The United States of America joined the Great War with patriotic zeal.  The news media and government reports united in claiming it was every red-blooded American’s duty to kill the Huns who sank Lusitania.  It became a fight of good versus evil, and America was on the side of the angels, as always.  Every German atrocity was shouted across the airwaves, reinforcing the rightness of our cause in standing against them.  It was a masterful job of public propaganda.