“Lick a Stamp, Lick the Kaiser”: Sensing the Federal Government in Children's Lives during World War I: Winner of the 2012 JSH Student Essay Competition

Abstract

This article explores how the federal government mobilized American citizens during World War I by turning to their sensory experiences, particularly taste and sight. Through the Treasury Department and the United States Food Administration, as well as through state Councils of Defense and public schools, the federal government disseminated national messages surrounding food conservation and thrift. In doing so, it drew on the prior work of religious and business organizations in engaging the senses. Children stood at the center of these war mobilization strategies, representing critical targets for conservation and thrift. Relying on sources including government publications, letters, diaries, and children's poetry, this article illuminates in previously unexplored ways the extent to which federal policies infiltrated children's lives by politicizing their senses.