Summarize the main arguments in Jennifer D. Keene, Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America. Feel free to tap what you have learned in class discussions and any of your optional reading as you assess and critique Keene’s work.
According to Keene, how did World War I change America? More particularly, how did this conflict transform the American military and American military culture? How did the civilian attitudes of the multitude of citizen soldiers who flooded into the U.S. Army in 1917 and 1918 shape the character of the U.S. Army? How did the respective racial agendas of white and black Doughboys complicate race relations in the wartime army? What was the cult of aggressiveness that permeated the army during the war, and how did it manifest itself among the troops during training and after they reached the front in France?
Why did the U.S. Army’s senior leadership encourage the formation of the American Legion, what did the army expect to gain from this veterans’ organization, and how were those expectations disappointed? What political agenda ultimately unite World War I veterans after the war? What was the purpose of the Bonus March? Why did the Bonus Expeditionary Force inspire such apprehension among certain American political officials, and how did those fears affect the outcome of the Bonus March?
Finally, how did the G.I. Bill of Rights of 1944 set the veteran apart as a unique social class in American society?
Your essay should be at least seven pages long – typed, double-spaced, and in 10- or 12-point font.