Nutmeg State Takes National Stage

Maine Copies CT (Connecticut Bulletin): This Connecticut Bulletin article was written on December 28, 1917. Titled “Maine Copies Connecticut: Establishes Liberty Choruses with State-wide Organization,” the article explains that after Maine saw the success and popularity of the Liberty Choruses in Connecticut, they decided to try it themselves. This was when the National Council of Defense began to take notice and wanted to take this organization and expand it on a national scale.

After seeing the success of these liberty choruses in Connecticut, other states began copying the Nutmeg State. The first state to do so was Maine, followed by Rhode Island and then the rest of New England. 

National Division of Liberty Choruses (Connecticut Bulletin): This Connecticut Bulletin article was written on August 9, 1918. It states that the state director of Liberty Choruses in Connecticut, James S. Stevens, had been invited down to Washington D.C. in order to consult with the National Council of Defense at a conference to create a national Liberty Chorus campaign. The National Council of Defense believed this was the best way to keep the spirit of victory high among both citizens and soldiers. According to the article, by this point there were 127 liberty choruses in Connecticut, with many more not officially registered.

Connecticut Liberty Chorus director James S. Stevens was invited down to Washington, DC to consult with the National Council of Defense’s Publicity Committee to create a nationwide campaign modeled after the ones in Connecticut. At this conference flyers were created to send out to all 49 states. There was also discussion of which songs were most appropriate to include in the song booklets that would be sent out to the states that signed on. While some new songs were added, the majority of the booklets were modeled after the previously mentioned booklet created by the Connecticut Council of Defense (See: Liberty Choruses Take Center Stage). Now the National Council of Defense just had to sit and wait to see if the rest of the nation would agree with Connecticut that this type of home front propaganda was what the country needed.

Liberty Chorus Notes (Connecticut Bulletin): Written in the Connecticut Bulletin on November 15, 1918, this article discusses the continuation of making Connecticut’s Liberty Chorus organization a national phenomenon. Specifically it states that as of this point, Maine had 50 Liberty Choruses and Rhode Island had 16. It also states that total there are approximately 30 states that have liberty choruses, from the east coast all the way to California. According to the article, because of Connecticut’s singing, the attitude in the United States of the “Will to Win” the war was the highest of any country in the world.

The nation agreed with Connecticut. The Liberty Chorus campaign was a great success. By the end of the war in 1919, 30 states (of the then 49) in the Union had government approved official liberty choruses. According to multiple sources, without this idea of a singing nation that came from Connecticut, the United States would not have had the same “Win the War” mentality. Even when the war seemed to difficult to win, citizens put on a brave face and sang their hearts out, hoping that one small gesture would help lead the American and Allied soldiers to victory.