Wilson made this speech—asking Congress for a declaration of war against Germany—on August 2, 1917, a month after his second inaugural. Germany’s decision to resort to unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic pushed Wilson to take the United States to war in order to make the world “safe for democracy.”

League of Nations

Wilson was immensely proud of the proposed League of Nations system, which he had helped craft at the Versailles peace conference. In the face of mounting Senate opposition to the league, Wilson set out on a grand speaking tour in September 1919 to rally the American people to the cause, arguing that “nothing less depends upon this decision … than liberation and salvation of the world.” The treaty setting up the league was eventually defeated by a small margin in the Senate, and the physical toll of the speaking tour contributed to the stroke that Wilson suffered upon returning to the White House.