Woodrow Wilson is Dead -- February 3, 2023

Perth Amboy Evening News, 03-January-1924

100 years ago today, on 03-February-2024, former president Woodrow Wilson died. 

WAR PRESIDENT 

GIVES LIFE FOR COUNTRY

WOODROW WILSON IS DEAD;

FIGHT LOST, DIES PEACEFULLY

Comes When Vitality No Longer Could Retard Breakdown

Sustained When Ex-President Fought for League of Nations;

Country Mourns Loss nf Statesman Who Won World Honors

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.-- (By The Associated Press) -- Former President Wilson died today at 11:15 A.M.

Fatigued and worn by the battle with death which began before he left the White House in 1921 the War President of two terms -- eight of the most momentous years in the history of the world -- closed his eye and slipped peacefully away.

The end came when vitality no longer could retard the steady dissolution which set in with the stroke of paralysis that laid Mr. Wilson low on his return from the western speaking trip in 1919 in which he declared he was glad to give his life for the League of Nations if that would make it a success.

The cause of death as officially announced was general aertio sclerosis and haemopligia.

The general sclerosis had been progressively hardening Mr. Wilson’s arteries since he was first stricken in 1919. The haemopligia, which refered to the paralytic condition of his left side, manifested itself principally in his left arm and leg.

A digestive disorder which developed last Monday hastened death by a new and vicious attack on the waning vitality of the former President. He took a sudden turn for the worse Thursday night and his physicians found that thereafter it was only a question of how long they would be able to prolong life.

The passing of the former President was announced in the following statement issued by his physician and friend, Rear Admiral Cary T. Grayson:

"Mr. Wilson died at 11:15 this morning.

"His heart action became feebler and feebler and the heart muscles were so fatigued that it refused to act any longer. The end came peacefully."

"The remote causes of death lie in his ill health which began more than four years ago, namely, artereo sclerosis with hemiplegia. The immediate cause of death was exhaustion following a digestive disturbance which began in the early part of last week, but did not reach an acute stage until the early morning hours of February 1.

Mrs. Wilson, his daughter, Margaret and Dr. Grayson only were in the death chamber at the end. Dr. Grayson, restraining tears with obvious difficulty, gave the formal announcement to waiting newspaper men. Worn with the strain, his voice was barely audible when he said that the former President’s last moments had been peaceful.

First word of the seriousness of Mr. Wilson’s condition was given by Dr. Grayson Friday morning after he had spent Thursday night at the bedside. He called in at once 2 other physicians and members of the family were summoned by telegraph.

During all of Friday, yesterday and last night, and early today, he lingered on the verge of eternity. He slept fitfully and toward the last refused nourishment, but before extreme weakness overtook him he talked with those about him, and told Dr. Grayson he was "ready to go." Step by step he lost ground and his physicians knew that the end was but a question of time.

As the news of his death spread throughout the city and was flashed around the world, messages of sympathy poured in a great flood-tide to the widow who so long had kept him in her tender care.

One of the first to send a message of condolence was President Coolidge who on Friday when the serious nature of the illness became known conveyd to Mrs. WiSon the hope of himself and Mrs. Coolidge that the former President would recover.

President and Mrs. Coolidge were at church when announcement was made of Mr. Wilson's death. They drove to the Wilson home immediately after the services were over and left cards. They were the first of any in official life to call.

Fourteen Points -- January 8, 2018

Rock Island Argus, 08-January-1918

US President Woodrow Wilson delivered a speech to Congress on 08-January-1918 about US war aims and peace terms.  Many people saw the Fourteen Points as a good basis for peace.  

PEACE PLAN GIVEN

WILSON OUTLINES DEFINITE PROGRAM TO HALT WAR AND TO PREVENT OTHERS
President Lays Down Laws to Govern Peace of World

Washington, Jan. 8. -- With a new statement of war aims, approving the recent declarations of the premier, Lloyd George, President Wilson presented to congress and the world a specific declaration of the terms on which it would be possible to make peace with the German military autocracy.

The president's program for world peace is composed of 14 separate articles and provides for restoration and reparation, guarantees for territory and national life, freedom of the seas and access to them, reductions of armaments and guarantees for the sanctity of agreements between nations.

The president presented the following as necessary elements of world peace:

"1 Open covenants of peace without private international understandings.
"2 Absolute freedom of the seas in peace or war except as they may be closed by international action.
"3 Removal of all economic barriers and establishment of equality of trade conditions among nations consenting to peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.
"4 Guarantees for the reduction of national armaments to the lowest point possible with domestic safety.
"5 Impartial adjustment of all colonial claims based upon the principle that the people concerned have equal weight with the interest of the government.
"6 Evacuation of all Russian territory and opportunity for Russia's political development.

Freedom of Belgium.

"7 Evacuation of Belgium without any attempt to limit her sovereignty.
"8 All French territory to be freed and restored and reparation for the taking of Alsace-Lorraine.
"9 Readjustment of Italy's frontiers along clearly recognized lines of nationality.
"10 Freest opportunity for autonomous development of peoples of Austria-Hungary.
"11 Evacuation of Rumania, Serbia and Montenegro, with access to the sea for Serbia, and international guarantees of economic and political Independence and territory integrity of the Balkan states.
"12 Secure sovereignty for Turkey's portion of the Ottoman empire, but with other nationalities under Turkish rule assured security of life and opportunity for autonomous development with the Dardanelles permanently opened to all nations.
"13 Establishment of an independent Polish state, including territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, with free access to the sea and political and economic independence and territorial integrity guaranteed by international covenant
"14 General association of nations under specific covenants for mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to large and small states alike.

Willing to Fight.

"For such arrangements and covenants," said the president, in conclusion, "we are willing to fight and continue to fight until they are achieved; but only because we wish the right to prevail and desire a just and stable peace."

Such a program, he said, removed chief provocations for war.

"The moral climax of this, the culminating and final war for human liberty, has come," said the president in ending his address, "and they (people of the United States) are ready to put their own strength, their own highest purpose, their own integrity and devotion to the test"

The practical agreement of fundamentals in the president's program with those expressed by the British premier made an immediate and profound impression upon all who heard him.

Coming at a moment when Germany faces the demands of her Socialists for an abandonment of any program of annexations and indemnities and also faces the failure of the peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk, the president's pronouncement developed its tremendous importance as he spoke it word by word to a crowded chamber of legislators, diplomats and officials, who gave him the closest attention. Although the address was punctuated liberally by applause, there was one great demonstration when the president declared France must have right for the wrong in Alsace-Lorraine. At that, the entire assembly rose, applauded and cheered loudly.

Delivered in Silence.

Otherwise, the president's address was delivered in the silence which denotes the rapt attention of an audience which realized that it was passing through a great quarter of an hour in the life of the world.

To the German people the president gave a reassurance that there was no aim to impair their peaceful greatness.

Not Jealous of  Germans.

"We have no jealousy of German greatness," he said, "and there is nothing in this program that impairs it. We grudge her no achievement or distinction of learning or of pacific enterprise such as have made her record very bright and very enviable. We do not wish to injure her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power. We do not wish to fight her, either with arms or hostile arrangements of trade, if she is willing to associate herself with us and the other peace-loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and fair dealings. Neither do we presume to suggest to her any alteration or modification of her institutions. But it is necessary, we must frankly say, and necessary as a preliminary to any intelligent dealings with her on our part, that we should know who the spokesmen speak for when they speak to us, whether for the German reichstag majority or for the military party and the men whose creed is imperial domination."

Responds With Candor.

The president made clear at the outset that the German statesmen have again challenged their adversaries to a restatement of war aims, he undertook to respond to it with the utmost candor. The British premier's declaration, the president referred to as having been spoken with "admirable candor and in admirable spirit for the people and government of Great Britain."

"The only secrecy of counsel," he added, "the only lack of fearless frankness, the only failure to make statement of the objects of the war, lies with Germany and her allies."

The voice of the Russian people, prostrate and all but helpless, with power shattered, but souls not subservient,1 called for a statement of aims and, the president added, he responded, "with utter simplicity and frankness."

All Join In Approval.

The president occupied just 23 minutes in delivering his address. Each statement of the program was greeted with some applause as the president read it, and there was no division of approval apparent between the parties.

President Urges War to "Rescue Humanity" -- April 2, 2017

Washington Herald, 03-April-1917

100 years ago today, on 02-April-1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against the Empire of Germany.  

President Urges War to "Rescue Humanity"

NO OTHER COURSE COMPATIBLE WITH HONOR, HE AVERS 

In Address to Joint Session of Congress, Mr. Wilson Declares for Immediate Entry into Strife.

ASKS 500,000 MEN FOR ARMY
Sets Forth Plan for Financing Entente Allies and Flays Perfidy of the German Government. 

President Wilson last night demanded that the United States recognize the state of war which Germany has thrust upon the nation and exert all of its powers to bring the government of Germany to terms and end the war.

Before the Congress, in joint session, the President bitterly but dispassionately arraigned the German government for its "warfare against mankind," and urged the representatives of the people to act at once to put an end to the destruction of "men, women and children" in the submaine zone.

In calm silence, but with determined faces, the Senators and Representatives listened as the President told them:

ADVISES STATE OF WAR.

 "I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German government to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of a belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it, and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a state of defense, but also to exert all its power and employ all of its resources to bring the government of Germany to terms and end the war."

Brought face to face with the fateful plunge into the maelstrom of the struggle which for three years has convulsed the world, the Congress immediately took, calmly but enthusiastically, the first steps toward declaring the existence of war and making ready for its prosecution.

JOINT RESOLUTION INTRODUCED.

A joint resolution, worded almost exactly in the President's phraseology, was introduced in both the House and Senate immediately after his speech was concluded. Congress leaders called the proper committees together for this morning, to take up the resolution for immediate action.

The leaders declared last night that both houses would be prompt in making the declaration recommended by the President. and in providing legislation to mobilize the man power, money power. and all the resources of the nation for the coming struggle. The spirit in Congress was calm but determined, and it evidenced itself in a wild outburst of enthusiasm when the President in the course of his address declared:

"We will not choose the path of submission."

 PRESIDENT'S WORDS CHEERED.

For minutes the Congress, and the spectators who jammed every foot of space in the House galleries, cheered and applauded this statement. Cheers greeted the President's review of the long line of  German violations of American rights, and his declaration that the government which followed such
methods "we can never have as a friend."

"We enter this war only where we are cdearly forced into, and because there are no other means of defending our rights," he asserted, and Congress and the galleries once more voiced theit approval.

The lawmakers of the nation sat in attentive and determined silence as the President laid down a program of war legislation which must be enacted to enable the United States to take its place among the enemies of Germany effectively.

URGES ARMY OF 500,000 MEN.

The President urged the utmsost practical co-opration with the entente powers, and the extension to them of the nation's liberal financial resources.  He declared the material resources of the nation must be organized and mobilized for military purposes. He urged the complete equipment of the navy to combat submarines. And he declared for an immediate army of 500,000 men to be raised on the principle of universal liability to service, and subsequent armies as soon as they are needed. Finally he demanded "adequate credits" for the government to finance the war measures. He promised detailed drafts of legislation and estimates of expenditures from the departnets in charge of war preparation, to carry out his recommendations.

The Presidnt made it clear that the war the United Staets is about to embark on was not a war of conquest, but one for "the rights of mankind."

He pointed to the democratization of Russia and declared the new Russia was a fit partner for a "League of Honor."  He declared that the war was against the Prussian autocracy and not against the German people. 

"We are the sincere friends of the German people," said the President.  "We have borne this present government through all these bitter months because of that friendship -- exercising a patience and forbearance which otherwise have been impossible."

FOR "PEACE OF THE WORLD"

He declared that the United States proposed to fight for "the ultimate peace of the world, and for the liberation of its people, the German peoples included." And he placed the entrance of the United States into the war on the broad humanitarian basis that "the world must be made safe for democracy."

Cheers resounded in the crowded chamber as the President declared that one of the convincing arguments that the Prussian autocracy could not be the friend of the United States was the fact that "since the outset of the war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies, and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot."  The President again and again emphasized the fact that the United States was in no way responsible for the present state of war, and he was roundly cheered at tack attack on the German submarine policy.

ENTENTE DIPLOMATS PRESENT.

All the pomp and ceremony of government was assembled in the hall of  the House to hear the President make his history-making address.  The diplomats representing the entente powers, taking advantage of an ancient privilege of the House. for the first time in years sat on the floor of the House.  Beside the volatile Frenchman, Jusserand, sat the phlegmatic Britisher, Sir Cecil Spring Rice. Russian Ambassador Bakhmeteff was not present.  But Senor Riano, the Spanish Ambassador, and a group of South and Central American diplomats, headed by Senor Calderon, the Bolivian Minister, sat with the representatives of the American people.  Ignacio Bonillas, the newly-named Mexican Ambassador, rushed to the Capitol, as he arrived in Washington during the evening, and was in time to hear President Wilson relate Germany's efforts to embroil Mexico and Japan with the United States.

News of the Week February 12, 1916 -- February 13, 2016

I dug through the 12-February-1916 Motography and didn't find "News of the Week as Seen in Films."  This was a shock as it had been a regular feature since 14-November-1914.  I didn't spot any missing pages, and I saw that it did appear in the 19-February-1916 issue.

I did notice two individual images from newsreels.  The first one shows "New York Society girls skip rope on roof of hotel in early morning to keep slim -- Mutual Weekly."  Note the warm coats.  I'll bet they would plenty of weight jumping rope while dressed that way.

"President and Mrs. Wilson greeted in New York -- Mutual Weekly."  Wilson and Mrs Edith Galt had married on 18-December-1915. 

News of the Week October 2, 1915 -- October 2, 2015

The 02-October-1915 Motography featured "News of the Week as Shown in Films," with items from current newsreels.

 "English and French commissioners seek loan for allies.  Copyright 1915 Hearst-Selig News Pictorial."  The Allies depended on US loans to continue buying US food and material.

"Famous warship Portmouth set on fire to get iron from hull.  Copyright 1915 Hearst-Selig News Pictorial."  USS Portsmouth was a sloop of war launched in 1843.  She served in the Mexican War and the Civil War.  On 09-July-1846 a detachment of her marines raised the US flag in the plaza of Yerba Buena, now called San Francisco.  The plaza is called Portsmouth Square.  After serving as a training ship and a quarantine ship, she was burned in Boston on 06-07-September-1915.

"Sant' Anna leaving New York for Italy.  Copyright 1915 by Universal Animated Weekly."  Italian reservists headed back to Italy on the French liner Sant Anna, which had been launched in 1912.  She became a troopship in 1915.  Sant Anna caught fire on 12-September-1915 in mid-Atlantic.  People suspected German sabotage.  She made it to Europe.  She was torpedoed in the Mediterranean on 11-May-1918.  605 died. 

"Dr. Dumba, Austria-Hungary Ambassador, leaving the Embassy.  Copyright 1915 by Pathe News."  The Ambassador tried to foment trouble among his nationals working in US steel plants.  He said that they could prosecuted for helping the enemy. 

"Envoys from the allies arrive in New York to negotiate big loan.  Copyright 1915 by Pathe News."  I assume these are the same men seen in the first photo. 

"President Wilson throws out the first ball, at opening of baseball park.  Copyright 1915 by Universal Animated Weekly."  I'm guessing this is the opening of Braves Field in August.  On 09-October-1915, Wilson became the first president throw out the first ball at a World Series game, when the Boston Red Sox played the Philadelphia Phillies at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia.  Wilson was a big baseball fan.