. Pointing out how american democracy is not perfect. And again, therefore, who are they, more so as a neutral state, to go around the world, telling other people whats right and whats wrong. What are other some dissident groups that we have in the country. Well, just like in europe, we have workers who are galvanizing around their right to a safe working space, a fair living wage, safe, reasonable working hours, right . This is still a time where we work 6 1 2 days a week. And on the half day that were off, our boss is supervisoring us at church and in our various halls, our ethnic halls. So workers are a problem. Women are a problem. Can anyone hazard a guess at other groups who might be a problem . Yes, jenny . Specifically, what kind of minorities . So africanamericans are a problem. And how are they a problem . Que well, for one thing, they continue to say we want our civil rights. We want the right to vote. We are, in fact, americans. We pay taxes. We own land, we want the right to go to school, wherever we actually qualify. Right . Africanamericans women are also wanting very much to have the vote. We the most pressing problem for africanamericans was certainly lynching and other forms of racial violence. So africanamericans will say, we want this to end. Indeed, it must end immediately, because every incidence of racialized violence, and there were many, and they took on different shapes, every one of thoepz incident those incidents places us too precarious close to how the kaiser and other europeans treat their colonial populations. So these various groups we have prohibitionists pointing out how immigrants are a problem with populations. There are simply too many of them. We have to have rules, we have to have borders, we have to have walls, we have to have medical screening to keep these undesirables pouring in from europe to continue coming and bringing with them their drinking habits and their weird religions. Right . Catholics, italians, irish. Conveniently forgetting that plenty of germans and french and british are also catholics. But this idea that the cauldron that is the United States is having its own kind of bubbling up of problems, native americans, who are demanding citizenship. They do demanding citizenship. They do not have it at this time. Right . These are worrisome enough that americans should focus on themselves in order to control that population, lest what happened over there also ends up happening over here. And will democracy be enough to prevent what happened over there from also happening over here . One of the things that youre often taught in high school that is just plain wrong is the idea that americans are isolationists. They are not. The period between at the least the 1890s and certainly still through the 1920s, that window is one in which americans actually spread out from the United States in pretty spectacular ways. So this some talked about an american imperialism being born, right, and certainly an imperil vision if not yell its manifestation. So from the 1890s the u. S. Has now reached into hawaii, reached into cuba, reached into puerto rico, and most significantly, reached into the philippines. So all the way into asia. It isnt that americans are isolationists, they very much want to get into your house. They just dont want you to come into theirs. And that is not then isolationism. We want to change other people. We just dont want them to have any say as to who we get to be. And so, in that period, in those early years of the war, we talked about this a few weeks ago, americans have their attention completely trained on the americas. And so, whats happening . We talked about how whats happening on the canadian border, well canadians are getting ready to celebrity the sen centenary. Will mainers go toetotoe . Whos going to pipe up the band the loudest to show they are the place thereat matters more, that day thrived. Then 1812 through 1814 and again in 1914. And, again, americans attention is completely trained on the mexican border. And why there . Because since at least 1910, truly earl yeah but since at least 1910, mexico had been undergoing several revolutions. And those revolutions had only intensified in nature and grown closer to the american border. And the source of the tension in many instances were americans, who mexicans felt were too much of a presence in mexico, owned too much of the land, controlled too much of the capital, and controlled and owned too much of the industry industrial footprint in mexico. So part, its a very complicated set of revolutions, its not just one, but nonetheless, that internal set of conflicts in mexico is working its way closest to the american border. Hence, once again, being very concerned about american safety, american protectionism with respect to what comes through that southern border. What we know is that people also came through that southern border. And so, the idea that a Central American migration pattern is really contemporary, misses what was happening 100plus years ago, that the border was quite porous. It certainly, like a valve, opened and closed depending on American Labor needs. Right. And so people are very surprised to find out that at around this time, a quarter of the workforce in chicago meat Packing Industries are mexicans. If you went skiing in colorado at this time, the ski patrol were mexicans and mexicanamericans. So weve continued this myth that somehow its a population thats a new wave when, in fact, theres been a pretty constant stream, one that americans have welcomed and vilified, depending on political and economic expediency. But that that border was of tremendous concern in 1914. The concern there is also framed around that language that we talked about, that social darwinist language we talked about. So immigrants bring disease. And disease is as much political and in your mind, ideas like communism and autocracy, and socialism and catholicism. But they also bring maladies, right, and so part of the way we make ourselves feel safer is to screen for these maladies. To tell ourselves that they are more inherent to one set of people and not another. That is the way that were spending our energy in 1914. Why is this southern border and the caribbean so important . I just want to take a slight step back here and talk about those problem constituencies and here, women in the pality, women in the public spaces, felt this was such an egregious act, such an incendiary act to put on your hat, put on your full support girdle and leave the house to protest because it would be an embarrassment to you, to your family and possibly land you in jail. This was not the time to mince words. So youll note that language at the top of this banner, right, kaiser wilson. Wilson, who spent much of his career curating the notion that he was he functioned from a higher moral stance than even his own country could meet. My favorite quote about wilsons 14 points comes from the foreign minister prime minister, after wilson gets up and says his vision after the world war, he stands up and said, even god only had ten. This is the picture of africanamericans marching down fifth avenue in new york. And their banner reads, the first blood for american independence was spilled by chrispus attis. I cant say his name today. So reminding the nation that africanamericans have been military part of defending this country at every turn, and so, how can we continue to have laws that limit their citizenship rights, laws that limit where they can go. Laws that limit where they can go to school, who they can mary, how much they can earn, et cetera. Its fundamentally not independence. So for much of the world, europeans in particular, this political cartoon captures it. Heres uncle sam selling stuff and europe has a long shopping list. Basically theyre asking, hows my credit . How much can i borrow from you in order to keep fighting . If you were to ask a german, a british person what are the americans doing in 1914 . They would say fattening their pockets. And do not ever forget that the fattening of those pockets comes at the cost of european lives. That american greed, and their willingness in particular to sell to anyone, could ultimately result in the collapse of european empires, more so than europeans killing themselves. So to come back to the question that tom asked many, many weeks ago, how is it that the germans are always pinned the bad guys. We can see as early as 1914 were starting to vila fie the role of some neutrals, in this case the u. S. , that sells indiscriminantly. In this cartoon theres food, apples in that barrel, and its important to remember that 1914 was a real boom time for the american economy. Now like most countries, when the war first began, theres a retraction. People are concerned they spend a little bit less, you dont have easy access to all the sources you would normally want to purchase, right . The Stock Exchange was closed in new york just as it closed in vienna and london and paris and berlin. But once by december people start coming out of their caves again, the americans realize that this war is an amazing boone for their economy. Because if nothing else, while the europeans are fighting each other, they cant produce things. And the country that produced the best and the most of things, germany, is especially unable to do so because its fighting on two, soon to be three, fronts. We talked about the example of harmonicas in christmas of 1914, right. The holidays are coming and we need things. Those things are chocolate, toys for children, clothing. Remember most of the armies had not prepared for winter for the war spilling into winter. So now the americans are the ones who can sell all of their cotton, sell all of their wheat, sell their corn. And sell one of the first ways that we see americans making money has to do with horses and mules. There is a robust trade in american horses, cattle, and mules from the upper northwest through the midwest so kansas, for example, its economy goes through the roof because it has huge stock yards where all these trains bringing in horses could then be sorted, screened for illness, and then put on fast moving trains up to chicago and then across to philadelphia, new york and boston. Why are we moving so many horses . They need them at the front. Who needs them at the front . The british in particular. Youll recall that i told you that the average life span of a horse is about two weeks, and thats a lucky horse. At the front. So theyre dieing almost more quickly than we can get them over there. And the germans will say, theyll have a robust Propaganda Campaign saying you are responsible for killing my son because the horse that youre sending over and that youre making scores of money on, right, that horse is being used to pull artillery, to move cavalry, even though cavalry wasnt doing that much. For food. Right . So horses are vital. Theyre vital in terms of how the armies imagine themselves, but theyre also vital for all the Different Things they can do in the war zone and the people who are shipping the most number of horses and at the same time saying that theyre neutral are the americans. And because americans have a healthy transportation system, railways, ports, deep ports, people are also sending the horses up from argentina and brazil and uruguay, theyre coming down from canada. We are selling to germany on occasion. But those horses have to make it past the british im not necessarily talking about horses. We are selling to germans, absolutely. When the germans float that sub i told you guys about, right, that makes its way to philly, spends two weeks being celebrated, that sub goes back full of american products. And germans will see the trip, the successful nature of that trip, as a continued partnership with american commerce. Why would the germans think the u. S. Potentially a good partner . Well, for one thing, there were a lot of germans here. We talked about that, right . About 25 of the population. By some estimates higher, still. Were either firstgeneration or secondgeneration germanamericans. The largest urban population of germans outside of berlin is in new york. Most cities on the east coast will have some version of a german town, right . So, germany at the very least would say, well, my cousins not going to let them go nuts and go after us so quickly. Right . We have a chance. We have to convince them that were pizons. Besides, the irish dont care about the british. Theyre no friends of theirs. The irish will also join us. French canadians hate the british. We could get that started up there, too. So we have a pretty good chance of winning a media war, if you will, right . Public sentiment. And for a time, that seemed to work. It worked because, in part, the germans were winning. But the moment the war starts it becomes, at the very least, a little more dangerous being german in america. We see in iowa, for example, an attempt to pass an englishonly bill, making english the official language of iowa when the United States has no official language. English is not the official language of the United States. And in some parts of the United States, like pennsylvania, they could just as well have made german the official language so much as its spoken. Some parts of eastern ohio, very czech. So all of a sudden being seen speaking in german, singing german songs, those become suspect behaviors. Now, remember, the suspicions we have for people who are not like us, who may be genetically defective, racially defective, colonially defective, that muscle can easily be rerouted to a new cause. So what we see in 1914, certainly in 1915, is that it becomes downright dangerous being german, being suspected of being german and doing, consuming, celebrating things however broadly german. My favorite example of this is actually this set of images. So we get reports in the United States and moscow of people going out on the street with their baseball bats pounding to death little daschund dogs because now they represent the kaiser. The kaiser had two homicidal dauchsaunds. I dont know how they killed that many animals but they did. But that becomes an emblem of what is wrong with germans, even their animals are evil and murd murderous. Right . So in your way of proving your positionalty on that patriotism, that public exercise of patriotism, club it. It doesnt its no longer sauerkraut. Youre having freedom cabbage. Right . Americans love rebranding food in times of war. Its not french fries, its liberty fries. Right . So american having a stein, thats what theyre called, right . There are public stein crashing gatherings where you show that youre making you know, making rule your dis