After the revelation of the Zimmermann Telegram partly sparked the American declaration of war against Imperial Germany in April 1917, German Americans were sometimes accused of being too sympathetic to Germany. Former president Theodore Roosevelt denounced "hyphenated Americanism", insisting that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime. A small minority came out for Germany, or ridiculed the British (as did H. L. Mencken). Similarly, Harvard psychology professor Hugo Münsterberg dropped his efforts to mediate between America and Germany, and threw his efforts behind the German cause.[SUP][37][/SUP]
The Justice Department attempted to prepare a list of all German aliens, counting approximately 480,000 of them, more than 4,000 of whom were imprisoned in 1917–18. The allegations included spying for Germany, or endorsing the German war effort.[SUP][38][/SUP] Thousands were forced to buy war bonds to show their loyalty.[SUP][39][/SUP] The Red Cross barred individuals with German last names from joining in fear of sabotage. One person was killed by a mob; in Collinsville, Illinois, German-born Robert Prager was dragged from jail as a suspected spy and lynched.[SUP][40][/SUP]
When the United States entered the war in 1917, some German Americans were looked upon with suspicion and attacked regarding their loyalty. Some aliens were convicted and imprisoned on charges of sedition, for refusing to swear allegiance to the United States war effort.[SUP][41][/SUP]
In Chicago, Frederick Stock was forced to step down as conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra until he finalized his naturalization papers. Orchestras replaced music by German composer Wagner with French composer Berlioz.
In Nashville, Tennessee, Luke Lea, the publisher of The Tennessean, together with "political associates", "conspired unsuccessfully to have the German-born Major Stahlman declared an "alien enemy" after World War I began."[SUP][42][/SUP] Stahlman was the publisher of a competing newspaper, the Nashville Banner.[SUP][42][/SUP]
The town, Berlin, Michigan, was renamed Marne, Michigan (in honor of those who fought in the Battle of the Marne). The town of Berlin, Shelby County Ohio changed its name to its original name of Fort Loramie, Ohio. The city of Germantown in Shelby County Tennessee temporarily changed its name to Neshoba during the war.
German street names in many cities were changed. German and Berlin streets in Cincinnati became English and Woodward.[SUP][43][/SUP] In Chicago Lubeck, Frankfort, and Hamburg Streets were renamed Dickens, Charleston, and Shakespeare Streets.[SUP][44][/SUP][SUP][45][/SUP] In New Orleans, Berlin Street was renamed in honor of General Pershing, head of the American Expeditionary Force.[SUP][46][/SUP] In Indianapolis, Bismarck Avenue and Germania Street were renamed Pershing Avenue and Belleview Street, respectively in 1917,[SUP][47][/SUP] Brooklyn’s Hamburg Avenue was renamed Wilson Avenue.[SUP][48][/SUP]
Many businesses changed their names. In Chicago, German Hospital became Grant Hospital; likewise the German Dispensary and the German Hospital in New York City were renamed Lenox Hill Hospital and Wyckoff Heights Hospital respectively.[SUP][44][/SUP] In New York, the giant Germania Life Insurance Company became Guardian.[SUP][49][/SUP] At the US Customs House in Lower Manhattan, the word "Germany" which was on a shield that one of the building’s many figures was holding was chiseled over.
Many schools stopped teaching German-language classes.[SUP][43][/SUP] The City College of New York continued to teach German courses, but reduced the number of credits that students could receive for them.[SUP][50][/SUP] Books published in German were removed from libraries or even burned.[SUP][43][/SUP][SUP][51][/SUP] In Cincinnati, the public library was asked to withdraw all German books from its shelves.[SUP][52][/SUP] In Iowa, in the 1918 Babel Proclamation, the governor prohibited all foreign languages in schools and public places. Nebraska banned instruction in any language except English, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the ban was illegal in 1923 (Meyer v. Nebraska).[SUP][53][/SUP]
Some words of German origin were changed, at least temporarily. Sauerkraut came to be called "liberty cabbage",[SUP][46][/SUP] German measles became "liberty measles", hamburgers became "liberty sandwiches"[SUP][46][/SUP] and dachshunds became "liberty pups".[SUP][54][/SUP]
In parallel with these changes, many German Americans elected to Americanize their names (e.g. Schmidt to Smith, Müller to Miller) and limit the use of the German language in public places, especially in churches.
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