ABSTRACT
On April 2, 1917 American President Woodrow Wilson addressed the United States Senate with the purpose of asking its members to declare war on Germany. Just a year earlier, he had run for reelection on the slogan “He kept us out of war.” He had won, but by the slimmest margin of victory of any American president since 1884. In fact, the Paris media had initially reported that his rival, Republican Charles Evans Hughes, had won. Despite his campaign pledge, Wilson now found himself asking the American people to support war with Germany.
