Woodrow Wilson and Wwi

On April 2, 1917 President Woodrow Wilson delivered a war message to the United States Congress outlining his reasons as to why the United States should enter a war against the German forces and the Axis Powers with which Germany allied themselves. His speech outlines the reasons or justifications for calling for war and lays out the fundamental beliefs that Wilson saw as being threatening to the American national security.

Wilson first mentions that it was the Imperial German Government's, "...purpose to put aside all restraints of law of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean." (Wilson's War Message, 1917) Here, Wilson points to the fact that Germany had the audacity to attack every vessel that was approaching port and subverted any sense of the laws of humanity during this military maneuver.

The humanitarian theme of Wilson's War Message follows through the great majority of the speech. He states that the Germans attacked, "Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand." He also goes on to state that all of these vessels, "...have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents." (Wilson's War Message, 1917) Politically speaking, Wilson's line here regarding the fact that the vessels of all kinds and many flags were attacked could prove to be useful for him in garnering more international support for an attack on Germany since it wouldn't seem as though the United States was going at it so unilaterally.

In his book, War Without Mercy, John Dower writes about the racism and prejudicial thoughts that were prevalent during the Pacific War of World War II and the dehumanizing characterizations that were made about the Japanese of the WWII era. Wilson employs a very similar approach when we states, "I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations." (Wilson's War Message, 1917) Wilson here describes the actions of the Germans as being inhumane and therefore uncivilized. By dehumanizing the German people, Wilson could more accessibly make a stronger pitch for the need to attack Germany.

Wilson also pulls on the strings to the listener's heart when he gives more emotional reasons as to why the United States would need to respond to the submarine attack on ships with force. "I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only for the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be." (Wilson's War Message, 1917)

Kristin Hoganson in her Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars defines what she feels was the underlining factor to the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: the male desire for masculinity. She breaks down how certain ways of acting can be politically seen as being masculine and how the quest for masculinity leads leaders to make decisions, such as entering the two wars she researches.

However, here it seems as though Wilson is employing a sort of feminine ideology that will push the Congress to allow the President to declare war upon Germany. Wilson talks about