Faculties Support Allies.

By 1917, when the United States finally intervened in the First World War, most American professors had long favored the Allied powers, primarily because the professors identified with England, but also because most of them saw the war as a genuine contest between good and evil. When President Woodrow Wilson and Congress declared war against the Central Powers, the widespread support from college professors was so enthusiastic that the New Republic editors in 1917 labeled the conflict "the thinking man's war" and remarked that "College professors, headed by a President who himself is a former professor, contributed more effectively to the decision to go to war than did farmers, businessmen, or politicians."

Contributions to the War Effort.

Professors from all disciplines contributed to the American war effort. At Harvard emerging star chemistry scholar James Conant worked energetically to produce...