The Council of National Defense was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

organization formed during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

to coordinate resources and industry in support of the war effort, including the coordination of transportation, industrial and farm production, financial support for the war, and public morale. It was briefly revived for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

to hold agencies such as

National Defense Research Committee The National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was an organization created "to coordinate, supervise, and conduct scientific research on the problems underlying the development, production, and use of mechanisms and devices of warfare" in the Un ...

Organizational history

Establishment

The Army appropriation for 1916 provided for the creation and funding of the Council of National Defense.Green, Walter G., ed., ''Electronic Encyclopaedia of Civil Defense and Emergency Management''
"Council of National Defense and State Defense Councils," August 17, 2003
, accessed May 9, 2011 The appropriation was $200,000. President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

established it on August 24, 1916, because "The Country is best prepared for war when thoroughly prepared for peace." Members of some portions, such as the Medical Officers' Reserve Corps, which had existed previously as the Medical Reserve Corps, reverted to their former roles preparing for emergencies.

Structure

The council consisted of the

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

, the

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

, the

Secretary of the Interior Secretary of the Interior may refer to: * Secretary of the Interior (Mexico) * Interior Secretary of Pakistan * Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (Philippines) * United States Secretary of the Interior See also *Interior ministry An ...

, the

Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments. The department includes several organi ...

, the

Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

, and the

Secretary of Labor The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all o ...

. The council was to investigate and advise the president and heads of executive departments, on the strategic placement of industrial goods and services for the potential and future use in times of war. The President appointed a nonpartisan advisory commission associated with the council in October 1916. The commission comprised seven men with specialized knowledge in a profession or field of industry. Its first members were

Daniel Willard Daniel Willard (January 28, 1861 – July 6, 1942) was an American railroad executive best known as the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) from 1910 to 1941. He served on or headed several government railroad commissions in World ...

(Baltimore, Maryland), president of the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

;

Samuel Gompers Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...

(Washington, D.C.), president of the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutua ...

; Dr.

Franklin H. Martin Franklin Henry Martin (July 13, 1857 – March 7, 1935) was an American physician. He was the founder of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons and established the American College of Surgeons. Ritter was a member of the National Advis ...

(Chicago, Illinois), a distinguished

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

who founded the

American College of Surgeons The American College of Surgeons is an educational association of surgeons created in 1913.American College of Surgeons Online "What is the American College of Surgeons?"/ref> See also *American College of Physicians The American College o ...

;

Howard E. Coffin Howard Earle Coffin (September 6, 1873 – November 21, 1937) was an American automobile engineer and industrialist. He was one of the founders of the Hudson Motor Car Company with Roy D. Chapin. He was a charter member of The Society of Automoti ...

(Detroit, Michigan), head of the

Committee on Industrial Preparedness A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

, who had experience coordinating the auto industry in emergencies;

Bernard Baruch Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870 – June 20, 1965) was an American financier and statesman. After amassing a fortune on the New York Stock Exchange, he impressed President Woodrow Wilson by managing the nation's economic mobilization in W ...

(New York, New York), a prominent banker; Dr.

Hollis Godfrey Hollis Godfrey (1874 – January 17, 1936) was an American writer, teacher, engineering consultant, and president of the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry. Early life and education Hollis Godfrey was born in 1874 in Lynn, Massachuset ...

, civil engineer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), president of the

Drexel Institute Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Ar ...

; and

Julius Rosenwald Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions in ...

(Chicago, Illinois), president of Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Walter S. Gifford Walter Sherman Gifford (January 10, 1885 – May 7, 1966) was best known as the president of the AT&T Corporation from 1925 to 1948, after which he served as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1953. Biography Walter ...

, of the American Telegraph and Telephone Company, also an engineer, served as the first Director of the Council, but was succeeded by

Grosvenor Clarkson Grosvenor B. Clarkson (September 13, 1882 – January 23, 1937) was an author, publicist, and Director of the Council of National Defense during World War I. Early life Grosvenor B. Clarkson was born on September 13, 1882, in Des Moines, Iowa ...

Women and African Americans

New_Jersey_suffragists_helping_the_Liberty_Bond_drive_in_1918

In April of 1917,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

Anna Howard Shaw Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919) was a leader of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She was also a physician and one of the first ordained female Methodist ministers in the United States. Early life Sh ...

, founded the Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense. The committee was initially made up of Shaw,

Carrie Chapman Catt Carrie Chapman Catt (; January 9, 1859 Fowler, p. 3 – March 9, 1947) was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920. Catt ...

Maude A. K. Wetmore Maude Alice Keteltas Wetmore (February 7, 1873 – November 3, 1951) was an American political organizer and historical preservationist, based in Newport, Rhode Island. She and her sister lived in the Wetmore family mansion, Chateau-sur-Mer, now ...

, Ida Tarbell, Mrs. Joseph E. Cowles,

Antoinette Funk Antoinette Funk (May 30, 1873 – March 26, 1942) was a lawyer and women's rights advocate during the 20th century. She served as the executive secretary of the Congressional Committee of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Biogr ...

, Mrs. Phillip N. Moore, and Mrs. Joseph R. Lamar. The Women's Committee helped match women with groups that had need for volunteers and also advised the defense council of how women could aid the war effort. Beginning in May 1917, the Council asked individual states to create their own Councils of Defense to assist the federal Council in carrying out its work. There were 48 state Women's Committees formed. Shaw appointed temporary chairs for each state committee in order to coordinate the upcoming war work. Some groups formed separate Women's Committees of National Defense and Southern states, at the urging of the National Council, formed organizations for

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

Alice Dunbar Nelson Alice Dunbar Nelson (July 19, 1875 – September 18, 1935) was an American poet, journalist, and political activist. Among the first generation born free in the South after the Civil War, she was one of the prominent African Americans involved i ...

worked as a field representative for the Women's Council. In January 1920, the Council recommended the creation of an Expert Survey Board to conduct research studies over the next six months to enable speedy mobilization in the event of another war.

Disestablishment

The activities of the Council of National Defense were suspended in 1921.

Footnotes

External links

Council of National Defense
{{DEFAULTSORT:Council of National Defense Government agencies established in 1916 Organizations disestablished in 1921 United States home front during World War I Presidency of Woodrow Wilson Military history of the United States during World War I 1916 establishments in the United States 1921 disestablishments in the United States

Organizational history

Establishment

Structure

Women and African Americans

Disestablishment

See also

Footnotes

Further reading

Further reading

External links