President Woodrow Wilson Addressing Congress

On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson stood before a special joint session of Congress to deliver a speech asking for a declaration of war against Germany. Although he had campaigned for re-election on the slogan, “He kept us out of war,” President Wilson was confident of popular public support for entry into the war. The content of the Zimmerman Telegram combined with unrestricted submarine attacks on ships worldwide had turned the tide of public opinion against Germany. President Wilson used his speech to lay out the reasons for the United States’ involvement in the war and – inadvertently – all future wars:

 “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 seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind.”