Books and Manuscripts

America Enters World War I

[Wilson, Woodrow]
Message du President Wilson lu au Congres des États-Unis d'Amerique le 2 Avril 1917
Paris: Imprimerie des Journaux officiel, 1917. Printed broadside. 36 x 25 1/2 in. (914 x 648 mm). Sheet toned; small loss in top edge, not affecting text, other small chips in edges; light foxing in edges and at center; repairs verso. 

A rare and large French broadside printing of President Woodrow Wilson's address to Congress urging a declaration of war against Germany during World War I. 

Recently reelected to the presidency on the slogan “he kept us out of the war”, and after years of insisting on neutrality in that Great War now known as World War I, by early 1917 President Wilson had reluctantly come to the conclusion that war with its main aggressor Germany was inevitable. America's commitment to neutrality had been strained by years of brazen German submarine warfare that had caused the sinking of several American ships and the death of hundreds of Americans--most astoundingly the Lusitania, in 1915, that caused the death of 128 Americans. Despite this, America had remained out of the conflict. All hope of remaining so though were dashed in early 1917 after the release of the Zimmermann Telegram, an official German message that urged a German-Mexico alliance against the U.S., with promises of American territory and possible invasion. The telegram inflamed American public opinion and helped convince Wilson and Congress that war was necessary.

On April 2, 1917, Wilson called a special joint session of Congress and gave what is now known as “the world must be made safe for democracy” speech, urging the United States to fight for the rights and liberties of small nations, and to “bring peace and safety to make the world itself at last free.” Wilson stated that “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. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them…” The speech marked a defining moment in Wilson's presidency, and persuaded Congress, who formally declared war on Germany and its allies four days later, on April 6.

This large broadside prints Wilson's full speech in French, and was almost certainly one of many that were plastered around the streets of Paris, signaling with its bold type the magnitude of America's entrance, and what would prove to be the beginning of the end of the then three-year long bloody conflict.