The size of the federal government doubled during the course of the war
as the hand of government reached into most areas of national life. And not
since Abraham Lincoln's years in the White House during the Civil War had
the country's chief executive stood so evidently at the center of the national
government. Wilson's appointments of George Creel, Herbert Hoover,
William McAdoo, and Bernard Baruch personified the new force of government
activity. These talented and energetic individuals now took control
over vast areas of national life in a way that would have seemed unimaginable
in 1914. Men now spoke casually of spending millions—anything to
win the war.
World History
