Abstract
Throughout the conflict, both the Allies and Central Powers attempted to convince Americans of the justness of their cause. Initially, American public opinion remained evenly divided and Americans' support for the various powers ebbed and flowed. However, as the war progressed, America was increasingly drawn towards the Allies and public opinion became critical of German culture, both at home and abroad. The news media's depiction of the war reflected this shift, as reportage increasingly reinforced a moral dichotomy between the Allies and Central powers? In Partisans and Poets: The Political Work of American Poetry in the Great War, Mark W. Ban Wienen explains that the American government and war propagandists attempted to make Americans feel like they had a personal stake in the conflict by disseminating "cultural artifacts and values more broadly ... [and] offer[ing] up a highly selective version of that cultural history so as to invoke sympathy toward Belgium, France, and Great Britain and antipathy toward Germany and Austria-Hungary" (104). The creation of this dichotomy polarized the American population, placing those who had socio-cultural ties to Germany in a difficult position and creating a xenophobic climate that altered America's social fabric.