The Valiant Never Taste of Death but Once

Abstract

World War I engulfed Europe in the summer of 1914, but the United States maintained neutrality. President Woodrow Wilson was reelected in 1916 on a pacifist platform, with the slogan “He kept us out of war.” Nonetheless, under the leadership of former president Theodore Roosevelt and bolstered by the support of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, patriots and munitions interests raised the cry of preparedness. When a German submarine sank the British liner Lusitania in May 1915, killing 128 Americans, prowar demonstrations and parades increased.¹