DEVELOPMENT BEFORE WAR-Seed Thoughts of World Democracy and Peace...... NEUTRALITY-First Interprètation of America's World Role..... PREPAREDNESS-The Dawn of a Fuller Understanding of the War.. 12 INTERVENTION-The First Steps Into a World Place................ “MUST THIS WAR PROCEED?"-Peace Note to the Powers, Decem. ber 18, 1916 18 18 7 DEVELOPMENT (BRIEF QUOTATIONS from earlier PresidentIAL PAPERS, AND UP TO THE TIME OF AMERICA'S ENTRANCE INTO THE WORLD WAR, SHOWING PRESIDENT WILSON'S FUNDAMENTAL DEMOCRACY, AND THE DEVELOPMENTS IN HIS THOUGHT UPON QUESTIONS OF NEUTRALITY, PREPAREDNESS AND THE WORLD MEANING OF THE WAR. WITH DATES OF LEADING RELATED EVENTS.) BEFORE WAR. NOVEMBER 4, 1912-WOODROW WILSON ELECTED Presidзnt. MARCH 4, 1913-WOODROW WILSON INAUGURATED. (In his inaugural address, President Wilson sketched out the social and economic program which he conceived the Democratic party had been called into power to carry out. The concluding paragraphs of his inaugural, here quoted, give a high light on his conception of the obligation and opportunity at hand.) The Nation has been deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn passion, stirred by the knowledge of wrong, of ideals lost, of government too often debauched and made an instrument of evil. The feelings with which we face this new age of right and opportunity sweep across our heartstrings like some air out of God's own presence, where justice and mercy are reconciled and the judge and the brother are one. We know our task to be no mere task of politics but a task which shall search us through and through whether we be able to understand our time and the need of our people, whether we be indeed their spokesmen and interpreters, whether we have the pure heart to comprehend and the rectified will to choose our high course of action. This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. Here muster, not the forces of party, but the forces of humanity. Men's hearts wait upon us; men's lives hang in the balance; men's hopes call upon us to say what we will do. Who shall live up to the great trust? Who dares fail to try? I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me, I will not fail them, if they will but counsel and sustain me. 7 "A PEACE WORTH PRESERVING”—Address to Congress on Essential Terms of Peace; First Statement of America's World Stand-"The Peace Without Victory" Speech, January 22, 1917......................... SUSPENSION "NO ALTERNATIVE"-Address to Congress Announcing Severing of Diplomatic Relations with Germany, February 3, 1917... “WE MUST ARM OUR SHIPS"-Address to Congress Asking Power to Arm Merchant Ships. The Armed Neutrality Address, February 20, 1917 PARTICIPATION THE TESTING TIME "THIS IS WAR"-Address to Congress Asking That Germany Be Declared at War With the United States. The "Make the World Safe for Democracy" Speech, April 2, 1917....... "SPEAK, ACT AND SERVE TOGETHER"-An Appeal to the People for Unity and Support, April 16, 1017......... 30 30 "LISTS OF HONOR”—Proclamation of the First Draft, May 18, 1917.. 51 "WE MUST NOT WEAKEN NOW"-Message to Russia, May 20, 1917. 52 "A NEW GLORY FOR OUR FLAG"-Flag Day Address at Baltimore, June 14, 1917 .... "WE MUST LEAVE SELFISHNESS OUT”—An Appeal to Business Men, July 11, 1917.. "PEACE IS IMPOSSIBLE NOW"-The Reply to the Pope, August 27, 1917 A MESSAGE TO THE NATIONAL ARMY-September 3, 1017... "WIN THE WAR"-Address to Congress, December 4, 1917. 117 "WE MUST TRUST EACH OTHER"-Talk to Visiting Mexican Editors, June 7, 1918...................... 120 "WE SEEK THE REIGN OF LAW"-The Fourth of July Address at Mount Vernon, Stating Four Peace Terms....................................... 125 “IMPARTIAL JUSTICE IS THE PRICE OF PEACE"-Five Essentials to a League of Nations; New York City, Sept. 27, 1918........ 130 THE PROOF-PEACE-Armistice Notes and Terms...... ...187-144 APRIL 8, 1913-PRESIDENT Wilson delivers a Special MESSAGE ON TARIFF REVISION. (President Wilson addressed Congress in person. No other president since John Adams had done this. It has since become a common practice with him. An extract illustrates the President's attitude toward this subject of tariff.) we have built up a set of privileges and exemptions from competition behind which it was easy by any, even the crudest, forms of combination to organize monopoly. . . We must abolish everything that bears even the semblance of privilege or of any kind of artificial advantage. MAY 26, 1913—President Wilson issues a Public WarniNG AGAINST LOBBYISTS. (Certain interests were attempting unduly to influence tariff legislation. The President exposed them and invoked public opinion. Lobbying stopped.) i I think that the public ought to know the extraordinary exertions being made by the lobby in Washington to gain recognition for certain alterations of the Tariff Bill. Great bodies of astute men seek to create an artificial opinion and to overcome the interests of the public for their private profit. . . Only public opinion can check and destroy it. JULY 4, 1913-(THIRTEEN MONTHS BEFORE THE WAR.) PRESIDENT WILSON ADDRESSES A REUNION OF G. A. R. AND CONFEDERATE VETERANS at Gettysburg, Pa. Here is a great people, great with every force that has ever beaten in the lifeblood of mankind. And it is secure. There is no one within its borders, there is no power among the nations of the earth, to make it afraid. OCTOBER 27, 1913-PRESIDENT WILSON Addesses SOUTHERN COMMERCIAL Congress at Mobile, Alabama. (Delegates were present from South and Central American countries. President Wilson made occasion to reassure them of our just friendship. Mistrust of us began to disappear after this address. The theme of it is given here.) Human rights, national integrity, and opportunity as against material interests-that, ladies and gentlemen, is the issue which we now have to face. DECEMBER 2, 1913-(EIGHT MONTHS BEFORE THE WAR.) CONGRESS CONVENes, and President Wilson deLIVERS HIS FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. The country, I am thankful to say, is at peace with all the world, and many happy manifestationis multiply about us of a growing cordiality and sense of community of interest among the nations, foreshadowing an age of settled peace and good will. JUNE 28, 1914-Archduke FRANCIS FERDINAND OF AUSTRIA ASSASSINATED AT SERAJEVO, BOSNIA. AUGUST 1, 1914-WORLD WAR BEGINS; GERMANS ENTER BELGIUM. AUGUST 4, 1914-ENGLAND ENTERS WAR. NEUTRALITY. AUGUST 19, 1914-THE PRESIDENT PROclaims the NeutralITY OF THE UNITED STATES, AND ASKS CITIZENS TO RESPECT IT IN WORD, DEED AND THOUGHT. (The doctrine of America's destiny as the trustee of peace is first advanced in this neutrality proclamation.) I suppose that every thoughtful man in America has asked himself, during these last troubled weeks, what influence the European War may exert upon the United States. This great country of ours should show herself in this time of peculiar trial a Nation fit beyond others to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, the dignity of self-control, the efficiency of dispassionate action. AUGUST 20, 1914-GERMANS ENTER BRUSSELS. AUGUST 26, 1914-GERMANS DESTROY LOUVAIN. SEPTEMBER 2, 1914-FRENCH GOVERNMENT LEAVES PARIS; SEPTEMBER 6, 1914-ALLIES TURN THE GERMANS BACK AT THE MARNE. SEPTEMBER 18, 1914-GERMANS BOMBARD RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. DECEMBER 8, 1914-PRESIDENT WILSON. ADDRESSES CONGRESS NEWLY CONVENED. (Another enunciation of the President's doctrine of neutrality is found in this address.) can We are at peace with all the world. No one say that there is reason to fear that from any quarter our independence or the integrity of our territory is threatened. . . We mean to live our own lives as we will; but we mean also to let live. We are, indeed, a true friend to all the nations of the world. We are the champions of peace and of concord. . DECEMBER 9, 1914-FRENCH Government Returns to PaRIS. FEBRUARY 12, 1915-GermANS BEGIN TO WIN IN EAST PRUSSIA. FEBRUARY 19, 1915-BRITISH AND FRENCH FLEETS BOMBARD THE DARDANELLES FORTS. MARCH 10, 1915-Battle OF NEUVE CHAPPELLE BEGINS. MARCH 22, 1915-RUSSIANS CAPTURE PRZEMYSL. APRIL 20, 1915-PRESIDENT WILSON ADDRESSES THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, NEW YORK CITY. (4 neutrality pronouncement. Some Americans were not convinced.) I petty desire to keep out et trouble. My interest in the neutrality of the United States is not the But I am interested in neutrality because there is something so much greater to do than fight; there is a distinction waiting for this nation that no nation has ever yet got. That is the distinction of absolute self-control and self-mastery. We are trustees for what I venture to say is the greatest heritage that any nation ever had, the love of justice and righteousness and human liberty. MAY 2, 1915-GERMANS TURN BACK THE RUSSIAN TIDE IN EAST GALICIA. MAY 7, 1915—Lusitania ToRPEDOED. (Immense excitement followed. Demands for war at once were loud and insistent.) MAY 10, 1915-PRESIDENT WILSON ADDRESSES A GROUP OF MAY 13, 1915-PRESIDENT WILSON SENDS FIRST LUSITANIA FIRST LUSITANIA NOTE. MAY 23, 1915-ITALY GOES TO War. JULY 9, 1915-PRESIDENT WILSON SENDS A SECOND NOTE ON THE LUSITANIA CASE. (Germany's reply set up the defense that the Lusitania had been armed. The second note placed the issue on broader grounds.) The Government of the United States is contending for the rights of humanity, which every Government honors itself in respecting. JULY 21, 1915-PRESIDENT WILSON DISPATCHES ANOTHER NOTE TO GERMANY. (The President's third note obtained a promise from Germany to sink no more ships without warning.) Friendship itself prompts it to say to the Imperial Government that repetition by the commanders of German naval vessels of acts of contravention of those rights must be regarded by the Government of the United States, when they affect American citizens, as deliberately unfriendly. AUGUST 4, 1915-GERMANS, CONTINUALLY VICTORIOUS IN THE EAST, OCCUPY WARSAW. AUGUST 6, 1915-British Land at Gallipoli. |