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During a meeting in the Michigan Union on May 24, 1917, the formation of two Ambulance Units at the University of Michigan was announced. 27 men had been chosen from 162 applicants and had to begin training right away. Those enlisted were not…

For the first time in the history of the University of Michigan a Reserve Officers' Training Corps was added to the curriculum in the fall semester of 1917. 1,200 students signed up for it on October 4, 1917.

This is a picture that was taken at the first national registration day held in association with the Selective Service Act of 1917. The Selective Service Act allowed the federal government to make enlisting into the military compulsory.

William Jennings Bryan resigns as Secretary of State in protest of the foreign policy of President Wilson, which he feared would lead to American intervention into the European war. He later pens a lengthy explanation of his anti-war stance. Though…

The National Defense Act of 1916, although traditionally understood as simple bill that expanded federal powers and funding over the Army, National Guard, and ROTC, also enabled the federal government to require manufacturers to produce war materiel…