“THERE SHALL BE NO WOMAN SLACKERS”: THE WOMAN’S COMMITTEE OF THE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE AND SOCIAL WELFARE ACTIVISM AS HOME DEFENSE, 1917-1919 By Anita Anthony VanOrsdal A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of History – Doctor of Philosophy 2016 ABSTRACT “THERE SHALL BE NO WOMAN SLACKERS”: THE WOMAN’S COMMITTEE OF THE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE AND SOCIAL WELFARE ACTIVISM AS HOME DEFENSE, 1917-1919 By Anita Anthony VanOrsdal When the United States entered the Great War in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary of War Newton Baker organized the Council of National Defense, a group of civilian businessmen in essential industries, labor leaders, and transportation experts, to coordinate for wartime needs. President Wilson and Secretary Baker also created the Woman’s Committee as a semiautonomous branch of the Council of National Defense to represent and coordinate the nation’s women to organize and maintain the home-front for the duration of the war. Under federal mandate, the Woman’s Committee defined “home-front defense” as the protection of the American family, most notably the nation’s women and children, from the social disruptions of World War I. The Woman’s Committee established coalitions with Progressive Era women’s clubs to assist the U.S. Food Administration with wartime food and nutritional needs, coordinated a massive child-savings campaign with the federal Children’s Bureau, and conducted sociological research to support demands from working-class women. The Woman’s Committee’s goals supported the war effort and expanded women’s domestic political power through social welfare activism. The American involvement in the war, however, steered women reformers into relationships with each other that remained loosely-defined during the war and ultimately created a false sense of political solidarity among women’s groups and federal agencies partnered with the Woman’s Committee. The war presented over 10 million American women with opportunities to become involved in local, state, and national politics through social welfare activism on behalf of children and women in their local communities and states. The social welfare activism of American women who joined in the Woman’s Committee’s wartime programs helped shape women’s political power in the early 1920s. Once the crisis of the war ended, the coalitions the Woman’s Committee helped foster splintered into warring camps that divided over the course of women’s post-war politics. Acknowledgements As with any dissertation, there is a collection of folks behind the words and ideas who have shaped, supported, and frustrated the process. I am grateful for those folks. While I cannot mention every person who has impacted this process of writing and research, there are a few people who remained essential to me throughout every step of research, reading, and writing. I beg the reader’s patience here as I attempt to insufficiently express my gratitude for my core group of people whom I could not have completed this work without their involvement in my life and learning. In the fall of 2006 at the Great Lakes History Conference hosted by Grand Valley State University, I had the pleasure of first learning something of the Woman’s Committee when local historian Diana Barrett presented on a finding of over 23,000 registration cards of women in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who volunteered for the war effort through the local branch of the Woman’s Committee. Diana’s diligent initial research revealed a treasure trove of archival information on local women and what they thought they could contribute as women to the American war effort during World War I. At the end of Diana’s presentation of these records, we had a long discussion and she handed over all of her notes and research and pointed me to Caroline Bartlett Crane’s Collection at Western Michigan University Regional Archives and Collections in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where I started tracing the path that led to this dissertation. Jo Ellyn Clarey, a friend of Diana’s and also a local women’s historian and literary critic for Grand Rapids, Michigan, also offered much help and guidance in the early stages of research. I had the good fortune of reconnecting after many years with Jo Ellyn and Diana. Their iv support and encouragement in the beginning and final stages of the dissertation has made me realize the long thread of reform and advocacy that exists between different generations of American women. Another woman who inspired me and also occasionally terrified me in this research process was my first graduate advisor at Michigan State University, Maureen Flanagan. Her quick wit and ability to cut to the heart of the matter at all points made me prepare more for each meeting, each class, and each discussion with her. Yet, in the terror of disappointing her, I worked harder at becoming a better historian. I can admit now that several of her graduate students, myself included, nicknamed her “Mother Flanagan” for her ability to advocate for her graduate students and push them to succeed. As Maureen left Michigan State University to pursue another opportunity, she advised me to meet with Helen Veit to discuss the Woman’s Committee. Helen Veit joined my committee just before my comprehensive exams and has stayed with me through the completion of the dissertation. Her work on the United States Food Administration during World War I inspired me to rethink food during the war and women’s role in providing food security for the American populace. Kirsten Fermaglich was very kind to agree to join my dissertation committee late in the process even though she did not know me well. Her patience and commitment to meeting tight timeframes for reading and commenting on the dissertation revealed to me the incredible professionalism and support professors such as her provide to students when there is no tangible benefits to them. Thank you Professor Fermaglich. My thanks as well to my dissertation advisor and established fiddler, Peter Knupfer. I had the pleasure of working as a research assistant to Peter for three years during some of the v most desperate and yet liberating moments of my adult life thus far. While working for Peter, I went through a divorce from my first husband after fifteen years of marriage, became a single mom, got remarried to a wonderful man, and fell on financial hard times in ways that jeopardized my abilities to complete the PhD. At each upset and each happy moment, Peter was a patient advocate on my behalf and pushed me to keep working. At one very low point in my graduate and personal life, Peter wrote me an email and told me that whatever it was that was keeping me from progressing was unlikely to subside and I could either choose to work in spite of it or give up. I chose to work and I am glad Peter gave me the opportunity to write this dissertation. While I was writing this dissertation I had the phenomenal opportunity to return to my undergraduate institution, Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, to teach as a visiting professor of history. Over three years I had the pleasure of teaching some of the most conscientious and hard-working students and they drove me to become a better professor and historian as well as a more compassionate person. My colleagues in the History Department at Grand Valley State University offered me much encouragement, critical assessments of my work, and advice for the process of graduate school. William Morison, the chair of the department at GVSU and a former professor of mine, remarked to me years ago when I told him I was accepted for the PhD program at Michigan State University that “in history, there are no victims, just volunteers.” Bill’s sage words often returned to me in my more desperate moments of graduate school and reminded me that I was there by my own free will. Carolyn Shapiro-Shapin, Alice Chapman, Gabrielle Gottlieb, Steeve Buckridge, Doug Montagna, Paul Murphy, Steve Tripp, Sean O’Neill, Scott Stabler and many of my colleagues in the History vi Department at GVSU offered their time, advice and expertise to me and I am thankful for their support. And, of course, the phenomenal Michelle Duram and Reda DeYoung, office coordinators for the History Department at GVSU, deserve my love and recognition for their continuous happy encouragement and for keeping “the cats all herded.” My kids have been with me throughout this process and have endured hardships and moments of exultation alongside me. My oldest daughter, Myah, had my back from the moment I decided to go to college and encouraged me at every step of the way to take small steps towards my larger goals. When I started college at the age of 24, Myah was already seven years old and she has grown up into an intelligent advocate for women and the LGBTQ community. My youngest daughter, Maggie, and my son, Caedmon, have grown up alongside books and papers and being told to not touch anything on the kitchen table as that became my dissertation writing spot. I worried for many years that my drive to write the dissertation and continue my research and teaching interests would make them think I was too busy for them. When I let my kids know that I successfully defended my dissertation, Myah, Maggie, and Caedmon all expressed how proud they were of me and how much of an inspiration I am to them. I tell my children to go forth into the world and do great things.