The onset of the Spanish-American War in 1898 and the
introduction of the United States into global politics
ensured that the turn of the century would be a tumultuous
time at the Military Academy. The Spanish-American War and
the demands it placed on the Army resulted in the early
graduation of the Class of 1899; they were the first, but
not the last, class that would be accelerated to meet the
need for officers in the field. Congress had not increased
the enrollment at the academy and thus the officer output
had become insufficient to meet the demands of the Army. To
help remedy the chronic shortage of officers in an
increasingly engaged Army, Congress authorized an increase
in the size of the Corps of Cadets to 481 in 1900. The
Philippine Insurrection followed close on the heels of the
Spanish-American War, and the Class of 1901 also graduated
early.
The following year, West Point celebrated its Centennial.
An evaluation of the first hundred years revealed that the
academy had grown and evolved but still suffered its share
of problems. Nevertheless, the distinguished graduates of
the academy’s first century -- Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S.
Grant, William Tecumseh Sherman, George Washington Goethals,
and John J. Pershing, among many others -- were a testament
to the effectiveness of the Military Academy in its mission
of producing the finest leaders for the Army.
In the words
of President Theodore Roosevelt, who spoke at the Centennial
Exercises in June 1902, "This institution has completed its
first hundred years of life.
During that century, no other
institution in the land has contributed so many names as
West Point has contributed to the honor roll of the nation’s
greatest citizens."
Cadet life changed during the period, especially with the
advent of the academy’s participation in intercollegiate
athletics and a heightened emphasis on physical fitness.
Intercollegiate athletic competitions had been entered on a
handful of occasions but received a most prominent boost
from the first Army-Navy football game in 1890. That first
contest resulted from a challenge from Naval Academy
midshipmen, reportedly engineered by West Point cadet Dennis
Mahan Michie. The cadets met the midshipmen on the Plain
(parade field) at West Point. The Naval Academy had played
football for several years before the sport’s introduction
at West Point, so the midshipmen easily defeated the cadets
24-0. The next year, to avenge the defeat, every regiment
in the Army sent in a donation to hire a coach, buy uniforms
and pay the team’s way to Annapolis. The result was a 32-16
Army victory. The battle had been joined. The Army-Navy
tradition, born as a pickup game in 1890, ushered in the era
of major intercollegiate athletics at the academy and
produced, over time, an alumni response and a national
following that continues to shape West Point. Years later,
when the academy built a football stadium, they named it
Michie Stadium after the cadet who had brought football to
West Point and later gave his life for his country in the
Spanish-American War.
At the turn of the century, the nation was swept by a rage
for fitness of all kinds, spurred in part by President
Theodore Roosevelt’s example and advocacy of the "vigorous
life." Although physical fitness had long been part of the
cadet experience, it had often been limited to calisthenics
and gymnastics and had only recently been expanded to
include boxing, wrestling and swimming. It was Roosevelt
who, after the turn of the century, expanded the academy’s
physical education program from plebes to the entire Corps
of Cadets, and physical fitness began to be recognized as an
important element in cadet development. Sports were no
longer considered merely recreation but became a critical
part of developing strength and stamina of both body and
character. Competitive sports and physical fitness
sharpened the connection between mind and body. West
Point’s emphasis on competitive sports and physical
development quickly vaulted it to the forefront of the new
physical-education movement in America.
West Point’s long list of distinguished leaders includes a
number of superb athletes. Abner Doubleday, Class of 1842,
is often credited with codifying the rules of baseball while
a West Point cadet. Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, Class of
1904, a standout basketball player, is credited with
establishing the game at West Point. Dwight Eisenhower,
Class of 1915, came to West Point in 1911 after having
played semi-pro baseball in Kansas. He hoped to play
baseball for the Military Academy but was cut from the
starting squad. Eisenhower then turned his considerable
athletic talent to football and won starting halfback and
linebacker positions in his yearling year. His ability
gained immediate media attention, and the New York Sun
called him "one of the best halfbacks in the East."
Eisenhower’s classmate and close friend, Omar Bradley,
excelled in both football and baseball and is considered one
of the finest outfielders in Army baseball history.
Other early changes in the Military Academy’s second century
came in response to a series of reports from the Board of
Visitors that complained of the inadequacy of facilities and
curriculum. In 1902 Congress appropriated $5.5 million for
"tearing down and rebuilding" the academy. A new
administration building, barracks, academic building, riding
hall, gymnasium, and a cadet chapel were all completed by
1914. Two years later, Congress almost doubled the size of
the Corps of Cadets to 1,332.
World War I again caught the nation unprepared for the
requirements of a major conflict, but academy graduates
again rose to high positions of responsibility. Under
Pershing’s leadership, the inexperienced force was quickly
trained, equipped and deployed to the brutal trench lines of
the western front, where they helped blunt a critical German
offensive and end the Great War. For his accomplishments,
Pershing was promoted to General of the Armies, the first
American to hold that rank. Also providing vital
leadership were the academy graduates who served as 34 of
the 38 corps and division commanders. Another 33 graduates
gave their lives in that war.
The Army’s need for officers to lead troops advanced the
graduation of the academy’s senior class to only two weeks
after the formal declaration of war in April 1917. Four
months later, the original Class of 1918 followed, and for
the remainder of the war West Point turned out officers at
an increasingly accelerated pace. Indeed, the demands of
the "Great War" forced the academy to abandon its
educational objectives and revert to purely military
instruction. Every instructor who could be spared was
reassigned to support the war effort. A four-year program
had been reduced to three and then, on November 1, 1918, all
cadets who entered in 1916 and 1917 were graduated and
commissioned. The Corps of Cadets then consisted only of
plebes, the new cadets who had arrived in the summer. A few
days after graduation, additional cadets arrived at West
Point. In December 1918, only a month after the Armistice
that effectively ended most military operations, the class
that originally entered in 1917 was returned to the academy
for an additional year of instruction. Because they already
had been commissioned, the Corps treated them as officers.
To the cadre, however, they remained cadets. The members of
the "special officer" class, as it came to be known, were
stuck in limbo, somewhere between cadet and officer. They
were to be trained as cadets, yet all were lieutenants. In
the end, this class graduated a second time, one year later
in 1919, and the academy slowly returned to a more normal
curriculum.
