File No. 763.72/9557
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Rumania ( Vopicka )
189. Referring to joint telegram of Allied ministers dated April 14. The purpose of the United States to continue the war in order to achieve those ideals to which the people and Government of the United States are dedicated was fully represented by the President in his speech at Baltimore April 6 on the occasion of the opening of the third Liberty Loan campaign. Special attention is called to the President’s reference to his earlier statements as follows:
The answer, when I proposed such a peace, came from the German’ commanders in Russia, and I cannot mistake the meaning of the answer.
I accept the challenge. I know that you accept it. All the world shall know that you accept it. It shall appear in the utter sacrifice and self-forgetfulness with which we shall give all that we love and all that we have, to redeem the world and make it fit for free men like ourselves to live in. This now is the meaning of all that we do. Let everything that we say, my fellow-countrymen, everything that we henceforth plan and accomplish, ring true to this response till the majesty and might of our concerted power shall fill the thought and utterly defeat the force of those who flout and misprize what we honour and hold dear. Germany has once more said that force, and force alone, shall decide whether Justice and Peace shall reign in the affairs of men, whether Right as America conceives it or Dominion as she conceives it shall determine the destinies of mankind. There is, therefore, but one response possible from us: Force, Force to the utmost, Force without stint or limit, the righteous and triumphant Force which shall make Right the law of the world, and cast every selfish dominion down in the dust.
Referring to your 70, April 12, 5 p.m. You are instructed to hand a copy of the text of this telegram to the Prime Minister.
- Resent May 6.↩