Home page

Essential Question: How did President Wilson justify joining World War I on the side of the Allies?

Use the following before, during, and after viewing suggestions for engaging students with this resource and with activities related to this topic.

BEFORE VIEWING

As a class or in groups, review a timeline of U.S. interactions with Europe from the beginning of World War I until the U.S. entry. Take additional time with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and the Zimmermann Telegram, as these are especially relevant to the content presented.

Vocabulary and Terms:

• U-boat—German military submarines used primarily to sink Allied and neutral merchant ships; the German policy of unrestricted U-boat warfare, announced in 1917, motivated the United States to enter World War I

• merchant ship—a ship used for commercial trading as opposed to military purposes

• pacifist—a person opposed to war or violence of any kind

• dominion—sovereignty; control

• indemnities—compensation for damages or loss

• belligerent—engaged in war; acting in a hostile manner

Discussion Questions:

1. Can war be justified? If so, what are justifiable reasons for going to war?

2. How were the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, the Zimmerman Telegram affair, and the declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare all similar tactics engineered by Germany, and what impact did they have on the United States? What factors kept the United States on the sidelines until April 1917?

WHILE VIEWING

Have students watch and listen carefully for key points that help answer the following questions. If you wish, you can ask students to take notes as they watch. They may watch the video more than once.

• What is a “stalemate”? How did the German strategy attempt to change the stalemate into a “checkmate”?

• What did President Wilson cite as the main motivating factor in his decision to enter World War I in his speech to Congress on April 2?

Discussion Questions:

Select from the following questions and discuss as a class.

1. Why did President Wilson give this speech to Congress? What is the process by which our country goes to war?

2. When did the United States most recently declare war? What has changed about the process since Wilson was president? What effect, if any, has this had on U.S. military involvement?

3. A. Scott Berg considered Wilson’s sentence, “The world must be made safe for democracy,” the most important single sentence about U.S. foreign policy in the past century. What did it mean? Does the United States still profess this belief? Ask students to argue for and against the role Wilson identified for the United States as “one of the champions of the rights of mankind.” 

4. Ask students to debate U.S. intervention in the war in Europe in 1917. Assign them a variety of roles to research. How might the owners of merchant ships feel? Pacifists? Those whose ancestors came to the United States from England? German Americans?

Primary Source Activities:

Have students read President Wilson’s April 2, 1917, speech in its entirety. It identifies the broader range of factors he considered before deciding to enter the war. Then choose from among the following discussion questions and activity ideas:

1. Describe all of the factors in the speech that led Wilson to join the Allies in the fight against Germany in World War I. Which of these factors could he control as president? Which were shaped by greater economic, political, and philosophical forces and ideas?

2. How did Wilson present his reasons for going into World War I? What rhetoric did he use?

3. Connection to today: Think about the recent wars in which the United States has been involved. What reasons have the different presidents used to justify entry?

4. Who was Wilson’s audience? Whom did he need to convince?

5. As a possible extension, have some or all students read Senator Norris’s April 4, 1917, response. Ask students to debate the decision to go to war, with some students representing Wilson’s perspective and other students Norris’s. Norris answered Wilson’s ideological rhetoric with practical disagreements on U.S. policies since the start of World War I. What did Norris emphasize?

The Great War: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Collection  www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/the-great-war/