hem but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their government acted in entering this war. It was not with their previous knowledge or approval (Baker 512).Wilson went on to compare the war declaration of Germany to those offorgotten days when the public was never consulted or made aware of theintentions of a warring nation. Obviously insulting the administration of theGermans, Wilson acknowledged that self-governed nations do not fill theirneighbor states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about somecritical posture of affairs which will give them the opportunity to strike andmake conquest.--all of these statements implying that if Germany wereunder democratic rule, the submarine warfare campaign would benon-existent (Safire, 114). One must see the irony in this statement in lightof Americas numerous attempts to gain influence in other countries bymeans of military intervention and economic domination as exemplifiedduring the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, whoutilized the Roosevelt Corollary and dollar diplomacy as their tools ofexpansionism. In order to establish peace and morality in the world, Wilson assertsthat the world must be governed by the rule of the people. In order tomaintain a steadfast concert for peace, Wilson concludes that the onlyanswer is democracy (Safire 114). Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own (Baker 512).Wilson provided Russia as the prime example of this ideal League of Honorby pointing out how the country had prepared itself to join in the forcesfighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace ( Baker 513).The Germans had failed to conform to this Wilsonian view of world peace,a...
