About this item
From five thousand children marching in a parade, singing, "Johnnie get your hoe. . . . Mary dig your row," to communities banding together to observe Meatless Tuesdays and Wheatless Wednesdays, Kentuckians were loyal supporters of their country during the First World War. Kentucky had one of the lowest rates of draft dodging in the nation, and the state increased its coal production by 50 percent during the war years. Overwhelmingly, the people of the Commonwealth set aside partisan interests and worked together to help the nation achieve victory in Europe.David J. Bettez provides the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of the Great War on Bluegrass society, politics, economy, and culture, contextualizing the state's involvement within the national experience.
About the Author
David J. Bettez, Ph.D., was born in Portland, Maine, and moved to Lexington, Kentucky, when his father was transferred there by IBM. A product of parochial and public schooling, he graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in History. For his senior thesis class - Biography as History - he wrote about T.E. Lawrence - "Lawrence of Arabia." He returned home to Lexington to earn an M.A. and Ph.D. in History at the University of Kentucky. He specialized in European Diplomatic History post-1848, writing a dissertation on "France, Germany, and the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907." He has written about the Hague Peace Conferences and disarmament initiatives for the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Journal, about MajGen Logan Feland for the Marine Corps Gazette and the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, and about the USMC's pre-World War I Philadelphia Military Training Camp for Leatherneck. He received a grant from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation to do research on MajGen Feland. Kentucky Marine: Major General Logan Feland and the Making of the Modern USMC is his first book. He is currently researching and writing a book about Kentucky and World War I. David Bettez retired from the University of Kentucky, where he served as Director of the Office of International Affairs. He lives with his wife in northern Scott County, Kentucky, on a small lake where he can enjoy sailing and sculling.
