Download The Zimmerman Note

Name: __________________________________ Hour: _________ NB#: ________
U.S. Involvement in World War I
“Calls the Situation Critical”
Special to The New York Times
BALTIMORE, Md., May 7. – The Baltimore Sun will say tomorrow:
We refrain from expressing any opinion in such a serious hour as this as to the effect which the
sinking of the Lusitania will have on our relations with Germany. The situation is too critical for
passionate or vehement outcry. Whether any American lives were lost or not, we have arrived at
a stage where we must have a clear understanding with Germany as to the future. We cannot
allow American lives to be endangered in a species of warfare without precedent among civilized
nations, and which is a distinct return to the most brutal practices of barbarism. Our Government
will know how to deal with this case, and it will not need any urging from the press to do its full
duty. We can safely leave it in the hands of the President, who fears God but does not fear man,
and who will preserve the peace as long as it is humanly possible to do so.
One thing should not be forgotten in considering this latent German “triumph.” It strikes a far
more dangerous blow at Germany than at Great Britain. Americans may be deterred from
traveling in British ships, but the sinking of the Lusitania will have absolutely no effect on the
fortunes of the war. It will increase British ardor and stimulate British recruiting a hundred fold,
and it will show the people of the allied countries that they have nothing to hope from German
generosity or mercy in case of German success. The effect on the sentiment of the neutral
countries will be to still further intensify anti-German feeling.
The Zimmerman Note
The following telegram was sent from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman to the
German Ambassador to Mexico on January 19, 1917.
On the first of February we intend to begin submarine warfare unrestricted. In spite of this, it is
our intention to endeavor to keep neutral the United States of America.
If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That
we shall make war together and together make peace. We shall give general financial support,
and it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and
Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement...
You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the above in the greatest confidence as
soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that
the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, should communicate with Japan suggesting
adherence at once to this plan; at the same time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan.
Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the employment of ruthless submarine
warfare now promises to compel England to make peace in a few months.
Declaration of War
On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson spoke to a joint session of Congress and
summarized his two-year effort to maintain American neutrality in the face of the German
submarine campaign. He called for a war not only to punish the Germans and reaffirm neutral
rights, but also to make the world “safe for democracy.” Below is the Declaration of War
passed by the United States Congress on April 6, 1917.
Joint Resolution declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial German Government
and the Government and the people of the United States and making provision to prosecute the
same.
Whereas the Imperial German Government has committed repeated acts of war against the
Government and the people of the United States of America; Therefore be it Resolved by the
Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
Assembled, that the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German
Government which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and
that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and
military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against
the Imperial German Government; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all of the
resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.
CHAMP CLARK
Speaker of the House of Representatives
THOS. R. MARSHALL
Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate
Approved, April 6, 1917
WOODROW WILSON
Source: Source Records of the Great War, Vol. V, ed. Charles F. Horne, National Alumni
"If We Don't Lick the Huns Now"
Some pacifists argued that World War I soldiers had no idea what they were fighting for. But
Private Eldon Canright, in a letter home, clearly believed that he was fighting to keep his loved
ones safe.
You know I have actually seen what the Huns [Germans] have done to Northern France
and Belgium and know what horrors and sufferings the people who lived there have gone
through, and when things are going hard and I am tired and discouraged, I like to think that I am
here going through all these hardships to do my bit to keep you all from experiencing the same
horrors that these unfortunate people have—that if we don't lick the Huns now, and lick them to
a standstill, they might at some future time try to do the same thing in America. You can laugh at
me if you want to, and say I'm foolish, but that thought gives me fresh determination to carry on.
There is nothing I would not do to prevent you from going through even a part of what they have
had to do.