Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points Speech
The United States Presidency has been a rather long-lived yet very controversial system since it’s beginning. American Presidents are held to extremely high standards with their presidency in constant examination from the moment they take office to hundreds of years after their death. Among these historic men is President Thomas Woodrow Wilson (best known simply as Woodrow Wilson), the 28th president of the United States. President Wilson is generally considered to have been a great and successful president, often listed in the top ten most effective presidents (Unger, 2007)). He served for two consecutive terms and led the nation as it entered The Great War. While in office President Wilson managed to successfully bring about great changes
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The speech declared that World War I (specifically the United State’s involvement in it) was being fought for a moral cause (Eaton, 1919). Wilson hoped that by openly announcing this justification for American involvement in the war it would help keep America unlinked from the European nationalistic disputes and ambitions, both during and after the war. Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech was also meant as a preemptive call for peace in Europe after the war ended and was the only explicit statement of war aims by any of the nations that were involved in the active fighting of the war (Unger, 2007). Since it was the only public statement of war aims that was given (as well as being quite fair to every nation involved in the war), it became the basis for the terms of the German surrender at the end of the war. The speech was also widely distributed as an instrument of allied propaganda; copies were dropped behind German lines to encourage the Central Powers to surrender in the expectation of a just settlement (Bowle, 1958). A note reportedly sent to President Wilson by Prince Maximilian of Baden, the German imperial chancellor, in 1918 apparently requested an immediate armistice and peace negotiations on the basis of the Fourteen Points (Eaton,
The speech declared that World War I (specifically the United State’s involvement in it) was being fought for a moral cause (Eaton, 1919). Wilson hoped that by openly announcing this justification for American involvement in the war it would help keep America unlinked from the European nationalistic disputes and ambitions, both during and after the war. Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech was also meant as a preemptive call for peace in Europe after the war ended and was the only explicit statement of war aims by any of the nations that were involved in the active fighting of the war (Unger, 2007). Since it was the only public statement of war aims that was given (as well as being quite fair to every nation involved in the war), it became the basis for the terms of the German surrender at the end of the war. The speech was also widely distributed as an instrument of allied propaganda; copies were dropped behind German lines to encourage the Central Powers to surrender in the expectation of a just settlement (Bowle, 1958). A note reportedly sent to President Wilson by Prince Maximilian of Baden, the German imperial chancellor, in 1918 apparently requested an immediate armistice and peace negotiations on the basis of the Fourteen Points (Eaton,