ABSTRACT
Many biographers and historians have commented on the process by which Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt turned their attention from domestic to foreign affairs and the steps each took to prepare the country for war. During the periods under review, Wilson and Roosevelt made major public addresses about United States (US) objectives in Europe and the world. When Wilson entered the White House in 1913 and Roosevelt did the same twenty years later, neither man was aware that a general European war would erupt during his presidency and eventually pull the US into a major conflict outside North America. Wilson’s view of US world order interests probably changed significantly in the first months of 1917. The public statements of these wartime presidents strongly suggest that each had a keen perception of US national interests in the periods leading up to US involvement in World Wars I and II.
