ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES DELIVERED AT A JOINT SESSION OF THE HOUSES OF CONGRESS APRIL 2, 1917
Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1917. First Edition. Hardcover. Publisher's flexible green leather (5" x 7-1/2") with gilt title on the front cover, [4], 30 pages; housed in a cloth tray in slipcase. The text of Wilson's DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST GERMANY, SIGNED by the President on the front free end paper. Wilson had been reelected just a few months before this speech in large part for his having kept America out of the European war, but Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare could no longer be ignored. In this speech Wilson made a profound break with traditional American foreign policy by presenting a Progressive view that national interest alone cannot guide American policy. “We are now about to accept gauge of battle with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad…to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy." Various owner names on half-title page, front pastedown, and rear pastedown with a small ink stamp on the front endpaper: “Presented to E. S. Handy, Wilson Genethnic Study by Lee Curtice.” First few pages of text with ink underlining and marginal notations. Minor wear to binding. Near Fine in a Fine slipcase. Item #022428
Price: $8,500.00