Page:Czechoslovakia's tribute to the memory of Woodrow Wilson.djvu/21





It is deeply gratifying for an American to feel the veneration attached in this country to the name of Woodrow Wilson. Nations honor themselves when they enshrine their great dead and as the memory of Woodrow Wilson passes down to posterity it will be accompanied by the full recognition of his great merits. He stood out during a critical period as the leader of America and the symbol of all that America meant in the Great War. His words brought hope to millions in their suffering. He proclaimed a noble ideal for the Allied cause and rendered it incalculable service. His voice, like that of a prophet of Israel, rang clear over the multitude and crossed the enemy lines where it undermined his resistance. In the terrible struggle then fought over sea and land, in the air and under the water, Wilson spurred on victory, and by achieving the moral collapse of the enemy hastened the collapse of his armies.

Wilson has entered into the history and the inheritance of the new Europe and particularly of Czechoslovakia. For it was under his leadership that two million Americans left their homes and crossed the ocean to decide the final battle. It was their advent which has associated the United States and Wilson’s name inseparably and forever with a victory which brought about the independence of this State. Even before the fight was won, in the minds of countless millions Wilson stood out as the great symbol of human justice who had risen above the carnage to deliver his message of hope to humanity.

One need not dwell on the period of Wilson’s life which followed the conclusion of the War. Partisan strife will always exist in every free country. The whole-hearted support which regardless of party affiliations was so freely given by the American people to their President during the period of the War was withdrawn after hostilities had ended, and all national danger had ceased. The intensity of emotion aroused by the pitch of war, was then transferred homeward and became inflamed by the magnitude of the issues raised. There is no use in entering here into the merits of a dispute which must always remain controversial, or dwelling on the fact that the great majority of the people of the United States were then unwilling to follow Mr. Wilson further along the path he wished to tread. Fortunately the rancor anoand [sic] violence of that dispute has now died down, and in the presence of death there can be only respect and reverence. Today it is possible for every American to understand that the shadows Wilson cast were those of