Woodrow Wilson: Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War against Germany

Impact

The speech met with strong congressional approval. The Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, who had long found Wilson far too conciliatory toward the Central powers, immediately told him, “Mr. President, you have expressed in the loftiest manner possible the sentiments of the American people” (Link, 1965, p. 426). Only La Follette stood motionless, chewing gum and bearing a sardonic smile on his face.

The press backed the president, with endorsement for a declaration of a state of war being vigorous and unanimous, according to the Literary Digest. Even German-American papers concurred; Link writes, “All public reactions indicated that the President had voiced the deepest thoughts and convictions and highest resolves of a united people” (1965, pp. 427–428). During the 1916 campaign Theodore Roosevelt had publicly claimed that Wilson had acted little better than a coward by failing to confront Germany head on; now the former president believed that Wilson's message would “rank in history among the great state papers.”

Despite the warm reception for the speech itself, however, there was considerable dissent, particularly in German-American areas. In one such enclave—Sheboygan, Wisconsin—a referendum went 4,112 to 17 against a war resolution. In Manitowoc, Wisconsin, the vote was 1,460 to 15. On April 2, Socialists meeting in New York's Carnegie Hall booed upon hearing that Wilson had asked for a declaration of war.

At ten o'clock on the morning of April 4, a debate began in the Senate that lasted well into the night. Most members wanted to be on record in favor of the war resolution, which was introduced by Democratic Senator Thomas S. Martin of Virginia. The document argued that the German government had thrust a state of war upon the United States. Hence, the president was authorized “to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial German Government” (U.S. Congress, p. 200). There was some dissent. Republican Senator George Norris of Nebraska took a sharp swipe at the stress on maritime rights, claiming that the nation was “about to put the dollar sign upon the American flag” (qtd. in Link, 1965, p. 430). In a four-hour speech, La Follette accused Wilson of being unneutral and claimed that the vast majority of Americans opposed entering the conflict, at which point Democrat James A. Reed of Missouri accused the Nebraska senator of treason. Still, at exactly 11:11 pm, the motion passed 82 to 6.

Two days later, on April 6, it was the House's turn to vote on the same resolution. About one hundred members spoke on the matter. Majority leader Kitchin was one of twenty who voiced opposition. On April 4, which was Good Friday, the war resolution passed 383 to 50. Much opposition came from the Midwest, with, for example, all of Wisconsin's delegation being in the minority. Republican Jeanette Rankin of Montana, the first female congresswoman in American history, sobbed as she voted against the declaration. On April 6 Wilson signed the resolution, thereby leading his country into what was long called the Great War.