Document A: Woodrow Wilson Speech #1
The people of the United States are drawn from many nations, and chiefly
from the nations now at war. It is natural and inevitable that some will wish
one nation, others another, to succeed in the momentous struggle.
Such divisions among us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might
seriously stand in the way of our duty as the one great nation at peace, the
one nation ready to play a part of mediator and counselor of peace.
The United States must be neutral in fact, as well as in name, during these
days that are to try men's souls. We must be impartial in thought, as well as
action.
Source: President Woodrow Wilson, in a speech before Congress, August 19, 1914.
Document B: Woodrow Wilson Speech #2
Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot
be. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare
against mankind.
The German policy has swept every restriction aside. Ships of every kind,
whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their
errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom of the ocean without
warning. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken.
I advise that the Congress declare the recent actions of the Imperial
German Government to be, in fact, nothing less than war against the
Government and people of the United States.
Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is
involved.
The world must be made safe for democracy. We have no selfish ends to
serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek not material
compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of
the champions of the rights of mankind.
It is a fearful, but right thing to lead this great peaceful people to war. We
shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts –
for democracy, for the right of [people] to have a voice in their own
government, for the rights and liberties of small nations.
Source: President Woodrow Wilson, in a speech before Congress, April 2, 1917.
Document C: Textbook Excerpt on U.S. Entry into WWI
In January 1917, Germany reversed its policy on submarine warfare. It
announced that it would sink on sight all merchant vessels, armed or
unarmed, sailing to Allied ports. While realizing that their policy might bring
the Americans into war, the Germans believed they could defeat the Allies
before the United States became heavily involved. An angry president
Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.
A few weeks later, a secret telegram- intercepted by the British
government- set off a new wave of anti-German feeling. In late February
the German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmerman, sent a telegram to Mexico
with an offer to the Mexican government.
Newspapers published the secret Zimmerman telegram on March 1, and
the Americans reacted angrily to the German action.
Source: The American Journey, New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2003.
Document D: Historian Howard Zinn (Excerpted from Original)
Howard Zinn was a historian and activist who is best known today as the author of A
People’s History of the United States, a book that tells American history from the
perspective of people of color, women, and poor people. The book is very critical of the
United States government.
President Woodrow Wilson had promised that the United States would stay
neutral in the war. . . . But in April of 1917, the Germans had announced
they would have their submarines sink any ship bringing supplies to their
enemies; and they had sunk a number of merchant vessels. Wilson now
said he must stand by the right of Americans to travel on merchant ships in
the war zone. . . .
As Richard Hofstadter points out (The American Political Tradition): “This
was rationalization of the flimsiest sort. . . . The British had also been
intruding on the rights of American citizens on the high seas, but Wilson
was not suggesting we go to war with them. . . .
The United States claimed the Lusitania carried an innocent cargo, and
therefore the torpedoing was a monstrous German atrocity. Actually, the
Lusitania was heavily armed: it carried 1,248 cases of 3-inch shells, 4,927
boxes of cartridges (1,000 rounds in each box), and 2,000 more cases of
small-arms ammunition. . . . The British and American governments lied
about the cargo. . . .
Prosperity depended much on foreign markets, it was believed by the
leaders of the country. In 1897, private foreign investments of the United
States amounted to $700 million dollars. By 1914, they were $3.5 billion. . .
.
With World War I, England became more and more a market for American
goods and for loans at interest. J.P. Morgan and Company acted as agents
for the Allies and when, in 1915, Wilson lifted the ban on private bank loans
to the Allies, Morgan could now begin lending money in such great
amounts as to both make great profit and tie American finance closely to
the interest of a British victory in the war against Germany.
Source: Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, 1980.
Task two: In a two paragraph minimum response please answer the Central Historical Question
Why did the U.S. enter World War I?