When the war began, the entire US transformed itself to support the war effort. Pictured above are some of the millions of young men who volunteered for military service. Economic changes included the introduction of a command economy in some sectors. This entailed the government specifying how much and what companies would produce. For example, car companies like Ford produced parts for tanks rather than making more profitable cars. This also led to mandatory rationing, propaganda posters of which are pictured to the right.
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In general, the propaganda regime during World War I was unlike anything ever seen before in America. Posters in public places advocated for recruitment, volunteer work, war bonds, and general nationalism.
Finally, a significant domestic development was Americanization programs. Some were skeptical of how loyal immigrant groups would be to the United States, given that their home countries were now enemies of the United States. This led to the formation of private or quasi-governmental programs to assimilate immigrants to the point where they would support the American war effort. While most of these were benign, and actually helped immigrants acclimate to America, they occasionally turned negative. Some 2,000 immigrants are estimated to have been imprisoned during World War I as a result of anti-immigrant skepticism, and many more were banned from traveling to their home countries. Ironically, travel bands caused more immigrants to stay, and some even brought their families to escape from combat in their home countries.