The North Carolina press and the World War, 1914-1917 : a study of opinion

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Joanne Farlowe (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Richard Current

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to find out what some influential North Carolinians thought about the first World War from the beginning of hostilities in July, 1914, until United States intervention in April, 1917. Newspaper editorials were surveyed because newspaper editors were prominent members of the foreign policy public and did influence public opinion formation and change concerning foreign affairs. Nine North Carolina newspapers, two religious journals, and an agricultural journal were read for editorial comment on the war. This study shows that German submarine warfare was by far the most important factor in steering editorial opinion towards an acceptance of United States intervention in the first World War on the side of the Allies. Although newspapers differed widely in editorial reaction to specific incidents in the war from 1914 to 1917, the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany on January 31, 1917, brought unanimous agreement among the editors that war with Germany was probable. With the exception of one newspaper which had felt intervention would occur in April, 1916, the papers did not recognize a real war threat until early February, 1917. By March 27, 1917, a full week before President Woodrow Wilson delivered his war message to Congress, eight of the nine papers had declared the existence of a state of war with Germany.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 1973

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