What was Wilsons war message about?
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((If you would like to view the PDF version of this historic speech, click here: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/PDFFiles/Woodrow%20Wilson%20-%20War%20Message.pdf)) Show For this blog, I chose to do a computational analysis of a political speech rather than any other speech genre. In politics, speeches are invaluable tools that have the abilities to move, sway opinions, and garner or lose favor. One such speech is Woodrow Wilson's War Speech. War Speech was delivered to Congress on April 2nd, 1917 and was the turning point for America entering World War I and combating the Central Powers. Political speeches, especially in more recent years, have gained the stigma of being untrustworthy and shady. One way to dissect a speech to ascertain the speaker's true intent is to look for repetition of a word or words. After running War Speech through Voyant Tools, the following graph was generated:  Out of the entire speech of 3,679 words, the word "government" was the most used and shows up thirty times throughout the script. The next most used are: right (17), war (17), German (16), and people (16). This quick analysis of the text and corresponding image shows a true, direct nature--Woodrow Wilson stayed on topic and only used terms relevant to the issue at hand.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points, 1918The immediate cause of the United States’ entry into World War I in April 1917 was the German announcement of unrestricted submarine warfare and the subsequent sinking of ships with U.S. citizens on board. But President Woodrow Wilson’s war aims went beyond the defense of U.S. maritime interests. In his War Message to Congress, President Wilson declared that the U.S. objective was “to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world.” President Woodrow Wilson delivering his Fourteen Points to Congress In several speeches earlier in the year, President Wilson sketched out his vision of an end to the war that would bring a “just and secure peace,” not merely “a new balance of power.” He then appointed a committee of experts known as The Inquiry to help him refine his ideas for peace. In December 1917, he asked The Inquiry to draw up specific recommendations for a comprehensive peace settlement. Using these recommendations, Wilson presented a program of fourteen points to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918. Eight of the fourteen points treated specific territorial issues among the combatant nations. Five of the other six concerned general principles for a peaceful world: open covenants (i.e. treaties or agreements) openly arrived at; freedom of the seas; free trade; reduction of armaments; and adjustment of colonial claims based on the principles of self-determination. The fourteenth point proposed what was to become the League of Nations to guarantee the “political independence and territorial integrity [of] great and small states alike.” Though Wilson’s idealism pervades the Fourteen Points, he also had more practical objectives in mind. He hoped to keep Russia in the war by convincing the Bolsheviks that they would receive a better peace from the Allies, to bolster Allied morale, and to undermine German war support. The address was immediately hailed in the United States and Allied nations, and even by Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, as a landmark of enlightenment in international relations. Wilson subsequently used the Fourteen Points as the basis for negotiating the Treaty of Versailles that ended the war. Although the Treaty did not fully realize Wilson’s unselfish vision, the Fourteen Points still stand as the most powerful expression of the idealist strain in United States diplomacy. Image Creators National Archives On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson addressed a joint session of Congress requesting a declaration of war against Germany. The National Archives uses from its collection parts of the original address, a full transcript of Wilson's message, and the joint resolution from Congress formally declaring war on Germany for this resource. Resource LinksView Online When was Wilson's War Message?On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson addressed a joint session of Congress requesting a declaration of war against Germany.
Why did Woodrow Wilson declare war?On April 2, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany specifically citing Germany's renewed submarine policy as “a war against mankind. It is a war against all nations.” He also spoke about German spying inside the U.S. and the treachery of the Zimmermann Telegram.
What is the purpose of Wilson's speech?In the speech, Wilson directly addressed what he perceived as the causes for the world war by calling for the abolition of secret treaties, a reduction in armaments, an adjustment in colonial claims in the interests of both native peoples and colonists, and freedom of the seas.
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