On April 2, 1917, the press reported that President Woodrow Wilson had asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. Congress passed the war resolution four days later which brought the United States into World War I.
Page one news from the Bisbee (Arizona) Daily Review:
The International News Service described the reaction to the president’s speech to Congress:
“A tremendous wave of cheering greeted the president as he began to speak….The cheering was taken up from outside by the massed thousands there, although they did not know what it was that they were endorsing. The entire speech seemed to strike a responsive note from the crowded hall.”
The front page of the Tacoma Times:
Here is a story excerpt from the April 3, 1917 Durham Morning Herald:
“….congress immediately took, calmly but enthusiastically, the first steps toward declaring the existence of war and making ready for its prosecution. 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.”
During World War I silent newsreels updated the nation about President Wilson and the war effort. Here is an example:
