Abstracts History

Camp Lewis, 1917-1919: progressivism, patriotism, and the First World War

by Erik B Villard

The Army recruiting slogan "Be All That You Can Be" is by now a familiar refrain in American advertising. The concept that Army service makes individuals smarter, stronger, and more moral is one of the foundations of the modern volunteer system, but represents a view of military service that is less than a century old. The image of the United States Army as an institution for social improvement lay in the progressive reforms of early this century and especially in the training camps of the First World War. Camp Lewis at Tacoma, Washington, the largest of the sixteen camps built during 1917 to prepare the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) for the Western Front, exemplifies how progressivism influenced Army doctrine during the early twentieth century and reveals the roots of the modern concept of military service as a force for social uplift.