Sabotage at Black Tom: Imperial Germany's Secret War in America, 1914-1917

Jules Witcover's Sabotage at Black Tom delivers far more than its title suggests. The book paints a riveting account of German-inspired and German-directed sabotage in the supposedly neutral United States in the three years leading up to the nation's formal joining with the Allies and official entrance into World War I as one of the belligerents. Witcover also draws a well-defined portrait of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson as a man whose devotion to his principles, whose tightly held belief in the honor of nations, and whose all-consuming desire to be the world's peacemaker maintained the neutrality of his country despite bombings, arson, the fomenting of labor unrest, and other hostile acts designed to hamstring the manufacture and show more shipping of munitions.

One learns quite a bit here that tends to be omitted from public school history books. For instance, consider the fact that, as a neutral country, the U.S. would as readily have sold munitions to the Central Powers as to the Allies, but Britain's superiority as a sea power made shipping to non-Allied countries highly problematic. As for that, Britain's blockade designed to starve Germany into submission prevented U.S. merchants from selling even food to buyers in the latter country, creating even more animus toward Britain than existed toward Germany. After the eventual cessation of hostilities came the time of reparations, and the U.S. paid Germany about $85 million to repay her for ships that had been seized and used for war purposes (page 308). Conversely, German reparations for damages to the U.S. were eventually paid off only by the 1970s, World War II and the Nazi regime having long come and gone. I submit these observations to indicate how much surprising history is in this book beyond the acts of sabotage suggested by its title—though they are, of course, there as well.

It is difficult for 21st century readers to see the U.S. as anything but hopelessly naive in the years preceding its declaration of war against Germany in 1917. As Witcover shows, however, until the devastating explosion of the munitions stored on docked barges and in warehouses on Black Tom Island in July 1916, the nation had never experienced a fully successful sabotage attack of such magnitude. The island was on the New Jersey side of the harbor, yet windows in New York City skyscrapers were blown out by the concussion, and shrapnel left gaping wounds in the Statue of Liberty. Then six months later, a raging inferno destroyed the Canadian Car and Foundry Company's munitions factory at Kingsland in Bergen County, New Jersey. Such acts of sabotage finally convinced the U.S. that the ocean separating her from Europe was no longer the protective barrier that it was once thought to be. Before this, there had been no reason for the country to create and fund extensive intelligence services. Perhaps before 1916 the U.S. was naive, but until then it had had no reason not to be.

Sabotage at Black Tom is both an interesting read for its description of sabotage within the U.S. before the country's entry into World War I and an even more fascinating (and important) read for its depiction of the country and its leaders during the years that it was swimming against the current drawing it from a stubborn neutrality to an active belligerency. The book leaves its readers with clearer and more accurate understandings of the nation during a critical period in world history.

Witcover's writing is clear, concise, and generally non-judgmental although he does seem to show Woodrow Wilson as perhaps too devoted to his desired role as a world peacemaker for the nation's own good. Whether or not this interpretation is too critical is best left to individual readers' conclusions, and it is good to remember that history is written with the benefit of hindsight. The concluding chapters become rather challenging as they deal with the complexities of who said what, when, and where in testimony before the Claims Commission attempting to determine who wronged whom by violating principles of neutrality and who should pay reparations to whom. Nevertheless, the details revealed in these chapters are intriguing to readers willing to concentrate on them.

Every now and then, one stumbles across books whose contents are as instructive today as when they were published. That such books eventually go out of print and become challenging to find is, to me, a shameful comment on a publishing industry to which profit is more important than is the perpetuation of knowledge and learning. Sabotage at Black Tom is such a book. It is well worth seeking out in the numerous used book sources available on line, and it is well worth both its purchase price and, more importantly, the time devoted to its reading. show less