Beschreibung
An den Federal Reserve Governor Charles Sumner Hamlin (1861-1938), mit Dank für dessen Korrespondenz mit Mrs. J. Malcolm Forbes: „[…] I share with you the feeling that the work which societies such as the one she has been connected with have hitherto been doing can in the present circumstances, if continued, do nothing but harm by creating the impression that there are divided counsels amongst us. I am sure that Mrs. Forbes will believe me when I say that I am doing everything that I honorably can to keep the country out of war, and I think that the best way to support my efforts just now is to show that the whole country, at any rate the thoughtful element of it, is back of me. I would be very much obliged if you would convey some such counsel to Mrs. Forbes, whom I very much admire and who I am sure will be moved by the highest patriotic purposes […]“ – Als nur 10 Tage später am 25. Februar 1917 mit der RMS Laconia ein weiteres britisches Passagierschiff mit US-Bürgern an Bord versenkt wurde, erklärte die US-Regierung unter Präsident Wilson dem Deutschen Reich am 6. April 1917 den Krieg. – Unser Brief ist zitiert in der grundlegenden Studie von J. D. Doeneke, Nothing less than war; a new history of America’s entry into Worls War I, Lexington 2011, S. 260 und 343. Vgl. Woodrow Wilson, The Papers, Bd. 41, 233. – Gering verwischt.
