In both World Wars, despite questions about the validity of the respective Hague (1907) and Geneva (1929) Conventions, the United States generally treated prisoners of war according to the standards set by these agreements. Although the same issues of prisoner treatment occurred in both wars, the vastly expanded scale of the POW system in World War II left a much greater impact on the American war experience than had World War I.

World War I

When the United States entered World War I, officials disagreed as to whether the Army should house captured soldiers within America itself. Many advocated the plan as a way to offset labor shortages and assure the protection of returning troop ships from submarines. However, General Pershing's appeal to the government to fill labor shortages in France and Belgium persuaded the Army to keep captured German...