Justus D. Doenecke’s monumental study covers diplomatic, military, and ideological aspects of U.S. involvement as a full-scale participant in World War I. 
The entry of America into the “war to end all wars” in April 1917 marks one of the major turning points in the nation's history. In the span of just nineteen months, the United States sent nearly two million troops overseas, established a robust propaganda apparatus, and created an unparalleled war machine that played a major role in securing Allied victory in the fall of 1918. At the helm of the nation, Woodrow Wilson and his administration battled against political dissidence, domestic and international controversies, and their own lack of experience leading a massive war effort. 
In More Precious than Peace, the long-awaited successor to his critically acclaimed work Nothing Less than War, Justus D. Doenecke examines the entirety of the American experience as a full-scale belligerent in World War I. This book covers American combat on the western front, the conscription controversy, and scandals in military training and production. Doenecke explores the Wilson administration's quest for national unity, the Creel Committee, and "patriotic" crusades. Weaving together these topics and many others, including the U.S. reaction to the Russian revolutions, Doenecke creates a lively and comprehensive narrative. Based on impressive research, this balanced appraisal challenges historiographical controversies and will be of great use to students, scholars, and any reader interested in the history of World War I.

More Precious than Peace: A New History of America in World War I

History

Doenecke, Justus D.

Americas

University of Notre Dame Press

This is the first single volume to focus on the presidencies of both James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. Drawing from a host of studies on the foreign and domestic policies of the nation during the Gilded Age, as well as from his own primary research, the author presents a somewhat revisionist look at Garfield and Arthur—revisionist in that he gives the reader a renewed appreciation of both men. Far from being cynical spoilsmen or naive incompetents, individuals whose presidencies provide studies in ineptitude, Garfield and Arthur emerge as men of considerable ability. While making no claims of greatness, Doenecke maintains that each was a significant transitional figure, playing a crucial role as the institution of the presidency moved from the weak leadership of Andrew Johnson to the forceful direction of Theodore Roosevelt. According to Doenecke, Garfield saw the office of chief executive primarily in administrative terms, and his great battle was over keeping the power of appointment in his own hands. His victory over the Stalwarts enhanced both the power and prestige of the office. His knowledge of how government worked was unmatched; long before Woodrow Wilson made his mark, Garfield was "the scholar in politics." The diplomacy of Secretary of State James G. Blaine comes under critical scrutiny. Doenecke evaluates his performance in the Chile-Peru War (War of the Pacific), the Guatemala-Mexico dispute, the isthmian-canal issue, Irish-American activities in Britain, and efforts to secure markets in Korea. ,br&gt;Garfield was assassinated less than six months after he entered office; he had yet to be tested on major issues of public policy. Chester A. Arthur was ill prepared to be chief executive, was in poor health much of the time while he was in office, and was faced with a hopelessly divided party. Nevertheless, he was one of the nation's great political surprises. His administration pioneered in the development of the navy, sought foreign markets for American surpluses, fostered civil-service reform, and pressed for a scientific tariff. Doenecke devotes one chapter to the spoils system and the background to the Pendleton Act, one to Arthur's strategy regarding the South, and then offers an in-depth analysis of diplomacy during Arthur's tenure. During the presidencies of Garfield and Arthur, the United States attempted to intervene in a war between Chile and Peru, sought to turn Nicaragua into a protectorate, supplied leading advisers to Madagascar and Korea, and took a major part in the Congo conference of 1884. In examining these activities, even while pointing to uncoordinated statecraft and inept diplomacy, Doenecke challenges the long-held view that, from 1881 to 1885, the nation was withdrawn and insular. His fresh perspective on the Garfield and Arthur years will be of considerable interest to historians of the Gilded Age.

The Presidencies of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur (American Presidency Series)

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

University Press of Kansas

Between 1939-1941, from the time that Germany invaded Poland until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Americans engaged in a debate as intense as any in U.S. history. In Storm on the Horizon, prominent historian Justus D. Doenecke analyzes the personalities, leading action groups, and major congressional debates surrounding the decision to participate in World War II. Doenecke is the first scholar to place the anti-interventionist movement in a wider framework, by focusing on its underlying military, economic, and geopolitical assumptions. Doenecke addresses key questions such as: how did the anti-interventionists perceive the ideology, armed potential, and territorial aspirations of Germany, the British Empire, Japan, and the Soviet Union? To what degree did they envision Nazi Germany as a bulwark against the Soviet Union? What role would the U.S. play in a world increasingly composed of competing economic blocs and military alliances? Storm on the Horizon is certain to become the standard study of this tumultuous time and will require readers to reevaluate their understanding of the United States entry into World War II.

Storm on the Horizon: The Challenge to American Intervention, 1939-1941

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Between 1939-1941, from the time that Germany invaded Poland until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Americans engaged in a debate as intense as any in U.S. history. In Storm on the Horizon, prominent historian Justus D. Doenecke analyzes the personalities, leading action groups, and major congressional debates surrounding the decision to participate in World War II. Doenecke is the first scholar to place the anti-interventionist movement in a wider framework, by focusing on its underlying military, economic, and geopolitical assumptions. Doenecke addresses key questions such as: how did the anti-interventionists perceive the ideology, armed potential, and territorial aspirations of Germany, the British Empire, Japan, and the Soviet Union? To what degree did they envision Nazi Germany as a bulwark against the Soviet Union? What role would the U.S. play in a world increasingly composed of competing economic blocs and military alliances? Storm on the Horizon is certain to become the standard study of this tumultuous time and will require readers to reevaluate their understanding of the United States entry into World War II.

When war broke out in Europe in 1914, political leaders in the United States were swayed by popular opinion to remain neutral; yet less than three years later, the nation declared war on Germany. In Nothing Less Than War: A New History of America's Entry into World War I, Justus D. Doenecke examines the clash of opinions over the war during this transformative period and offers a fresh perspective on America's decision to enter World War I. Doenecke reappraises the public and private diplomacy of President Woodrow Wilson and his closest advisors and explores in great depth the response of Congress to the war. He also investigates the debates that raged in the popular media and among citizen groups that sprang up across the country as the U.S. economy was threatened by European blockades and as Americans died on ships sunk by German U-boats. The decision to engage in battle ultimately belonged to Wilson, but as Doenecke demonstrates, Wilson's choice was not made in isolation. Nothing Less Than War provides a comprehensive examination of America's internal political climate and its changing international role during the seminal period of 1914–1917.

Nothing Less Than War: A New History of America's Entry into World War I

University Press of Kentucky

In Danger Undaunted, based on 338 manuscript boxes deposited in 1942 in the archives of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and peace, conveys the logic, complexity, and passion of the anti-interventionist movement. The book illustrates the dramatic impact this well-organized and vocal group had on the foreign policy of the United States and on the political behavior of many of America's most prominent statesmen of the prewar years.

In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940–1941 as Revealed in the Papers of the America First Committee (Hoover Archival Documentaries)

Hoover Institution Press

A study of the reaction of the isolationists to the major crises of the Cold War, starting in 1943 when opposition to the policy of unconditional surrender began to develop, and continuing down to 1954, the beginning of U.S. involvement in Indochina. Among the crises discussed are Yalta, the UN charter, the dropping of the atom bomb, the Nuremberg trials, the Atlantic Pact, and the initial involvement of the United States in Vietnam.

Not to the Swift: The Old Isolationists in the Cold War Era

Associated Univ Pr

NOT TO THE SWIFT: The old isolationists in the cold war era

Bucknell University Press

Many historians regard the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 as the opening shot of the Second World War. This careful examination of the American reaction to Japan's action is a study in decision making and public opinion. It analyzes the influence of public attitudes on the American attempt to respond to the crisis and concludes that despite stereotypes of an aloof and isolationist United States, serious efforts were made to thwart Japanese imperialism. Illustrated.

When the Wicked Rise: American Opinion-Makers and the Manchurian Crisis of 1931-1933

UNKNO

Elected an unprecedented four times to the presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelt led the United States through some of the most dramatic and trying foreign and domestic episodes in its history. Coming to power in the throws of a crippling depression, Roosevelt quickly found himself having to juggle the need for tremendous domestic revitalization in a world menaced by burgeoning aggressor states. In Debating Franklin D. Roosevelt's Foreign Policies, noted historians Justus D. Doenecke and Mark A. Stoler offer differing perspectives on the Roosevelt years, finding disparate meanings from common data. Finding Roosevelt astute at choosing the most effective option of those available, Stoler generally defends FDR's policies against their traditional critics. Conversely, Doenecke emphasizes a dangerous shallowness and superficiality in FDR's approach to foreign affairs, particularly in his first two terms. The contrary viewpoints of the authors, supplemented by carefully chosen documents, provide an ideal introduction allowing readers to examine the issues and draw their own conclusions about Franklin Roosevelt's foreign policy.

Debating Franklin D. Roosevelt's Foreign Policies, 1933-1945 (Debating Twentieth-Century America)

Stoler, Mark A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Doenecke, Justus D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Doenecke, Justus D.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Doenecke, Justus D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

More Precious than Peace: A New History of America in World War I

The Presidencies of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur (American Presidency Series)

Storm on the Horizon: The Challenge to American Intervention, 1939-1941

Storm on the Horizon: The Challenge to American Intervention, 1939-1941

Nothing Less Than War: A New History of America's Entry into World War I

In Danger Undaunted: The Anti-Interventionist Movement of 1940–1941 as Revealed in the Papers of the America First Committee (Hoover Archival Documentaries)

Not to the Swift: The Old Isolationists in the Cold War Era

NOT TO THE SWIFT: The old isolationists in the cold war era

When the Wicked Rise: American Opinion-Makers and the Manchurian Crisis of 1931-1933

Debating Franklin D. Roosevelt's Foreign Policies, 1933-1945 (Debating Twentieth-Century America)