JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2268
GERMANY SAYS IT WILL NOT DECLARE WAR AGAINST U.S.
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) One hundred years ago today, April 3, 1917, Germany responded to President Woodrow Wilson's request for a declaration of war by saying that "there will be no change" in their attitude "even if congress adopts Wilson's views." Berlin reacted early in the morning local time by flatly stating, "Germany will NOT declare war...against the United States."
In a front page story in The Chicago Daily Tribune of April 4, 1917, Arthur Sears Henning wrote that "the guiding principle of President Wilson's military program is to crush the German autocracy."
The first step, however, will involve a meeting by an American Commission with representatives of the Allies "to map out a detailed plan of concerted action." Meanwhile, the War Department planned to call 450,000 volunteers to boost American forces to 1,200,000.
The Tribune also reported that London's "Daily Mail" editorialized that President Wilson's speech calling for war "will stand beside Lincoln's greatest speeches for its gravity and pathos. It is in effect an appeal to the American people to take up the task for which Lincoln laid down his life...freedom."
SOURCES
"Berlin 'Will Not War' on U.S.," The Chicago Daily Tribune, April 4, 1917, www.archives.chicagotribune.com/
"Wilson's Stand Dooms Kaiser, London View," The Chicago Daily Tribune, April 4, 1917, www.archives.chicagotribune.com/
President Wilson Asks for War Declaration
GERMANY SAYS IT WILL NOT DECLARE WAR AGAINST U.S.
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) One hundred years ago today, April 3, 1917, Germany responded to President Woodrow Wilson's request for a declaration of war by saying that "there will be no change" in their attitude "even if congress adopts Wilson's views." Berlin reacted early in the morning local time by flatly stating, "Germany will NOT declare war...against the United States."
In a front page story in The Chicago Daily Tribune of April 4, 1917, Arthur Sears Henning wrote that "the guiding principle of President Wilson's military program is to crush the German autocracy."
The first step, however, will involve a meeting by an American Commission with representatives of the Allies "to map out a detailed plan of concerted action." Meanwhile, the War Department planned to call 450,000 volunteers to boost American forces to 1,200,000.
The Tribune also reported that London's "Daily Mail" editorialized that President Wilson's speech calling for war "will stand beside Lincoln's greatest speeches for its gravity and pathos. It is in effect an appeal to the American people to take up the task for which Lincoln laid down his life...freedom."
SOURCES
"Berlin 'Will Not War' on U.S.," The Chicago Daily Tribune, April 4, 1917, www.archives.chicagotribune.com/
"Wilson's Stand Dooms Kaiser, London View," The Chicago Daily Tribune, April 4, 1917, www.archives.chicagotribune.com/
President Wilson Asks for War Declaration
April 2, 1917
Library of Congress Photo
Library of Congress Photo
