Title Americans all! : foreign-born soldiers in World War I / Nancy Gentile Ford

Edition 1st ed Published College Station : Texas A & M University Press, ©2001

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Description 1 online resource (xiii, 194 pages) : illustrations Series Texas A & M University military history series ; 73 Texas A & M University military history series ; 73. Contents Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- CHAPTER 1 In the Familyof One Nation� -- CHAPTER 2 Drafting Foreign-bornDoughboys intothe American Army -- CHAPTER 3 The Camp Gordon Plan -- CHAPTER 4 Military Moral Uplifting -- CHAPTER 5“ Mindful ofthe Traditionsof His Race� -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index Summary During the First World War, nearly half a million immigrant draftees from forty-six different nations served in the U.S. Army. This surge of Old World soldiers challenged the American military's cultural, linguistic, and religious traditions and required military leaders to reconsider their training methods for the foreign-born troops. How did the U.S. War Department integrate this diverse group into a united fighting force?The war department drew on the experiences of progressive social welfare reformers, who worked with immigrants in urban settlement houses, and they listened to industrial efficiency experts, who connected combat performance to morale and personnel management. Perhaps most significantly, the military enlisted the help of ethnic community leaders, who assisted in training, socializing, and Americanizing immigrant troops and who pressured the military to recognize and meet the important cultural and religious needs of the ethnic soldiers. These community leaders negotiated the Americanization process by promoting patriotism and loyalty to the United States while retaining key ethnic cultural traditions.Offering an exciting look at an unexplored area of military history, Americans All! Foreign-born Soldiers in World War I constitutes a work of special interest to scholars in the fields of military history, sociology, and ethnic studies. Ford'sresearch illuminates what it meant for the U.S. military to reexamine early twentieth-century nativism; instead of forcing soldiers into a melting pot, war department policies created an atmosphere that made both American and ethnic pride acceptable.During the war, a German officer commented on the ethnic diversity of the American army and noted, with some amazement, that these "semi-Americans" considered themselves to be "true-born sons of their adopted country." The officer was wrong on one count. The immigrant soldiers were not "semi-Americans"; they were "Americans all!" Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 177-183) and index Notes Print version record Subject United States. Army -- Minorities -- History -- 20th century United States. Army -- History -- World War, 1914-1918 SUBJECT United States. Army fast Subject World War, 1914-1918 -- United States Immigrants -- United States -- History -- 20th century Sociology, Military -- United States SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural. POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Cultural Policy. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture. Immigrants Armed Forces -- Minorities Sociology, Military United States Genre/Form Electronic books History Form Electronic book ISBN 1585449091 9781585449095 9781603443296 1603443290 9781585441181 158544118X 9781603443296

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