Thursday, June 30, 2011

Who was the president of the United States during World War I?

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was president of the United States from 1912-1920, so he would have been president during WWI.  A Democratic Progressive, he said that it would be terrible if his administration was remembered more for its foreign than domestic policies; however, this is exactly what happened to him.  When war broke out in 1914 after the assassination of the Austrian Archduke and the ensuing war between Central and Allied powers, Wilson pledged neutrality.  Germany claimed that Wilson's neutrality was a farce, however, as America sold weapons and made loans to Britain, France and Russia.  The Wilson administration claimed that Germany had the same right to these things, but due to Britain controlling the seas, it was a moot point.  Wilson twice during the war urged Germany to stop unrestricted submarine warfare in the waters off Britain, the first time after the Lusitania was sunk and the second time after Germany renewed the policy in 1917.  Wilson finally asked Congress to declare war in April 1917 when it was apparent that all foreign ships were fair game if they were approaching the British Isles.  Wilson sold the war to the American people as a war to "end all wars" and "preserve democracy." Wilson urged that America was an "associated power," meaning that it was not in the war for territorial gain, but rather to end it and promote world peace.  Domestically, Wilson ordered a draft and passed executive orders arresting anyone who spoke out against the war.  After the war, Wilson drafted the Fourteen Points which guaranteed freedom of the seas, a reduction in the size of the world's armies, and self-rule for ethnic minorities in Europe.  This was all lost at the Versailles table, and Wilson was not known as a man to compromise when he thought he was right.  Wilson wanted his greatest postwar legacy to be the League of Nations, a forerunner to the current United Nations; however, a debilitating stroke and a hostile Republican congress did not allow America to join the international body, and Wilson's dreams of world peace ended.  

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