763.72/1757¾
President Wilson to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: Since I expressed my approval of the statement you suggested for the press I have heard something, indirectly, from the German Embassy which convinces me that we would lose all chance of bringing Germany to reason if we in any way or degree indicated to them, or to our own public, that this note was merely the first word in a prolonged debate. I will tell you what I have in mind when I do not have to write it.
In the meantime, I beg that you will pardon me for changing my mind thus. I am sure that it is the safer course, the one more likely to produce the results we are all praying for. Please withdraw the message (the supplementary statement) altogether. If we say anything of the kind it must be a little later, after the note has had its first effect.60
Faithfully Yours,
- In a message to the President written on the same day, concerning another matter, Secretary Bryan added the following postscript: “I am very sorry that your judgment is against using the statement you prepared this morning. I fear the use the jingo element will make of the German note.” (File No. 763.72/1757b.)↩