namely that "the example of America must be a special example ... of
peace because peace is the healing and elevating influence of the world
and strife is not." It was followed by another of equal importance, that
a nation may be so much in the right "that it does not need to convince
others by force that it is right." These two phrases expressed what was
in the President's mind clearly and definitely: the United States was
consecrated to ideals which could not be carried into effect through
force, unless every other method dictated by supreme patience had failed.
But the world did not notice them. All that it remembered was that the
United States was "too proud to fight." What did this mean to the average
man except that the country was afraid to fight? The peoples of the
Entente powers were contemptuous; Germans were reassured; Americans were
humiliated.

Wilson the phrase-maker was betrayed by a phrase, and it was to pursue him
like a Fury. The chorus of indignation and shame aroused by this phrase
covered completely the determination and skill with which he entered upon
the diplomatic struggle with Germany. His purpose was definite. He had
gone on record in February that the United States Government would protect
the rights of American citizens, and he was bound to secure from Germany a
promise that merchant ships should not be torpedoed without warning or
assuring the lives of crew and passengers. And yet by virtue of his
pacific principles this promise could not be forcibly extracted until
every other possible method had been attempted in vain. Unquestionably he
was supported in his policy by many, perhaps most, thoughtful people,
although wherever support was given him in the East it was generally
grudging. Such a representative and judicial mind as that of ex-President
Taft favored cool consideration and careful action. But the difficulties
encountered by the President were tremendous. On the one hand he met the
bitter denunciations of the group, constantly increasing in numbers, which
demanded our immediate intervention on the side of the Entente. Led by
Roosevelt, who no longer felt as in the previous September, that the
United States had no immediate interest in the war, this group included
influential men of business and many writers. They had lost patience with
Wilson's patience. His policy was, in their opinion, that of a coward. On
the other hand, Wilson was assailed by pro-Germans and die-hard pacifists;