ABSTRACT
The close of the war brought a realisation of the scale of the efforts made within New York to pursue victory. The privations, price rises and philanthropy exhibited by all sections of the city were notable. The organisation of homecoming events was undertaken in the same manner as the conflict itself, with Mayor Hylan appointing a commission in November 1918 specifically detailed to prepare for the parades and to assess how the war should be marked in the city. One of the prominent criticisms of the permanent war memorial scheme was that it did not reflect the way in which the war had forged a new Americanized city. Such an insistence on a commitment to the principles of the nation was particularly pertinent in the post-war fears of Bolshevik and anarchist subterfuge. The Clayton Lusk Committee carried out raids on schools and institutions suspected of socialist sympathies, held public hearings and distributed membership lists of socialist parties to the authorities.
