Читать книгу Our Navy at war онлайн

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The "overt act" had occurred. The Germans were sinking our ships, killing our citizens on the high seas. There were matters of vital importance to be discussed when the Cabinet met. Congress had already been summoned to meet within a month. But every day counted.

Should the special session be called at an earlier date? What message should be sent to Congress in view of the situation? These were the questions propounded by the President, who was grave, feeling the deep sense of responsibility. He wished every member of the Cabinet to state his conviction of the national duty, he told us, and each spoke from his standpoint.

I have often wished that it might have been possible to preserve a record of Cabinet meetings, particularly in the months preceding and during the war. If the American people could have seen the President and heard him as he spoke to us on March 20th, they would have felt a confidence and admiration which nothing else could have imparted. I do not feel at liberty to give from memory what he said, or the statements of the ten members of the Cabinet. His severest critics have praised President Wilson's power to express national sentiment and set forth problems and solutions in living sentences in his public addresses. That power was even more markedly displayed in the bosom of his official family.