Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human RightsMiller, Kelly
Philosophy
Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights
Miller, Kelly
World War, 1914-1918; World War, 1914-1918 -- African Americans
President Wilson, when he was elevated to the highest position in
America which the Nation could bestow, was recognized as one of the
greatest essayists and students of history, political economy,
constitutional law and government in the country. And those who made
light of his "book-learning" and referred to him as "the school-master
president," came to know that his training and the very character of his
life's work fitted him better than probably any other man in America to
deal with the great national and international problems which
confronted, which culminated with or grew out of America's entrance into
the great war.
WILSON'S MANY HONORS.
He was born in Staunton, Va., in 1856, the son of Rev. Joseph Woodrow
Wilson, and received his early education at Davidson College, N.C.
Subsequently he received a degree at Princeton University and graduated
in law at the University of Virginia, later practicing law at Atlanta.
After this he received degrees at Johns Hopkins, Rutgers, University of
Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale Colleges, and was
professor of history and political economy, first at Bryn Mawr College
and later at Wesleyan University, and finally professor of jurisprudence
and political economy, then jurisprudence and politics and afterward
president at Princeton University, from which post he was elected
Governor of the State of New Jersey in 1913. He resigned from the
Governorship and was elected President of the United States for a term
beginning March, 1913, and was re-elected in November, 1916, for a
second term beginning March, 1917, both times on the Democratic ticket.
As against the figure of President Wilson there stands that of the
Emperor William of Germany, whose policies indirectly precipitated the
war and impelled the alignment of nations to defend themselves against
his autocratic domination. For years the head of the House of
Hohenzollern, descendant of the ancient margraves of Germany who have
battled with the old Romans, made it manifest in speech and by action
that his ambition was to create a world empire.
GERMANY MUST BE RECKONED WITH.
Once at the launching of one of the great German warships he said: "The
ocean teaches us that on its waves and on its most distant shores no
great decision can any longer be taken without Germany and without the
German Emperor. I do not think that it was in order to allow themselves
to be excluded from big foreign affairs that, thirty years ago, our
people, led by their princes, conquered and shed their blood. Were the
German people to let themselves be treated thus, it would be, and
forever, the end of their world-power; and I do not mean that that shall
ever cease. To employ, in order to prevent it, the suitable means, if
need be extreme means, is my duty and my highest privilege."
In a famous interview in the London "Daily Mail" in 1908, discussing the
attitude of Germany toward England, the Kaiser was quoted as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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