| Summary |
This thesis examines the life and times of North Carolina Congressman Claude Kitchin whose determined objections to American entry into World War I drove him to work night and day against that possibliliy. In the process he destroyed a long and promising political career and ruined his health. Kitchin's opposition began in his youth in the aftermath of the American Civil War and did not reflect his thoughts and ideas about World War I only. The thesis explores the living conditions in northeastern North Carolina, Kitchin's home ground, beginning in the weeks just before the outbreak of the Civil War, and particularly the years of his youth which included the last years of Reconstruction. Part of this journey encompassed the period of his father's career as a captain in the Confederate army, a career that had its share of trauma and which the Captain could articulate in a colorful and dramatic style. Newspapers and archival materials from Kitchin's area of North Carolina from this time period reveal the public and private views on the state of the economy in North Carolina and the South. They shed light on the influences that affected Kitchin as he grew into young manhood and developed his perspectives. Kitchin's ideas came through in his letters about the Spanish-American War as well as his letters, speeches, and interviews concerning World War I. Kitchin's boyhood abounded in examples of the horrors of war. He grew up watching his family and neighbors struggle to overcome the disastrous effects of the Civil War on the community. When the United States moved toward war with Spain in 1898, Kitchin heard the predictions of starvation and hardship for area residents and the comparisons with Civil War conditions. After Kitchin became a congressional leader in 1915 he repeatedly reminded Americans of the horrors of war and warned against any who he believed wanted war for material gain. The sentiments he professed before World War I mirrored the one he expressed prior to the Spanish-American War. The conclusion seems apparent. Kitchin's aversion to war began with the Civil War which, with succeeding wars, convinced him that there must be a better way to solve problems. His opposition to World War I had deep roots and did not begin in 1915. |
