World War I redirected American progressive idealism from domestic reform to foreign crusade

Evidence

The darkening of Bob Moses’ optimism occurred against the backdrop of the darkening of America’s. A new mood was abroad in the land. “Our country is at peace with the world at war” had been one of Woodrow Wilson’s re-election slogans in 1916, but now the War Gods were slogging relentlessly across the Atlantic; the words in the scare headlines were “Lusitania” and “U-Boat” and, finally, “Zimmermann.” War, not progress, was on the horizon. Aims changed—the world was to be made safe for democracy; that was a large enough order for even the idealism of youth to handle at one time. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 361

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the theme of moral energy being siphoned from domestic reform into war — parallels the Frankfurt School readings on how idealism gets diverted, and the general pattern of ‘the world made safe for democracy’ displacing other aims. — connects to: World War I’s disillusionment killed progressivism’s reform mood

Broader Connections

• World War I’s disillusionment killed progressivism’s reform mood #qualifies (0.80)