..the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter itn every fiber of our national life" (Johnson 643).

Staying out, states Tindall & Shi 948), was "more easily said than done, not least for Wilson himself. Americans might want to stay out of the war, but most of them cared which side won. Ironically, because there were so many first- or second-generation immigrants from Germany and Ireland, the leaning was toward the Central Powers. However, "old-line Americans" mostly of British descent were sympathetic to the Allies.

Yet actions were to occur that made the final decision. In 1915, the Germans sank the British Cunard liner Lusitania with 128 Americans on board. The Americans were outraged and sent letters to no avail. Then U-boats sank a number of American ships and finally, the press published a secret telegram from the German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman to the Mexican government proposing a German-Mexican offensive...
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