“It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great and peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars”.

The Challenge Accepted: President Wilson’s Address to Congress, April 2nd, 1917, p. 8 [SPEC S/D525 (P.C. 253)].