referendum
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- Nov 13, 2005
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So on Thursday it was the 100 year anniversary since President Wilson's awful decision to declare war on Germany. There are many facets of that debacle. One that stands out is how soon he reached the decision for war after the overthrow of Czar Nicholas in Russia. He abdicated on March 15, 1917, and by the next week Wilson at a full cabinet meeting made his decision for war. That was not coincidental. As long as the Czar ruled Russia, the power of German Jewish finance in the US was on the side of neutrality. With the Czar overthrown the German Jews in the US now had no special reason to favor Germany.
There were many heroes in the lost cause of American neutrality, such as Lindberg's father who was in congress, Sen Lafollette and Johnson, House Majority leader Kitchen, and apparently Wilson's second wife Edith who all opposed intervention. And in fairness, many honest socialists stood against our entry as well.
Most poignant and tragic was William Jennings Bryan who resigned as Wilson's secretary of state in 1915 to protest Wilson's lack of true neutrality. I've always felt that Bryan should have stayed on as sec of state as long as possible and use his office to undermine Wilson's pro-interventionists moves. At some point Wilson might have had to fire him, but Bryan's stature was such that he would have had to think long and hard about that.
In a war without US intervention the case could be made that a compromise peace without victory would have had a better chance of success, with Germany and Austria retaining their strength and integrity. Wilson even made some half hearted gestures in this direction in late 1916, but with the US staying neutral we really could have brokered an honest peace, with Wilson going down in history as a great president instead of a devious fool. With such a peace happening before Oct 1917 we would not have seen a Bolshevik takeover in Russia.
There were many heroes in the lost cause of American neutrality, such as Lindberg's father who was in congress, Sen Lafollette and Johnson, House Majority leader Kitchen, and apparently Wilson's second wife Edith who all opposed intervention. And in fairness, many honest socialists stood against our entry as well.
Most poignant and tragic was William Jennings Bryan who resigned as Wilson's secretary of state in 1915 to protest Wilson's lack of true neutrality. I've always felt that Bryan should have stayed on as sec of state as long as possible and use his office to undermine Wilson's pro-interventionists moves. At some point Wilson might have had to fire him, but Bryan's stature was such that he would have had to think long and hard about that.
In a war without US intervention the case could be made that a compromise peace without victory would have had a better chance of success, with Germany and Austria retaining their strength and integrity. Wilson even made some half hearted gestures in this direction in late 1916, but with the US staying neutral we really could have brokered an honest peace, with Wilson going down in history as a great president instead of a devious fool. With such a peace happening before Oct 1917 we would not have seen a Bolshevik takeover in Russia.