Woodrow Wilson

Background

• Political Scientist

• President of Princeton

• Governor of New Jersey

Election of 1912

• Wilson (Democrat) vs Taft (Republican) vs Roosevelt (Progressive or Bull Moose)

• Republicans split their vote between Taft and Roosevelt, Wilson wins election

Wilson and Isolationism

• When WWI started, Wilson favored isolationism

• “The United States will remain neutral, but I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well”

The U.S. and Neutrality

• Between February and December 1916 Europe was in a stalemate

• France lost 550,000

• Germans lost 450,00

Rethinking Neutrality

• German U-Boat sunk a British luxury ship “LUSITANIA”, killing 1,198 people (128 Americans)

• Americans were Furious, but still did not want to enter the way

• Germans back off of sinking cruise ships

• 1917, Germans re-start aggressive navy attacks

• Wilson breaks off diplomatic ties with Germany

• Leads toZimmerman telegram

ZIMMERMAN TELEGRAM

• German Arthur Zimmerman urges Mexico to

• Join Central Powers

• In return, Germany would help Mexico “recover the lost territory of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona”

• German U-Boats began attacking American ships

• On April 2, 1917, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of War