Ramsey County History – Summer 2008: “Our Courage and Cowards: The Controversy Surrounding Macalester College’s Neutrality and Peace Association, 1917”

Our Courage and Cowards: The Controversy Surrounding Macalester College’s Neutrality and Peace Association, 1917
Author: Emily Skidmore

When eighty students sent a petition to Woodrow Wilson in support of neutrality from the World War, Macalester College found itself enmeshed in what became a national controversy. The students formed a large Neutrality and Peace Association. Professor James Wallace, the president of the college, was part of the group, but he switched his views after the country declared war in April 1917. Most of the state newspapers attacked the students for the stand for neutrality and peace. The author argues that the power of gender as a cultural motivator was important in this controversy and examines the masculine and feminine language that was used to discuss the war. As soon as the US officially entered the war, even the students changed their attitudes and many of them enlisted, some of whom made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
PDF of Skidmore article