The "why" of World War I still eludes logical analysis and yet there is a sense among historians and people who lived it that it was a justifiable ends by unjustifiable means. Historian Jay M. Winter offers, "It was more than just a war between nations. It was a war between what was and what was to be. The "old world" was dying, and the new world had yet to be born. People of all classes and nations saw it as some great cleansing fire that would accelerate this battle and lead to a better world." (1) Artists were the visionaries-rightly or wrongly-that viewed the war as a great detoxifier. Marcel Duchamp declared, "We need the great enema in Europe. And if it's gonna be war, then if we need war, we need war. But, we need a great enema."(2, Ibid) Likewise, George Bernard Shaw held similar sentiments on the eve of War, "I am pleased with the spirit of those who are now advocating war for its own sake as a tonic."(3)

The War is the first to use mass propaganda for strengthening efforts and support for both sides. The British and Americans viewed the Germans and Austro-Hungarians as ugly, vicious Huns that raped and pillaged civilians while German propaganda presented the Allies as lying, belligerent bullies. President Wilson created the Committee on Public Information (CPI) to promote the war domestically while publicizing American war aims abroad. The CPI cleverly blended advertising techniques with a sophisticated psychology in a phenomenon that is often linked with totalitarian regimes, not a democratic state.

After a forty-plus year suspension, William J. Simmons, a Methodist minister, reorganized the Ku Klux Klan in 1915. Simmons was responsible for bringing much of the symbology into the Klan, such as the burning cross which he introduced in his first meeting as Imperial Wizard. By 1924, the Klan would have its strongest and largest membership in the organization's history.