618 Chapter 23 Woodrow Wilson and the Great War
reaction in the United States. The sinking of the
Lusitaniaevoked the sinking of HMSTitanicthree
years earlier, after it had struck an iceberg in the north-
ern Atlantic; first-person accounts rendered the tragedy
all the more vivid to Americans. When it was learned
that nearly 1,200 persons, including 128 Americans,
lost their lives when the Lusitaniawent down (nearly as
many as had perished on the Titanic),Americans were
outraged. (For more on the Titanic, see Re-Viewing
the Past, pp. 614–615.)
Wilson was shocked, but he kept his head. He
demanded that Germany disavow the sinking, indem-
nify the victims, and promise to stop attacking passen-
ger vessels. When the Germans quibbled about these
points, he responded with further diplomatic corre-
spondence rather than with an ultimatum.
In one sense this was sound policy. The
Germans pointed out that they had published
warnings in American newspapers saying they con-
sidered the Lusitaniasubject to attack, that the
liner was carrying munitions, and that on past voy-
ages it had flown the American flag to deceive
German U-boat captains. However, after dragging
the controversy out for nearly a year, Germany
apologized and agreed to pay an indemnity. After
the torpedoing of the French channel steamer
Sussexin March 1916 had produced another stiff
American protest, the Germans at last promised, in
theSussexpledge, to stop sinking merchant ships
without warning.
Theodore Roosevelt urged Wilson to commit the
United States to war with Germany; Wilson’s refusal
to do so incensed him. In November 1915 Wilson, in
a belated nod to such criticisms, pressed for increased
military and naval expenditures.
Adolf K.G.E. Von Spiegal, U-boat 202
(1919)atwww.myhistorylab.comThe Election of 1916
Wilson had won the presidency in 1912 only
because the Republican party had split in two. In
late 1915 he sought to broaden his support by win-
ning over the progressives. In January 1916 he
appointed Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court.
In addition to being an advanced progressive,
Brandeis was the first Jewish Justice appointed to the
Court. Wilson’s action won him many friends
among people who favored fair treatment for minor-
ity groups. In July Wilson bid for the farm vote by
signing the Farm Loan Act to provide low-cost loans
based on agricultural credit. Shortly thereafter, he
approved the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act bar-
ring goods manufactured by the labor of childrenReadtheDocumentTheTitaniccarried only twenty lifeboats, a reason why so many perished in 1912. The Lusitania(above) carried forty-eight
lifeboats, but it sank so quickly that many went unused.