Virginia on the Eve of War

In 1917, Virginia was largely rural and poor. Although there was a growing migration to cities, three out of four Virginians still remained on farms. While a war raged in Europe, most Virginians were as unresponsive to that conflict as they were to the “Progressive” impulse that emerged nationally to confront social problems resulting from industrialization and corruption in government. Despite the efforts of local progressive women, the majority of the white male population resisted political and social change, especially any movement toward racial and gender equality. At the time, tobacco, railroad, coal-mining, and timber industries dominated the state’s economy.

This article was featured in the Virginia Magazine of History & Biography, Vol. 126, No. 1 in connection with the The Commonwealth and the Great War exhibition.

The Valley Turnpike (Route 11), a major thoroughfare in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, retained its rural character into the early twentieth century. On the eve of World War I, much of Virginia remained rural and poor. (Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 2017.1.20)

The son of a Presbyterian minister in Staunton, Virginia, and deeply religious, Wilson was elected president of the United States in 1912 and brought reform to banking, trade, business practices, farm loans, and taxes as part of his progressive agenda. Initially he rejected American entry into World War I but later found himself leading the nation and its allies in fighting German aggression. By war’s end, Wilson advocated for the global spread of democracy and capitalism as well as the rejection of American isolationism. (Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 2000.237)