Wilson Is Re-elected in 1916 on a Promise: 'He Kept Us Out of War!'

I'm Kay Gallant. Today, Harry Monroe and I tell about the war and how it affected the United States and President Woodrow Wilson.

The Austrian Archduke was murdered by Serbian nationalists. They opposed Austrian control of their homeland. After the assassination, Austria declared war on Serbia. One of Serbia's allies was Russia. Russia agreed to help Serbia in any war against Austria.

VOICE ONE:

On one side were the Central Powers: Germany and Austria-Hungary. On the other side were the Triple Entente Allies: France, Britain, and Russia. Many other nations took sides. Bulgaria and Turkey joined the Central Powers. Italy, Romania, Portugal, and Greece joined the Allies.

The United States hoped to stay out of the war.  President Wilson immediately declared American neutrality. He said: "It is a war with which we have nothing to do, whose causes cannot touch us."

Yet the official American policy was neutrality. The United States planned to continue to trade with both sides.

Germany and Austria expected a quick victory in the war. They were caught between two powerful enemies: Russia and France. But German military leaders were not worried. They had a battle plan they were sure would succeed.

VOICE TWO:

The battle was fierce and unbelievably bloody. In the end, the Germans were forced to withdraw.

VOICE ONE:

The blockade by Britain and the other allies was very successful. Germany faced possible starvation. Its navy was not strong enough to break the blockade with surface ships. Its only hope was to break the blockade with another naval weapon: submarines.

VOICE TWO:

When a German submarine sank a British ship in the Irish Sea, one of the victims was an American citizen. A few weeks later, an American oil ship was damaged during a sea battle between British navy ships and a German submarine. Then came the most serious incident of all. It involved a British passenger ship called the Lusitania.

VOICE ONE:

Germany did not want war with the United States. It already faced a strong fight against the European Allies. It promised not to sink any more civilian ships without warning. And it offered regrets for the Lusitania incident.

President Wilson accepted Germany's apology. Like most Americans, he hoped to stay out of the bloody European struggle. And he also knew that the record of the Allies was not completely clean.

Most of all, the American people were sickened by reports of what was happening on the battlefields of Europe. The armies were using poison gas and other terrible weapons. Soldiers on both sides were dying by the millions. The war had become a bloodbath.

The United States had a presidential election in nineteen sixteen. President Wilson won the nomination of the Democratic Party to seek re-election. Democrats around the country shouted their support with these words: "He kept us out of war!"  Wilson himself did not like the words. He felt it raised false hopes. But people continued to say it, because they did not want war.

The Republican Party nominated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes as its candidate for president. Hughes was a moderate Republican. He supported a number of social reforms.

VOICE ONE:

Woodrow Wilson had won another term. During that term, he would find it increasingly difficult to honor the words of the campaign:  "  Finally, he would find it impossible. The United States entered World War One while Woodrow Wilson was president.

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You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Your narrators were Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. Join us again next week at this time, when we will continue the story of American president Woodrow Wilson.