MAURICE JOYCE: 'I fully understanding the serious step I am taking, I advise that the Congress declare the recent acts of the German government to be, in fact, nothing less than war against the United States.

President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany in April 1917

"It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war. But right is more precious than peace. And we will fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts -- for democracy, for the rights and liberties of small nations, and for the belief that a worldwide union of free people can bring peace and safety to all nations."

LARRY WEST: President Wilson's emotional speech brought tears to the eyes of many of the lawmakers. They felt the great seriousness of his request.

Outside, crowds lined the street to cheer Wilson as he returned to the White House from the Capitol Building. He sat in his car and shook his head sadly. "Think of what it is they are cheering," he said. "My message today was a message of death for our young men. How strange it seems they would cheer that."

On April sixth, nineteen seventeen, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany.

MAURICE JOYCE: The Allies -- Britain, France and Russia -- welcomed American involvement.

The war was going badly for them. It had been very costly in lives, money, and supplies. Allied shipping was suffering heavy losses from German submarine attacks. A British naval blockade had greatly reduced food shipments to Germany. Now, Britain itself faced dangerously low supplies of food.