JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2278
WILSON CABINET WANTS NATIONAL SERVICE FOR EVERY AMERICAN
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) One hundred years ago, April 13, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson's war cabinet, after a two hour meeting, advocated national service for every American as the basic principle of the President's vast war program.
Arthur S. Henning, in a front page story in The Chicago Daily Tribune, wrote...
"Every American citizen will be called upon to do 'his bit' toward the achievement of victory."
A selective draft remained an option while the first problem addressed was shipbuilding. Major General George W. Goethals* accepted President Wilson's offer to supervise construction of 600 wooden vessels.
The Wilson War Program included the following...
-2 million fighting men in 2 years
-a navy of 200,000 men
-2 million men to be recruited at once
-building 100 wooden freight vessels
-an army of 5 million laborers to produce war munitions & materials
*George Washington Goethals (1858-1928) was born in Brooklyn NY & attended the College of the City of NY. GWG graduated from the USMA at West Point in 1880. He served in the Spanish-American War & was chief engineer of the Panama Canal.
SOURCE
"ASK SERVICE OF 9,400,000 AMERICAN MEN, Wilson Cabinet Draws Its Outline for a Vast Program," by Arthur Sears Henning, The Chicago Daily Tribune, April 14, 1917, www.archives.chicagotribune.com/
George Washington Goethals
by Clinedinst
Library of Congress Photo
WILSON CABINET WANTS NATIONAL SERVICE FOR EVERY AMERICAN
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) One hundred years ago, April 13, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson's war cabinet, after a two hour meeting, advocated national service for every American as the basic principle of the President's vast war program.
Arthur S. Henning, in a front page story in The Chicago Daily Tribune, wrote...
"Every American citizen will be called upon to do 'his bit' toward the achievement of victory."
A selective draft remained an option while the first problem addressed was shipbuilding. Major General George W. Goethals* accepted President Wilson's offer to supervise construction of 600 wooden vessels.
The Wilson War Program included the following...
-2 million fighting men in 2 years
-a navy of 200,000 men
-2 million men to be recruited at once
-building 100 wooden freight vessels
-an army of 5 million laborers to produce war munitions & materials
*George Washington Goethals (1858-1928) was born in Brooklyn NY & attended the College of the City of NY. GWG graduated from the USMA at West Point in 1880. He served in the Spanish-American War & was chief engineer of the Panama Canal.
SOURCE
"ASK SERVICE OF 9,400,000 AMERICAN MEN, Wilson Cabinet Draws Its Outline for a Vast Program," by Arthur Sears Henning, The Chicago Daily Tribune, April 14, 1917, www.archives.chicagotribune.com/
George Washington Goethals
by Clinedinst
Library of Congress Photo
