page_title: Thomas R. Marshall
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas R. Marshall / Vice presidency / World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: Thomas Marshall in his senate office while serving as vice president of the United States between 1912 and 1920
context_page_description: Thomas Riley Marshall was an American politician who served as the 28th vice president of the United States from 1913 to 1921 under President Woodrow Wilson. A prominent lawyer in Indiana, he became an active and well known member of the Democratic Party by stumping across the state for other candidates and organizing party rallies that later helped him win election as the 27th governor of Indiana. In office, he proposed controversial changes to the Constitution of Indiana; the state courts blocked his attempts.
  Marshall's popularity as Indiana governor, and the state's status as a critical swing state, helped him secure the Democratic vice presidential nomination on a ticket with Wilson in 1912 and win the subsequent general election. An ideological rift developed between the two men during their first term, leading Wilson to limit Marshall's influence in the administration, and his brand of humor caused Wilson to move Marshall's office away from the White House. During Marshall's second term he delivered morale-boosting speeches across the nation during World War I and became the first U.S. vice president to hold cabinet meetings, which he did while Wilson was in Europe.
context_section_description: During Marshall's second term, the United States entered World War I.  Marshall was a reluctant supporter of the war, believing the country to be unprepared and feared it would be necessary to enact conscription. He was pleased with Wilson's strategy to begin a military buildup before the declaration of war, and fully supported the war effort once it had begun. Shortly after the first troops began to assemble for transport to Europe, Wilson and Marshall hosted a delegation from the United Kingdom in which Marshall. During their meetings, he became privy to the primary war strategy. However, he was largely excluded from war planning and rarely received official updates on the progress of military campaigns. He usually received news of the war through the newspapers.
  Wilson sent Marshall around the nation to deliver morale-boosting speeches and encourage Americans to buy Liberty Bonds to support the war effort. Marshall was well suited for the job, as he had been earning extra money as a public speaker while vice president, and gladly accepted the responsibility. In his speeches, he cast the war as a "moral crusade to preserve the dignity of the state for the rights of individuals". In his memoir, he recalled that the war seemed to drag on "with leaden feet", and that he was relieved when it finally ended. As the war neared its end, Marshall became the first vice president to conduct cabinet meetings; Wilson left him with this responsibility while traveling in Europe to sign the Versailles treaty and to work on gathering support for his League of Nations idea. Wilson became the first president to deliver a treaty to the Senate in person when he presented it to Marshall during a morning session.
caption: Thomas Marshall in his Senate office
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