University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School 7-21-2014 Rough and Ready Relief: American Identity, Humanitarian Experience, and the Commission for Relief in Belgium, 1914-1917 Thomas D. Westerman University of Connecticut, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Westerman, Thomas D., "Rough and Ready Relief: American Identity, Humanitarian Experience, and the Commission for Relief in Belgium, 1914-1917" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations. 466. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/466 Rough and Ready Relief: American Identity, Humanitarian Experience, and the Commission for Relief in Belgium, 1914-1917 Thomas David Westerman, Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 2014 This dissertation examines a group of American men who adopted and adapted notions of American power for humanitarian ends in German-occupied Belgium with the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) during World War I. The CRB, led by Herbert Hoover, controlled the importation of relief goods and provided supervision of the Belgian-led relief distribution. The young, college-educated American men who volunteered for this relief work between 1914 and 1917 constructed an effective and efficient humanitarian space for themselves by drawing not only on the power of their neutral American citizenship, but on their collectively understood American-ness as able, active, yet responsible young men serving abroad, thereby developing an alternative tool—the use of humanitarian aid—for the use and projection of American power in the early twentieth century. Drawing on their letters, diaries, recollections as well as their official reports on their work and the situation in Belgium, this dissertation argues that the early twentieth century formation of what we today understand to be non-state, international humanitarianism was partially established by Americans exercising explicit and implicit national power during the years of American neutrality in World War I. Many of these Americans, Hoover and Maurice Pate, for example, would go on to serve in future humanitarian missions and, in the case of Pate, would even lead an international, non-state, non-governmental organization, UNICEF. The CRB was an early proving ground for a new kind of American influence in the world. Rough and Ready Relief: American Identity, Humanitarian Experience, and the Commission for Relief in Belgium, 1914-1917 Thomas David Westerman B.A., Adelphi University, 2003 M.A., University of Connecticut, 2005 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut 2014 Copyright by Thomas David Westerman 2014 APPROVAL PAGE Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Rough and Ready Relief: American Identity, Humanitarian Experience, and the Commission for Relief in Belgium, 1914-1917 Presented by Thomas David Westerman, B.A., M.A. University of Connecticut 2014 ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………...………………… iv Introduction………………………………………………………………………...…………….. 1 Chapter 1: “A Primitive and Almost Medieval State”: Belgium before, during, and after the Invasion………...……..………………... 23 Chapter 2: Who Should Go to Belgium?: The American Membership of the CRB……………………………..…………. 55 Chapter 3: On the Ground in Belgium: The World of the CRB Delegates……………………………..…………………94 Chapter 4: Where Have All the Belgians Gone?: The Deportation Crisis of 1916-1917………………………..…………………118 Conclusion………………………………………………………………..…………………….160 Bibliography………………………………………………………………..…………………..165 iii Acknowledgments A great many people and a number of institutions deserve my thanks and appreciation for helping me bring this story to a fruitful conclusion. My advisor, Frank Costigliola, has been a great mentor and steadfast supporter of this project and me since I started my graduate career at the University of Connecticut. Advisory committee members, Janet Watson and Joel Blatt helped me make this a better dissertation by reminding me to “think bigger” about the project’s significance and to pay attention to detail in my writing. Garry Clifford was an original member of my committee, but he unexpectedly passed away in March 2014. His insights run through this dissertation. I hope I told the good story I know he wanted me to share. Shirley Roe and Peter Baldwin graciously served as outside readers, giving up part of their summer to read and think about a bunch of young men who spent some time in Belgium 100 or so years ago. Thank you. The Department of History at UConn has been a welcoming and supportive intellectual home for me during my graduate career. I am most grateful for the ability over the years to teach history to some wonderful students. The department, Graduate School, and the Human Rights Institute at UConn all provided much needed and appreciated funding at various stages of the dissertation process. I am also especially grateful to my colleagues at UConn’s Stamford Campus who, for the past four years, have been wonderful mentors to me as a teacher, researcher, and writer. They frequently reminded me that the best dissertation is a finished dissertation. During the last two years of this process, the faculty and staff at Brooklyn College and the STAR Early College High School Program allowed me to teach and share my love of history with some talented New York City high school seniors. Partly because of them I embark on a career as a high school history instructor at Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, SC this fall. Sometimes you do not know what you really love to do until you just do it. iv During the research and writing of this dissertation various institutions and fellowships have provided additional financial and intellectual support. The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) provided financial support by way of three research grants, (two Bemis Grants and a Gelfand-Rappaport Dissertation Fellowship). SHAFR also let me present pieces of my research at its annual conferences numerous times. The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library gave me a travel grant to conduct research in West Branch, Iowa very early in this process. It was there where I first meet Hoover and some of the men described here in the archive. The Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) provided funding for me to spend eight months living and researching in Brussels, Belgium, a wonderful professional and personal experience, especially at the Belgian National Archives where I was able to be one of the first researchers to see the newly catalogued Comité National de Secours et d’Alimentation collection. The staff at the Hoover Institution Archives in Palo Alto, California was always helpful during my two extended trips there. The Wickes and Gray families were generous to email with me about their family members’ involvement with the CRB and to provide access to some of their families’ personal papers. Jeff Miller also provided helpful insights into the world of the CRB. I have been lucky enough to make a number of professional friends during my travels for research and on panels for presentations. Julia Irwin, Tammy Proctor, Molly Wood, Jen Polk, Ben Brandenburg, and Branden Little have made the difficult practice of presenting my research to the public a satisfying and enjoyable experience. As an undergraduate at Adelphi, I met and studied with wonderful teacher-scholars who inspired me to move forward with a career in history and education. Richard Garner, Nicholas Rizopoulos, Linda Wrigley, Peter Costello, Diane Della Croce, and Martin Hass were then and v are now friends and mentors. My honorary “moms” in the university’s human resources department where my mom worked for many years have been a continued source of support. My friends and colleagues in graduate school have kept me going, even when things looked impossible. Some of my best and closest friends have come out of my graduate school experience. My “unofficial” dissertation committee of John Kincheloe, Dom DeBrincat, Mike Neagle, and Eric Fauss have been there for me each step of the way, always ready to listen to my latest find, read drafts, and give me much needed perspective on the task at hand. Mark Ginocchio, Erin Ginocchio, and Tim Jackson, friends since college, have happily (it has seemed) let me talk endlessly about the intricacies of food policy in a country they have never been to nor plan on going to, all while making sure I have a little fun now and again. I have been blessed with a loving and nurturing family. My mom, Maureen, who passed away before I embarked on my graduate career, always encouraged my interest in history. In middle school she indulged me and took my brother and myself to Gettysburg where she let me act as our family’s “tour guide.” I had always loved history, but after that trip I knew I wanted to make doing something with history my career. I am glad she inspired that in me and encouraged it no matter what. I know she is proud of me, and I am grateful for all the sacrifices she made for my brother, Dan, and me while we were growing up. Dan has been a source of inspiration, support, and good humor during my graduate career. He has always believed in my success, and I am very grateful for his love and encouragement. I hope I can be as supportive of him as he was of me as he embarks on his own graduate career in the MSW program at Kutztown University. Long ago, my father, David, inspired in me a love of the past and for seeking out answers to questions about the world around me. I hope I can do the same in the next phase of my career as a historian. vi The Finans, Chards, Westermans, Benders, and Petersons have all been wonderful extended support systems for me. Without their help over the years this whole endeavor would never have been possible. Family is not only by blood, it comes about through love and affection and sometimes choice, especially in hard times.