[Woodrow Wilson] ended up a tragic figure, assessed Hanson. He missed one central point: When youre a wartime figure, you have to put your national interest first, and you have to ensure victory, and humiliation [of the enemy], and the defeat of your enemy before you talk about peace. He talked about peace first and victory second. That didnt work.I read an article here on FR the other day which reminded me that the U.S., with all its manufacturing capacity, didn't contribute one tank or aircraft to WWI because Wilson, the professor, "chose to run war production with a series of boards and administrations; the result was a bureaucratic mess." Source: Pinkerton: Learning the Right Lesson of World War I on Its 100th Anniversary
“...the U.S., with all its manufacturing capacity, didn’t contribute one tank or aircraft to WWI...”
The French only wanted our men with which to fill the gaps in their lines as their men were killed...and that our men were to fight until French leadership. Black Jack had a few choice words about that. The French were very slow to provide the PROMISED food, equipment, tanks, planes. Pershing kept our troops in camp for six months until the French supplies began to roll in.
Read THE ZIMMERMANN TELEGRAM, by Barbara Tuchman, for WWI info.