“moral” crusade. Now convinced that a war against Germany served the
cause of justice, he said it was Germany’s responsibility to admit its “outra-
geous” behavior. A private confession of faith explained his about-face:
I am a man of peace... and I know that there is no blessing like peace, and I
would rather see our country bring the great material sacrifices it is now
called upon to offer for peaceful purposes than for war. But I know that un-
less we succeed in making an end to what is generally understood by “mili-
tarism,” which means permitting one single nation to acquire such physical
might and power that it can defy almost the entire world and hold it at bay, as
Germany has been able to do these past three years, there can be no return to
lasting happiness and prosperity amongst the nations.... I have not always
felt thus since the conflict broke loose, three years ago, but the progress of
the war, the mode of its conduct by Germany, and the [antidemocratic] atti-
tude of Germany’s ruling class... towards its own people... forced me into
the position toward the country of my birth.^35Unsaid but doubtless of major significance in his renunciation of the Cen-
tral Powers was the simultaneous fall of the czarist regime.
Despite his full support of the Americanization crusade in 1915–17,
Schiff was tagged as pro-Germany since 1914. Sensitive to public opinion,
he had offered at the beginning of the war to relinquish responsibilities in
the Red Cross should his presence prove embarrassing. In 1914 he de-
plored the fact that “foreigner” (as well as “Jew”) greeted the nomination
of his partner and brother-in-law, Paul Warburg, to head the newly
created Federal Reserve Board. (Schiff was also mentioned as a possible
candidate for the post, but he neither thought it likely nor was prepared to
accept.)^36 Once America joined the Allies, the banker stopped speaking
German publicly, and he changed the name of the Schiff endowment at
Cornell—from the Promotion of Studies in German Culture to the Schiff
Foundation for Human Civilization. To avoid further criticism, he opted
for a low profile, even relinquishing his box at the opera for less conspicu-
ous seats. But negative imagery was difficult to erase. After the war, James
Cox, the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1920, allegedly called
Schiff a “Hun.”^37
On April 6, 1917, Schiff volunteered his services to Wilson, but he was
not tapped for any significant post. Never wielding the influence of Louis
Brandeis or Bernard Baruch, he was, however, consulted frequently from
1914 to 1919 by Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo and other offi-
cials on numerous aspects of wartime finance—liberty loans, currency and
banking, foreign exchange, taxes, the cooperation of business with govern-
ment, and the government takeover of railroads. The banker spoke at lib-
erty loan rallies and served on various municipal and federal committees
200 Jacob H. Schiff