Leonard Wood was born in 1860. Chief of Staff to the US Army he was replaced by General John Pershing in 1914. The following year he founded the Preparedness Movement. The organisation campaigned for universal military training and conscription during wartime.

When the US entered the First World War, the government rejected the arguments of the Preparedness Movement and opted instead for the Selective Service System of recruitment. Republicans accused the War Secretary, Newton Baker, of political prejudice when he moved Wood from field command.

Leonard Wood died in 1927.