Coming to the Dole Institute of Politics on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence in February:

Join us throughout February for the 2017 Presidential Lecture Series, “The U.S. and the Great War: 100 Years Later.” The four-part series will coincide with the 100-year anniversary of U.S. entry into the war. KU professor emeritus Ted Wilson will facilitate the series of four lectures, which will welcome expert speakers covering different facets of the war.

America’s Road to War
Feb. 2 – 7 p.m.
When war broke out in Europe in 1914, the U.S. stood on the sidelines as President Wilson asked his fellow citizens to remain neutral “in thought as well as in deed.” Noted scholar and Chair of War Studies in the U.S. Army War College Michael Neiberg introduces our lecture series, exploring the complex paths of politics, economics and cultural divisions that came together and brought America into the war less than three years later.

A Giant with Feet of Clay: The American Military in the Great War
Feb. 9 – 7 p.m.
The story of how the U.S. Army sought to transform itself over the course of eighteen months into a comparable or superior military force to the European armies is grounded in irony. Richard S. Faulkner, professor with the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, lays out how the American Expeditionary Forces played a pivotal role in the brutal campaigns that led to Germany’s defeat on the battlefield.

Americans All: The Homefront in World War I
Feb. 16 – 7 p.m.
In America, World War I brought expanded involvement in global politics, the experience of modern warfare—and equally important domestic changes. Noted scholar from Chapman College Jennifer Keene will discuss the responses of Americans to the introduction of the draft, economic mobilization, the patriotism crusade and its effects and much more.

Woodrow Wilson: Peace, Politics and Health
Feb. 23 – 7 p.m.
An acclaimed biographer of Woodrow Wilson and professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, John Milton Cooper closes the series by painting a portrait of Wilson and his transformative leadership. Wilson guided the nation through World War I and sought to bring about an international system to ensure lasting peace. He arguably established a new way of thinking about international relations that, 25 years later, ushered in the United Nations.

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.