who was john j. pershing
The US in World War I. After running on the campaign, He Kept Us Out of the War, Woodrow Wilson brings the United States into World War I in April 1917. Introduction. U.S. Army general John J. Pershing (1860-1948) commanded the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in Europe during World War I. The president and first captain of the West Point class of 1886, he served in the Spanish- and Philippine-American Wars and was tasked to lead a punitive raid against the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.