President Wilson confirms US to remain neutral in Great War
America not to become a 'military camp'
Washington, 9 December 1914 - In his second State of the Union address to the Houses of Congress in Washington, President Woodrow Wilson avowed American intentions to remain neutral in the war that has engulfed much of the world.
President Wilson acknowledged that ‘half the world is on fire’ and that the war in Europe ‘is destroying men and resources wholesale and upon a scale unprecedented and appalling’.
He continued by confirming that America would stay neutral in the fighting: ‘We are, indeed, a true friend to all the nations of the world, because we threaten none, covet the possessions of none, desire the overthrow of none. Our friendship can be accepted and is accepted without reservation, because it is offered in a spirit and for a purpose which no one need ever question or suspect. Therein lies our greatness.’
President Woodrow Wilson has acknowledged that 'half the world is on fire'. This image depicts the first action seen by the London Scottish near Messines in France. (Image: Irish Life, 27 November 1914. Full collection of Irish Life available from the National Library of Ireland)
President Wilson claimed that this universal friendship put the United States in a position to bring peace to the world: ‘We are the champions of peace and concord and we should be very jealous of this distinction just now partiuclarly because it is our dearest hope that this character and reputation will presently, in God's providence, bring us an opportunity... to counsel and obtain... a healing settlement of many a matter that has cooled and interrupted the friendship of nations.’
Prepared for war
Wilson denied that America was unprepared for war because the country had a relatively small army: ‘We never have had, and while we retain our present principles and ideals we never shall have, a large standing army. If asked, ‘Are you ready to defend yourselves?’ We reply, ‘Most assuredly, to the utmost’; and yet we shall not turn America into a military camp. We will not ask our young men to spend the best years of their lives making soldiers of themselves. There is another sort of energy in us. It will know how to declare itself and make itself effective should occasion arise.’
This sentiment was received loud applause from the floor and from the crowded gallery.
The president did not make any reference to the current crisis in Mexico during the course of his speech.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
