Changes

see [[American entry into World War I]]

see [[American entry into World War I]]

[[World War I]] broke out in 1914.  Americans were horrified and were officially neutral. By 1915, Americans were paying much more attention to the war. The German atrocities against civilians in belgium and especially the illegal u-boat sinking of the British passenger liner ''[[Lusitania]]'' was the eye-opener for most people regarding German brutality.<ref> International law said that in wartime it was permissible to sink a merchant or passenger ship only after the creew and passengers were give time to get into life boats. The ''Lusitania'' sank in 15 minutes and most passengers drowned.</ref>  

[[World War I]] broke out in 1914.  Americans were horrified and were officially neutral. By 1915, Americans were paying much more attention to the war. The German atrocities against civilians in [[Belgium]] and especially the illegal u-boat sinking of the British passenger liner ''[[Lusitania]]'' was the eye-opener for most people regarding German brutality.<ref> International law said that in wartime it was permissible to sink a merchant or passenger ship only after the creew and passengers were give time to get into life boats. The ''Lusitania'' sank in 15 minutes and most passengers drowned.</ref>  

==The movement==

==The movement==

In 1915, a strong "Preparedness" movement emerged. It argued that the United States needed to immediately build up strong naval and land forces for defensive purposes; an unspoken assumption was that America would fight sooner or later. General [[Leonard Wood]] (still on active duty after serving a term as Chief of Staff of the Army), ex-president [[Theodore Roosevelt]], and former secretaries of war [[Elihu Root]] and [[Henry Stimson]] were the driving forces behind Preparedness, along with many of the nation's most prominent bankers, industrialists, lawyers and scions of prominent families. Indeed there emerged an "Atlanticist" foreign policy establishment, a group of influential Americans drawn primarily from upper-class lawyers, bankers, academics, and politicians of the Northeast, committed to a strand of Anglophile internationalism.<ref> John P. Finnegan, ''Against the Specter of a Dragon: The Campaign for American Military Preparedness, 1914-1917'' (1975)</ref>   

In 1915, a strong "Preparedness" movement emerged. It argued that the United States needed to immediately build up strong naval and land forces for defensive purposes; an unspoken assumption was that America would fight sooner or later. General [[Leonard Wood]] (still on active duty after serving a term as Chief of Staff of the Army), ex-president [[Theodore Roosevelt]], and former secretaries of war [[Elihu Root]] and [[Henry Stimson]] were the driving forces behind Preparedness, along with many of the nation's most prominent bankers, industrialists, lawyers and scions of prominent families. Indeed there emerged an "Atlanticist" foreign policy establishment, a group of influential Americans drawn primarily from upper-class lawyers, bankers, academics, and politicians of the Northeast, committed to a strand of Anglophile internationalism.<ref> John P. Finnegan, ''Against the Specter of a Dragon: The Campaign for American Military Preparedness, 1914-1917'' (1975)</ref>