Under President Woodrow Wilson’s orders, and with permission from President Venustiano Carranza of Mexico, General John J. Pershing leads a “punitive” expedition into Mexico in response to attacks by...
“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We...
President Wilson is inaugurated in a private ceremony on Sunday, March 4, 1917, publicly taking the oath the next day.
“My beloved mother and sister, passengers on the Laconia, have been foully murdered on the high seas. I call upon my government to . . . save others of my countrymen from such deep grief as I now feel...
President Wilson tells a joint session of Congress that Germany’s policy of unrestricted U-boat warfare poses an unacceptable threat to “freedom of the seas.”...
By this time, the Germans feel they have no other choice: the submarine is the only weapon that gives them an advantage over their enemies. Kaiser Wilhelm II gives an order: “To all...