384 notes to pages 100‒104
- Finnegan, Against the Specter of a Dragon , 189–90. Despite years of
evidence of the terrible eff ectiveness of machine guns in the trenches of
the Western Front, the army did not adopt a standard machine gun until
May 1917. Esposito, “Political and Institutional Constraints on Wilson’s
Defense Policy,” 1122. - Esposito, “Political and Institutional Constraints on Wilson’s Defense
Policy,” 1115. - It had done so once, resulting in the inconclusive battle of Jutland in
1916. - Coff man, “American Military and Strategic Policy in World War I,” 73.
- Clements, Presidency of Woodrow Wilson , 148. Link and Chambers credit
Wilson with the decision to introduce convoys, but it seems highly
unlikely that a man who showed as little interest in military matters as
the president had would be so astute as to recommend a major tactical
innovation. Link and Chambers, “Woodrow Wilson as Commander-in-
Chief,” 324. - David M. Esposito, “Woodrow Wilson and the Origins of the AEF,”
Presidential Studies Quarterly 17 (2) (1987): 130–33. - Trask, AEF and Coalition Warmaking , 5, 8; John S. D. Eisenhower, Yanks:
Th e Epic Story of the American Army in World War I (New York: Free Press,
2001), 16. - Esposito, “Woodrow Wilson and the Origins of the AEF,” 133–35; Trask,
AEF and Coalition Warmaking , 5–6. - Coff man, “American Military and Strategic Policy in World War I,”
72–73. - Trask, AEF and Coalition Warmaking , 11–12.
- Robert Ferrell contends that Pershing was actually chosen by Secretary
of War Newton D. Baker. Ferrell, “Woodrow Wilson: Misfi t in Offi ce?”
76–77. Other accounts suggest a number of civilian and military leaders
were involved in the selection process, which is more plausible. See Eisen-
hower, Yanks , chap. 3. - Trask, AEF and Coalition Warmaking , 11.
- Eliot A. Cohen, Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in
Wartime (New York: Anchor Books/Random House, 2002), 8–9. - Eisenhower, Yanks , 31.
- Trask, AEF and Coalition Warmaking , 12.
- Baker shared Wilson’s view that political leaders should refrain from close
oversight of their military commanders. Ferrell, “Woodrow Wilson: Mis-
fi t in Offi ce?” 74–75. Th e secretary took this to an extreme, not meeting
Pershing until after his selection as commander. Coff man, “American
Military and Strategic Policy in World War I,” 75. According to Pershing’s
later recollection, his written instructions from Baker arrived after the
meeting with the president. Eisenhower, Yanks , 33–34. See also Trask, AEF
and Coalition Warmaking , 12.