...philosophical call to arms that any American president ever sounded. Wilson's deepest thoughts came at the end. "It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But...

...it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few. It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen...performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may he, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great...

...current German government, as monstrous and irremediable. The president had said in his war message, "It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war." He might as well have said "this fractious, decentralized, class-and-ethnicity riven people," or this...

...a microphone (they haven't been developed yet), and without shouting, Wilson makes his voice carry. It is a fearful thing to lead this great, peaceful people into war, he says: . . . into the most teirible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be...

...to win the war but to "make the world safe for democracy." His highest ideals permeated the speech. "It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war," Wilson declared. "But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which...

...words President Woodrow Wilson spoke in 1917 are a fitting conclusion to an anatomy of stewardship. "There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us.,. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that...

...words President Woodrow Wilson spoke in 1917 are a fitting conclusion to an anatomy of stewardship. "There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us.,. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that...

...one choice we cannot make We will not choose the path of submission." A storm of applause erupted. "It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war," Wilson continued, but the United States could not refuse to fight for "democracy and freedom," to bring...

...with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. It is distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of the...congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. It may be many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this...

...postpone reform and inspire intolerance. Nevertheless, the world had to be made safe for democracy. "It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But...