Fake News, November 7, and the Not-Quite-End of “the War that Will End War”
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November 7, 1918 Seattle Star headline
November 11 holds a special place across Europe and the world as a day to remember the bloody, world-changing event that was supposed to be “the war that will end war.” In November of 1918, when World War I came to an end, people celebrated across the globe. In France, “they rang the church bells enough to break them,” according to Fred Sigourney, a doughboy from Gratiot County, Michigan. 4,000 miles from the front; in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, “the Liberty Band appeared on the streets and played a ‘Hot Time’ on all the downtown streets. A platform was built on the corner of Main and Broadway, and in the evening a regular old-fashioned jollification was held. There was lots of music, red hot speeches, and everybody rejoiced.” In Lansing, the governor of Michigan, Albert Sleeper, commented, “That is the best news the world has ever heard, if true.”
November 8, 1918 Isabella County Enterprise headline
Governor Sleeper’s statement hit the nail on the head—the news wasn’t true. The celebrations in Mt. Pleasant, Lansing, and numerous other American communities were four days ahead of history. From Washington, DC to Seattle, newspapers carried United Press (UP) agency’s reports that the Great War was over. But while many Americans prematurely popped the corks on the celebratory champagne, the war raged on another four days. Casualties continued to mount until just moments before 11:00 am, November 11, when the actual armistice took effect.
How did United Press get it wrong? Admiral Henry B. Wilson, commander of the American Navy, issued a comment on November 8: “The statement of the United Press relative to the signing of the armistice was made public from my office on the basis of what appeared to be official and authoritative information. l am in a position to know that the United Press and its representatives acted in perfect good faith and that the premature announcement was the result of an error for which the agency was in no wise responsible." Admiral Wilson received news of a ceasefire and, due to a miscommunication, was under the impression it was a total armistice. It was instead a local ceasefire in a single location.
November 7, 1918 Washington Times headline
The fallout from the false reports came swiftly. On November 8, papers that worked with the Associated Press, UP’s rival, ran bold headlines refuting the claims that the war was over. The papers also carried a blurb that President Woodrow Wilson would announce the signing of the armistice as soon as he had official news of it—in other words, if it didn’t come from the President, it should be considered untrue. On November 10, the Detroit Free Press reported that the US Attorney’s office in Toledo sent copies of the Toledo newspaper “containing the United Press ‘fake’ armistice dispatch” to the US. Attorney General in consideration of charges against UP. The justification was because the “fake armistice dispatch” led to undue jubilation that disrupted work and harmed the war production effort.
November 15, 1918 Isabella County Enterprise story
Amidst the blowback due to the “fake dispatch,” word that the armistice was truly agreed to on November 11 quickly spread across the Atlantic. When the news hit American shores, the celebrations began for a second time. As the Isabella County Enterprise of November 15 noted, “Monday [November 11] the real thing happened and again the town [Mt. Pleasant] went wild.” The hearty souls in Mt. Pleasant, and Americans from coast to coast, had it in them to celebrate two times in four days.
In Mt. Pleasant, the second celebration turned into an event that went on for multiple days. Wednesday, November 13 was a “cold, uncomfortable day,” but the miserable weather could not stop the revelry. An ox roast was held and “not hundreds—but everybody—came to the barbecue.” The students from Central, including those in the Student Army Training Corps, joined in a parade with many other citizens and groups from Isabella County. The parade wound through Mt. Pleasant to Island Park, where a band played and whoops and hollers filled the air.”
As the Enterprise noted in closing, “Never in the world’s history of mankind has there been an occasion for such a celebration.” Whether or not he was concerned, Governor Sleeper didn’t have to worry that the “best news the world has ever heard” wasn’t true after November 11.
Bryan Whitledge is the Archivist for University Digital Records at the Clarke Historical Library, where he works with the history of CMU.
