“ Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic Governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. ”
Woodrow Wilson, We Must Accept War (2 April 1917). copy citation
| Author | Woodrow Wilson |
|---|---|
| Source | We Must Accept War |
| Topic | freedom government |
| Date | 2 April 1917 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6870/6870-h/6870-h.htm#4 |
Context
“Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth insure the observance of those principles.
Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic Governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such circumstances.
We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among nations and their Governments that are observed among the individual citizens of civilized states.”
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