President Woodrow Wilson, following the prevailing isolationist mood of the country, adopted a position of strict neutrality towards the European conflict: “neutral in thought as well as action.” Wilson’s campaign slogan for the 1916 presidential election was “He kept us out of war.” Wilson tried to broker a negotiated settlement among the warring factions, a proposal he characterized as “Peace without Victory.” However, neither side would accept Wilson’s proposal. After years of war, they had lost too much not to make the other side pay for their losses. They were unwilling to consider walking away without something gained, so that they could call themselves the victors.
There were a number of songs that supported Wilson and the government’s initial neutrality posture, the most famous of which was “I Didn’t Raise My Boy to be Soldier,” written by Alfred Bryan and Al Piantadosi (1915). It was sung by the Peerless Quartet. The song was taken out of circulation by The Victor Talking Machine Company when American foreign policy changed. The song is listed in Victor’s November 1917 catalog but is missing from the May 1918 catalog. (http://youtu.be/HHEqjMf7Ojo)
Ten million soldiers to the war have gone,
Who may never return again.
Ten million mother’s hearts must break
For the ones who died in vain.
Head bowed down in sorrow
In her lonely years,
I heard a mother murmur thru’ her tears:Chorus
I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier,
I brought him up to be my pride and joy.
Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder,
To shoot some other mother’s darling boy?
Let nations arbitrate their future troubles,It’s time to lay the sword and gun away.
There’d be no war today,
If mothers all would say,
“I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier.”Verse 2
What victory can cheer a mother’s heart,
When she looks at her blighted home?
What victory can bring her back
All she cared to call her own?
Let each mother answer
In the years to be,
Remember that my boy belongs to me!Repeat Chorus 2x
“Don’t Take My Darling Boy Away From Me,” another anti-war song, was recorded by J. Phillips and Helen Clark in 1916 or early 1917. Music by Albert Von Tilzer, lyrics by Will Dillon (1915); https://youtu.be/_Xwu3LK5zwA)
A mother was kneeling to pray
For loved ones at war far away
And there by her side, her one joy and pride,
knelt down with her that dayThen came a knock on the door
Your boy is commanded to war
“No Captain please, here on my knees,
I plead for one I adore”Don’t take my darling boy away from me,
Don’t send him off to war
You took his father and brothers three,
Now you’ve come back for moreWho are the heroes that fight your war
Mothers who have no say
But my duty’s done so for god’s sake leave one!
And don’t take my darling boy away.Tenting tonight, Tenting tonight
Tenting on the old campgroundYou took his father and brothers three,
Now you’ve come back for moreTenting tonight, Tenting tonight
Tenting on the old campgroundBut my duty’s done so for god’s sake leave one!
And don’t take my darling boy away.A hero is now laid to rest, A hero and one of the best
He fought with each son, The battles he’d won,
And the battles that proved a testThough she never went to the war,
She was a hero by far, they gave a gun
But who gave a son,
M. O. T. H. E. R.Don’t take my darling boy away from me,
Don’t send him off to war
You took his father and brothers three,
Now you’ve come back for moreWho are the heroes that fight your war
Mothers who have no say
But my duty’s done so for god’s sake leave one!
And don’t take my darling boy away.Tenting tonight, Tenting tonight
Tenting on the old campgroundYou took his father and brothers three,
Now you’ve come back for moreTenting tonight, Tenting tonight
Tenting on the old campgroundBut my duty’s done so for god’s sake leave one!
And don’t take my darling boy away
Although Wilson’s policy was to be strictly neutral and to treat all sides the same, the reality of the circumstances favored Britain and its partners. American shippers were willing to send goods to the Central Powers or the Allies, but Britain had the strongest Navy and it controlled the seas. The British instituted a blockade of the Central Powers, which was dramatically effective since Germany and its partners had great difficulties in avoiding the blockade.
The Germans introduced submarine warfare early in 1915 to neutralize the English blockade. At first, the Germans only used submarines to attack armed naval ships; they did not attack merchant ships that were carrying supplies. However, to counter the growing English naval advantage, the Germans declared the area around England a “war zone” and initiated expanded submarine warfare. The Germans announced that they would attack any ship that they thought might be carrying war supplies to England, even if it also carried passengers.
In early May 1915, a British luxury liner, Lusitania, then the largest passenger ship on the seas, set sail for England from New York with a cargo made up partly of war materiel intended for the English army. The cargo included an estimated 4,200,000 rounds of rifle cartridges, 1,250 empty shell cases, and 18 cases of non-explosive fuses, which were openly listed as such in her cargo manifest. (New York Times, 9 May 1915. p. 4.)
On the day before Lusitania set sail, the German government published a warning in New York City newspapers to potential passengers that the ship could be sunk. On the afternoon of May 7, without warning, Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the southern coast of Ireland, inside the declared war zone, resulting in more than 1,200 deaths (passengers and crew) of whom 128 were Americans. This action was a public relations nightmare for Germany. It turned public opinion against the Germans. A number of songs were written about the sinking of the Lusitania.
The song “When the Lusitania Went Down,“ songwriters Charles McCarron and Nat Vincent (1915), was published 13 days after the sinking of the Lusitania. (See YouTube, http://youtu.be/2cRaYYZzmVw for this and other songs relating to the sinking of The Lusitania.)
The nation is sad as can be;
A message has come over the sea;
A thousand more, who sailed from our shore;
Have gone to eternity.
The Statute of Liberty High,
Must now have a tear in her eye;
I think it is a shame,
Someone is to blame,
But all we can do is just sigh!(Chorus)
Some of us lost a true sweetheart,
Some of us lost a dear dad,
Some lost their mothers, sisters and brothers,
Some lost the best friends they had.
Its time they were stopping this warfare,
If women and children must drown,
Many brave hearts went to sleep in the deep,
When the Lusitania went down.A lesson to all it should be,
When we feel like crossing the sea,
American ships that sail from our slips,
Are safer for you and for me.
A Yankee can go anywhere
As long as Old Glory is there!
Although they were warned,
The warning they scorned,
And now we must cry in despair.Repeat Chorus
Another popular song about the Lusitania sinking was “As The Lusitania Went Down,“ songwriters Arthur J. Lamb and F. Henri Klickmann (1915). It was described by The Music Trade Review on May 29, 1915 as “One of the most interesting of the songs that have made their appearance in the commemoration of the Lusitania disaster.” http://digital.gonzaga.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15486coll3/id/6431
The sun was sparkly brightly
upon the ocean foam,
The Lusitania speeding fast,
was very nearly home.Then came the blow so sudden
that pierced the vessel’s heart.
But while the crowd surged o’er the deck,
A young man stood apart,Chorus
He thought of a girl who loved him,
He thought of their wedding day,
and he looked on the angry ocean, eager to seize its prey,
He thought of his poor old mother,
In a little Southern town,
And, suddenly he sighed “They will be done”
as the Lusitania went downHe stepped into a life boat, but ‘ere it left the deck,
He saw a woman add child up on the sinking wreck,
“Come take my place her told her”, and as she stepped inside,
He thought again of the ones he loved, And like a hero, he died.Chorus
Another song about the sinking of the Lusitania is the band Brando’s “Dear Lusitania,” (2012) (http://youtu.be/6OB5DZutKFg) (I could not find the lyrics and they are difficult to decipher for transcription, but the YouTube video is very good.)
The American reaction to the sinking of the Lusitania and the use of U-boats in general was so negative that the Germans decided to suspend their policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in order to keep the Americans out of the war. However, by taking their U-boats out of the ocean war, the Germans conceded the balance of power at sea to the British. The Germans allowed the British Navy to control the transport of goods and guaranteed the effectiveness of the blockade. The effect was to strangle Germany’s sources of supply, resulting not only in loss of equipment needed by the military, but also the loss of greatly needed civilian supplies. Growing unrest at home threatened the stability of the German government.
Germany became desperate and in January 1917 announced the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. Knowing that the American reaction to the resumption would most likely be a declaration of war, the Germans could only hope that the all-out use of submarines could force the British and their allies to the peace table before the Americans could get war ready, which the Germans thought would take several years. (Hakim, Freedom: A History of US, p. 254.) The Germans grossly underestimated the necessary amount of time; it took the United States less than a year to train, supply and organize its army for the battlefields of France. (Id.) By early 1918, the United States had mobilized and transported to the European battlegrounds hundreds of thousands of soldiers. By the end of the summer of 1918 almost 900,000 American soldiers were supporting the French and English troops. (Id.) These added fighters gave the Allies a numerical advantage that ultimately to the defeat of the Central Powers.
On April 2, 1917, President Wilson spoke before a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Germany and its partners. Wilson’s remarks indicate that he was motivated by idealistic goals. He said, “We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest. We seek no indemnities…no material compensation.” His goal was to “make the world safe for democracy”. (This Fabulous Century (“TFC”), Vol. II, p. 208.) As the Germans expected, American public opinion (except for nationals from Germany and its partners) was quick to jump on Wilson’s bandwagon.