as his first book, I was There with the Yanks in France. I Was There is a collection of sketches that record, better than cameras could, intimate moments of sadness, heroism and relaxation. The book's publication was more than an artistic triumph. Through it Baldridge meant to carry his perceptions of the War to the world. As he told Harry Hansen, "If only I can make the public see what war is – what a dirty, low thing it is, and how brutal it makes men, fine clean men – then they'd fight to the last ditch for the League of Nations." Like most liberals in the 1920s Baldridge believed that war could be outlawed and espoused a one-world internationalism. He was a follower of Norman Thomas and at least once spoke on behalf of Jane Addams' pacifist Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. In 1922 he joined the Willard Straight Postof the American Legion in New York. Formed by John Dos Passos, Walter Lippman by other liberal intellectuals, it was the only Post to stand against the conservative leadership of the American Legion. In 1936, as president of the Willard Straight Post and chairman of the Legion's New York Committee on Americanism, Baldridge wrote and illustrated a 16-page booklet, Americanism -- What Is It, which was designed to be distributed in schools for use in the civics curriculum. Mild in tone and taking its ideas from the words of Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson and the Constitution, the booklet became the target of an attack by the American Legion leadership. Liberal thinkers like John Dewey and University of Chicago president Robert Maynard Hutchins gave Baldridge their support, but conservatives and, particularly, the Hearst newspapers loudly denounced it. The fight became national and even reached the floor of Congress where each side had its defenders. In the end, the booklet lost the support of the American Legion, but, selling in the thousands, it generated enormous discussion of important issues—starting with freedom of speech. Later Baldridge took more pride in writing and defending the little publication than anything else he had ever done and printed it in its entirety in his autobiography. In 1920, Baldridge joined his life with that of the writer Caroline Singer. They built a house in Harmon, New York, but frequently turned the key in the front door and left on long journeys around the world. Caroline Singer