WI: US entry into WWI leads to massive protests and a possible uprising

[Shadow1080]

What if at the time when the noninterventionist United States was on a verge of entering WWI against Germany in early 1917 after the Zimmerman Telegraph incident, the public reaction despite the newspaper and American propaganda attempting to rally up support somehow in this alternate scenario for sakes ends up failing horribly at convincing and instead we see massive anti-war demonstrations and strikes by men and woman alike taking place across the streets in the US. Now in this alternate timeline, majority of American people at that time just simply have a different mindset about the military conflict with more people generally being simply pro-German and have anti-British sentiment or simply want a different response to the Zimmerman Telegraph crisis rather than an international military escalation and are strictly against in conscription or even having someone loved ones being sent to the fronts across the sea and the public is averagely more aggressive and confrontable to do anything change the foreign policy, even if it would lead to violence or chaos...

So, from that moment, President Wilson along with the government officials and congressional lawmakers would face a really hard decision by the constituents in whether to succumb to the growing public demand and pursue non-military escalating policy or weigh in and join the war hence risking potential unrest and chaos. If these were the cases as I mentioned, what would realistically the US government had done in these two following scenarios: 1.) The US decides to go on a continued noninterventionist path and somehow deal with the Zimmerman Telegraph crisis peacefully how would that play out. 2.) The US "adds fuel to the fire" and declares war via Congress despite obvious strong and threatening force of public opposition, then how would this violent massive uprising look and how would state and federal government respond to this and what long-lasting impact would it have played subsequently?

 

[EWHM]

The Zimmerman Telegraph was so ridiculous that if the German ambassador had denied it, it would have been assumed by a lot of the public to be UK disinformation intended to draw the US into the war. But he went ahead and acknowledged it, which was ASB levels of stupidity IMO. But OTL doesn't have to worry about ASB complaints.

 

[Dorknought]

The Zimmerman Telegraph was so ridiculous that if the German ambassador had denied it, it would have been assumed by a lot of the public to be UK disinformation intended to draw the US into the war. But he went ahead and acknowledged it, which was ASB levels of stupidity IMO. But OTL doesn't have to worry about ASB complaints.

The Germans handed Zimmerman's note already coded to the US Embassy in Berlin and asked them to send it to Washington. When the US staff asked 'what's in it?' they were told that it dealt with the Entente's response to President Wilson and contained instructions for Bernstorff. It wouldn't have been much use saying that the US Ambassador had fabricated it.
Zimmerman Telegram.

 

[orser]

What if at the time when the noninterventionist United States was on a verge of entering WWI against Germany in early 1917 after the Zimmerman Telegraph incident, the public reaction despite the newspaper and American propaganda attempting to rally up support somehow in this alternate scenario for sakes ends up failing horribly at convincing and instead we see massive anti-war demonstrations and strikes by men and woman alike taking place across the streets in the US. Now in this alternate timeline, majority of American people at that time just simply have a different mindset about the military conflict with more people generally being simply pro-German and have anti-British sentiment or simply want a different response to the Zimmerman Telegraph crisis rather than an international military escalation and are strictly against in conscription or even having someone loved ones being sent to the fronts across the sea and the public is averagely more aggressive and confrontable to do anything change the foreign policy, even if it would lead to violence or chaos...

So, from that moment, President Wilson along with the government officials and congressional lawmakers would face a really hard decision by the constituents in whether to succumb to the growing public demand and pursue non-military escalating policy or weigh in and join the war hence risking potential unrest and chaos. If these were the cases as I mentioned, what would realistically the US government had done in these two following scenarios: 1.) The US decides to go on a continued noninterventionist path and somehow deal with the Zimmerman Telegraph crisis peacefully how would that play out. 2.) The US "adds fuel to the fire" and declares war via Congress despite obvious strong and threatening force of public opposition, then how would this violent massive uprising look and how would state and federal government respond to this and what long-lasting impact would it have played subsequently?

This scenario could just have happened had there been a President Bryan, Clark or La Follette in 1917.

 

[ArtosStark]

The Zimmerman Telegraph was so ridiculous that if the German ambassador had denied it, it would have been assumed by a lot of the public to be UK disinformation intended to draw the US into the war. But he went ahead and acknowledged it, which was ASB levels of stupidity IMO. But OTL doesn't have to worry about ASB complaints.

Denying it would send the message to the Mexicans that they were not serious about its contents. While that would have been smarter, as Mexico was not going to join the war anyway, had the German foreign office realized this, they would not have sent the note in the first place. Also, as mentioned, the note was still in the records of the American diplomatic telegraph, as the Germans had sent it through Washington. If the British supply them with the means to break the code, then it can be confirmed from there.

 

[David T]

This is the closest thing there was to an uprising, and it was not terriby strong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Corn_Rebellion Note moreover that it didn't happen with the delaration of war but only after conscription was insituted (and in an area where Socialist Party influence had been strong).

So far as mass rallies, etc. were concerend, they definitely happened:

"Thus it turned out that the three weeks following the break in relations were a time of waiting, wasted in the false hope that no overt act by the German government would compel abandonment of neutrality. As the days of waiting ripened into weeks, the deep peace longing of the people revived and the pacifist leaders had full oppotunity to get a nation-wide campaign under way. New committees to keep the country out of war were hastily organized, while all the old ones, like the American Union Against Militarism, leaped into action.* 4 As in 1915 and at the height of the Sussex crisis, monster rallies in the great cities demanded that Americans stay out of the war zone. Bryan made a fervent last-ditch campaign. In their desperate search for any alternative to war, the peace groups demanded embargoes, a war referendum, or a general strike if war occurred."
https://archive.org/stream/woodrowwilsonand007665mbp/woodrowwilsonand007665mbp_djvu.txt

Even after the Germans resumed unlimited submarine warfare (including killing Americans on American ships, something they had avoided before exceot for one incident) and the Zimmerman Telegram, peace sentiment remained strong:

"It was also the hour of supreme crisis for the peace forces. If anything, their appeals during the last critical days were more fervent than before. 60 On the extreme left wing, the Socialist leader, Eugene V. Debs, demanded a general strike if Rockefeller, Morgan, and the rest of the Wall Street crowd succeeded in their insidious war campaign.
The more moderate peace spokesmen continued to petition the President and to hope for a miracle. As for the great mass of citizenry, not during the height of the Lusitania and Sussex crises had there been such an outpouring of peace sentiment. The public opinion of a great nation during a period of crisis and stimulated hysteria cannot be
measured with any precision, for the great mass of people have no means of expressing their sentiments, while spokesmen for organized groups are necessarily minorities. From such evidence as is available, however, one might hazard the guess that even as late as April 1, 1917, the majority of people were still firmly for peace. 61

https://archive.org/stream/woodrowwilsonand007665mbp/woodrowwilsonand007665mbp_djvu.txt

There is reaon to think that antiwar sentiment persisted, despite (or maybe in part because of?) repression; the Socialist Party did well in many of the elections of Novemeber 1917. But *violent* resistance was too obviously futile to have much of a prospect.

 

[DougM]

Considering how Wilson abused the Constitution in real life I cant see protests going over well with him. I could see him reacting in his usual way and this causing the protests to blow up in his face.
Frankly if you look into his adminstations actions in WW1 it is frightening. Probably the closest the US ever came to to losing its democracy. His treatment of individuals and the press that disagreeded with the war was shameful and unconstitutional. And he. should have been impeached for that alone. Add in his responsibility for increasing segregation and other racial issues and lets nit forget his administrations blatantly hiding how ill he got after the war and you havre what can easily be viewed as the worst president in history. Just short of a 3rd world petty dictator. And his name should be cursed yo this day.
If you add large protests to this you are going to get an explosive mix. This will get ugly fast as Wilsons administration tries yo brutally (and illegally) suppres the protests and arrests and holds “ring leaders” without trial for months if not years (as was done in real timeline to one degree or another for people who where against the war).
This could very easily end in impeachment for Wilson simply to save the country or the storming if the white house. once these large protests start and Wilson miss handles them they could easly grow out of control. Remember WW1 even atcthe time was much more controversial then WW2. So you have a lot of folks who were quietly anti war and a lot more who were sitting on the fence and uf the protesters are blatently miss treated you will see more and more folks “switch side” The problem howver is getting these massive protests to start in the first place.
It is not a difficult challenge to turn a small fire into a large one. But is can be a pita to start that fire with just a couple sticks.

 

[RanulfC]

The Germans handed Zimmerman's note already coded to the US Embassy in Berlin and asked them to send it to Washington. When the US staff asked 'what's in it?' they were told that it dealt with the Entente's response to President Wilson and contained instructions for Bernstorff. It wouldn't have been much use saying that the US Ambassador had fabricated it.
Zimmerman Telegram.

Er, not that I'm aware of. The telegram went through an open "diplomatic" telegraph cable that EVERY Embassy in Berlin used and that the British had tapped as it went off-shore. The US had no idea nor any handling of the telegram till the translation and original were handed to them by Britain who made up the "insider" leak to try and convince everyone that they were NOT in fact reading everyone else's mail. They were sure the Germans would deny it and that the US would not believe it but the Germans didn't and the US did so....

Randy

 

[ArtosStark]

The telegram went through an open "diplomatic" telegraph cable that EVERY Embassy in Berlin used and that the British had tapped as it went off-shore

From wiki:

Direct telegraph transmission of the telegram was impossible because the British had cut the German international cables at the outbreak of war. However, Germany could communicate wirelessly through the Telefunken plant, operating under Atlantic Communication Company in West Sayville, New York, where the telegram was relayed to the Mexican Consulate. Ironically, the station was under the control of the US Navy, which operated it for Atlantic Communication Company, the American subsidiary of the German entity.

After the Germans' telegraph cables had been cut, the German Foreign Office appealed to the United States for use of their diplomatic telegraphic messages for peace messages. President Wilson agreed in the belief both that such co-operation would sustain continued good relations with Germany and that more efficient German-American diplomacy could assist Wilson's goal of a negotiated end to the war. The Germans handed in messages to the American embassy in Berlin, which were relayed to the embassy in Denmark and then to the United States by American telegraph operators. The United States placed conditions on German usage, most notably that all messages had to be in cleartext (uncoded). However, Wilson later reversed the order and relaxed the wireless rules to allow coded messages to be sent.[22] The Germans assumed that this route was secure and so used it extensively.[21]

However, that put German diplomats in a precarious situation since they relied on the United States to transmit Zimmermann's note to its final destination, but the message's unencrypted contents would be deeply alarming to the Americans. The Germans persuaded US AmbassadorJames W. Gerard to accept it in coded form, and it was transmitted on January 16, 1917.[21]

Hall passed the telegram to the British Foreign Office on February 5 but still warned against releasing it. Meanwhile, the British discussed possible cover stories to explain to the Americans how they obtained the coded text of the telegram and to explain how they obtained the cleartext of the telegram without letting anyone know that the codes had been broken. Furthermore, the British needed to find a way to convince the Americans the message was not a forgery.[2]

For the first story, the British obtained the coded text of the telegram from the Mexican commercial telegraph office. The British knew that since the German embassy in Washington would relay the message by commercial telegraph, the Mexican telegraph office would have the coded text. "Mr. H", a British agent in Mexico, bribed an employee of the commercial telegraph company for a copy of the message. Sir Thomas Hohler, the British ambassador in Mexico, later claimed to have been "Mr. H" or at least to have been involved with the interception in his autobiography.[25][citation needed] The coded text could then be shown to the Americans without embarrassment.

Moreover, the retransmission was encoded with the older code 13040 and so by mid-February, the British had the complete text and the ability to release the telegram without revealing the extent to which the latest German codes had been broken. (At worst, the Germans might have realized that the 13040 code had been compromised, but that was a risk worth taking against the possibility of United States entry into the war.) Finally, since copies of the 13040 code text would also have been deposited in the records of the American commercial telegraph company, the British had the ability to prove the authenticity of the message to the American government.[3]

As a cover story, the British could publicly claim that their agents had stolen the telegram's decoded text in Mexico. Privately, the British needed to give the Americans the 13040 code so that the American government could verify the authenticity of the message independently with their own commercial telegraphic records, but the Americans agreed to back the official cover story. The German Foreign Office refused to consider that their codes could have been broken but sent Eckardt on a witch hunt for a traitor in the embassy in Mexico. Eckardt indignantly rejected those accusations, and the Foreign Office eventually declared the embassy exonerated.[21

 

[Shadow1080]

Considering how Wilson abused the Constitution in real life I cant see protests going over well with him. I could see him reacting in his usual way and this causing the protests to blow up in his face.
Frankly if you look into his adminstations actions in WW1 it is frightening. Probably the closest the US ever came to to losing its democracy. His treatment of individuals and the press that disagreeded with the war was shameful and unconstitutional. And he. should have been impeached for that alone. Add in his responsibility for increasing segregation and other racial issues and lets nit forget his administrations blatantly hiding how ill he got after the war and you havre what can easily be viewed as the worst president in history. Just short of a 3rd world petty dictator. And his name should be cursed yo this day.
If you add large protests to this you are going to get an explosive mix. This will get ugly fast as Wilsons administration tries yo brutally (and illegally) suppres the protests and arrests and holds “ring leaders” without trial for months if not years (as was done in real timeline to one degree or another for people who where against the war).
This could very easily end in impeachment for Wilson simply to save the country or the storming if the white house. once these large protests start and Wilson miss handles them they could easly grow out of control. Remember WW1 even atcthe time was much more controversial then WW2. So you have a lot of folks who were quietly anti war and a lot more who were sitting on the fence and uf the protesters are blatently miss treated you will see more and more folks “switch side” The problem howver is getting these massive protests to start in the first place.
It is not a difficult challenge to turn a small fire into a large one. But is can be a pita to start that fire with just a couple sticks.

So it would look something like these images I got dall-e mini to generate

 

[Hugh Third of Five]

The Germans handed Zimmerman's note already coded to the US Embassy in Berlin and asked them to send it to Washington. When the US staff asked 'what's in it?' they were told that it dealt with the Entente's response to President Wilson and contained instructions for Bernstorff. It wouldn't have been much use saying that the US Ambassador had fabricated it.
Zimmerman Telegram.

The US embassy only saw the encrypted version. The British deciphered it, so indeed he could have credibly accused the British of fabricating it. Any attempt at (publicly) proving its veracity with the US embassy would also make the American public angry at the Brits for spying on American diplomatic communications.

 

[ArtosStark]

The US embassy only saw the encrypted version. The British deciphered it, so indeed he could have credibly accused the British of fabricating it. Any attempt at (publicly) proving its veracity with the US embassy would also make the American public angry at the Brits for spying on American diplomatic communications.

As mentioned the message was sent by commercial telegraph from Washington to Mexico City, where the transcript was picked up by British agents from the telegraph office. This version was only single coded with an older diplomatic code. So all the British needed to do was hand it over, saying that they got it from Mexico, and provide the Americans with the old code. They could then get it from the telegraph company on their end and confirm it themselves.

 

[Hugh Third of Five]

So all the British needed to do was hand it over, saying that they got it from Mexico, and provide the Americans with the old code. They could then get it from the telegraph company on their end and confirm it themselves.

That doesn't help with the issue of veracity, because then the German ambassador could just say the "Mexican" version is a forgery, and he would probably be believed. Of course in OTL he just admitted it was genuine, and even if he didn't the USW might have brought about American entry into the war anyways.

 

[ArtosStark]

That doesn't help with the issue of veracity, because then the German ambassador could just say the "Mexican" version is a forgery, and he would probably be believed. Of course in OTL he just admitted it was genuine, and even if he didn't the USW might have brought about American entry into the war anyways.

That’s OTL. And it did establish veracity. Because the Americans could look at the transcript on their end, and with the diplomatic code check the contents, thereby confirming what the British were saying.

 

[Dorknought]

Why would Zimmerman be believed?
Zimmerman: “500,000 German reservists in America, who will rise up in arms against your government if your Government should dare to take any action against Germany.”
US Ambassador Gerard’s response: "there are 501,000 lamp-posts in America, and that is where the German reservists would find themselves in the event of any uprising."