The United States long tradition of staying out of the struggles among European nations had lasted for over a century by the time of the First World War.  In 1915 though the German sinking of the SS Lusitania roused the country to anger.  By 1917 the pressure to join the fray became unstoppable.  In January of that year British intelligence intercepted the ‘Zimmerman telegram’ which revealed that Germany was planning unrestricted submarine warfare and U.S. ships would be considered fair game.  The telegram also proposed an anti-US alliance between Germany and Mexico if the U.S. declared war.  Within days the Housatonic, an American liner had been sunk off the Italian coast.  The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany and by April America had entered the war.  President Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress on April 2, 1917, seeking a declaration of war.  In his speech he said, “There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making: we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred right of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated.  The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no common wrongs: they cut to the very roots of human life.”