[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 60 (Thursday, April 6, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H2777-H2778]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REMEMBERING WORLD WAR I
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Russell) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. RUSSELL. Mr. Speaker, today, exactly 100 years ago, on this very
floor, the United States declared war on Imperial Germany and entered
the First World War on the side of the Allies. The decisions that led
to that monumental declaration forever changed America's destiny,
economy, military, foreign policy, and culture.
Today also marks the beginning of our National Centennial remembrance
of America's service in World War I for the sacrifices made by all
Americans and for the more than one-quarter of a million American
casualties, including over 100,000 dead, most of whom were lost in a
mere 6-month period from May to November 1918.
By the war's end, my great-grandfather and his three brothers would
all serve. My great-grandfather's brother, my great-uncle, Frank
Chamberlain, was killed in action. This is his pipe that he was
carrying when he was killed in France, his dog tags, and his uniform
insignia that I was able to inherit from my great-grandfather.
He lays peacefully in France under a white marble military
gravestone, a scant, faceless hint of the man who was once filled with
laughter and humor, who held dreams, hopes, and goals for the future.
Frank was 19 years old.
On April 6, 1917, our country was forever changed, and it began right
here on this very floor. It is only fitting, Mr. Speaker, that we give
remembrance to its beginning here today. I am indeed indebted to the
fine work of Dr. Eric B. Setzekorn of the United States Army's Center
of Military History for his material from ``Joining the Great War,''
which forms the basis for today's remembrance.
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of
Austria on the 28th of June 1914, which led to the military
mobilization across Europe and declarations of war by early
August, most Americans took solace that the Atlantic Ocean
shielded the United States from the conflict. The Chicago
Herald summed up the popular support for isolation from
Europe's strife in its article that said: ``Peace-loving
citizens of this country will now rise up and tender a hearty
vote of thanks to Columbus for having discovered America.''
Germany's invasion of neutral Belgium brought Great Britain
into the war and divided Europe into two great camps. Britain
joined France and Russia to form the Triple Entente, more
commonly referred to as the Allied Powers. Opposed to them
were Germany and Austria-Hungary, making up the Central
Powers.
President Woodrow Wilson believed that the immoral nature
of European politics created entangling alliances that
transformed a regional conflict into a global war that
threatened world peace. The President delivered a Declaration
of Neutrality to this very Congress on the 19th of August
1914, calling on all citizens to remain ``impartial in
thought, as well as in action.'' However, between late 1914
and early 1917, the escalating conflict tested American
traditions of isolationism as it threatened to draw the
Nation closer to the war.
The initial German offensive against France ended in
September at the Battle of the Marne, after which both sides
attempted a series of flanking maneuvers to gain the
advantage. Neither side proved capable of overcoming the
killing power that machine guns and rapid-firing artillery
brought to the defensive, and the battle lines all along the
Western Front stabilized in a vast system of trenches
stretching from Switzerland all the way to the English
Channel. This was a new type of warfare, with soldiers
subjected to prolonged stress and danger, with little chance
for daring heroics or martial glory.
Behind the trenches, the development of sophisticated
supply systems that were able to support millions of men and
massive levels of firepower and the ability to rush reserves
to block any potential enemy breakthrough led to a vicious
stalemate.
On the broad expanses of the Eastern Front, Germany and
Austria were locked in a brutal war of attrition with Russia,
where logistics and artillery shells counted far more than
bravery.
To break through the deadlock, the combatants attempted to
smash through enemy
[[Page H2778]]
lines with ever larger offensives. Attacks in 1915 saw tens
of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of artillery pieces
deployed along only a few miles of the front, trying to win
through sheer weight of numbers and ordnance. The result was
thousands of dead and gains measured in yards after weeks of
constant fighting.
Poison gas, first used by the Germans in April 1915 and
later adopted by every nation, added to the daily misery and
danger. By 1916, as the industrial economies of Germany,
France, and Britain became fully geared toward war
production, battles increased in scale and destructiveness.
In the fight of the fortress of Verdun between February and
December, the French and Germans suffered more than 1 million
casualties combined.
On the first day of the Somme Offensive on the 1st of July
1916, the British and French fired more than 2 million
artillery shells into the German lines in support of 19
divisions attacking along only a 20-mile front. Despite this
colossal weight of numbers, the British alone suffered 57,000
casualties on the very first day and did not break the German
defenses. By the time the Somme ended in mid-November, all
sides had suffered more than a combined 1 million casualties,
while the front moved fewer than 10 miles. As a result,
Verdun and the Somme became synonymous with the slaughter and
destruction that defined the Western Front.
As the stalemate in France continued, U.S. political and
public opinion began to shift from neutrality toward support
for the Allies. German atrocities in Belgium, at times
exaggerated by Allied propaganda, shocked many Americans.
Additionally, in early 1915, the Germans began an effort to
isolate the British Isles by using submarines, known as
Unterseeboote, or U-boats, to attack British merchant
shipping.
{time} 1215
The German campaign, which consisted of the unrestricted
sinking of any merchant vessel bound for Britain, was
portrayed by American newspapers as a cowardly and immoral
method of warfare.
On the 1st of May 1915, a German U-boat sank the British
liner RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 men, women, and children,
including 128 American citizens onboard. After the attack,
The New York Times called on President Wilson to ``demand
that the Germans shall no longer make war like savages drunk
with blood.''
Fearing that such action could pull the United States into
the war, and concerned over British violations of American
shipping rights, President Wilson continued his policy of
neutrality. Seeking to take the moral high road, he
proclaimed: ``There is such a thing as a man being too proud
to fight . . . There is such a thing as a Nation being so
right that it does not need to convince others by force that
it is right.''
However, after the Germans sank the French passenger ferry
SS Sussex in March 1916, Wilson threatened to break off
diplomatic relations with Germany. In May, the Germans
pledged to abandon unrestricted submarine warfare, though
they reserved the right to attack legitimate targets such as
armed merchant ships or those vessels carrying war materiel.
As Germany's submarine campaign damaged its relations with
the United States, America's economic relationship with
Britain and France expanded. Faced with a war of attrition,
the Allies relied on agricultural and industrial resources to
support their war efforts.
Despite a British blockade that severely cut American
commerce and its friendly relations to the former central
powers, U.S. trade with Europe more than doubled from 1913 to
1917. U.S. companies not only provided civilian goods, but
also war materiel. Bethlehem Steel alone supplied the Allies
with over 20 million artillery shells between 1914 and 1918,
while major weapons manufacturers like Remington and
Winchester sold rifles and guns. Allied governments relied
heavily on the U.S. banking industry for billions in loans to
finance their war.
Despite the United States' growing economic ties to the
Allies, the American public still preferred that the Nation
remain neutral. The British Government's brutal suppression
of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland angered many Americans--
and certainly, Irish Americans--as did its continued
violation of American neutral shipping rights through its
blockade of Germany.
As the casualty list grew during 1916, most Americans were
thankful that they had not been drawn into the carnage
engulfing Europe.
In November 1916, President Wilson won reelection by a
narrow margin, largely on the slogan, ``He kept us out of
war.'' However, circumstances changed rapidly in early 1917.
Many Americans began to volunteer for the French, great
Britain or Canada, like my Uncle Frank.
Germany's increasingly desperate strategic situation led to
a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare on the 31st of
January 1917. This action broke the earlier pledge of the
Germans to respect passenger shipping and convinced President
Wilson to break diplomatic relations with Germany on the 3rd
of February 1917.
Soon after, the British Government provided Wilson an
intercepted communication from the German foreign secretary,
Arthur Zimmermann, to the German envoy in Mexico. In the
telegram, Zimmermann proposed that if the United States
joined the war on the Allied side, Germany and Mexico should
enter into an alliance. In return, Mexico, by taking up arms
against the United States, would receive from Germany
supplies, financial assistance. Once a victory was achieved,
Mexico could claim territory in Texas, New Mexico, and
Arizona.
The State Department released the telegram to the
Associated Press on the 28th of February, and the American
public opinion turned sharply, as many became convinced of
German duplicity and aggressive intentions. No longer was the
war seen as simply a horrific folly by the European powers,
but rather as a clear indication of the danger of unchecked
militarism.
With the abdication of the Russian czar in February 1917
and the rise of a provisional representative government,
Americans came to see the war as a struggle that pitted
democracies against aggressive, authoritarian imperialists.
Faced with this clear contrast, President Wilson addressed
this very floor on April 2, 1917, in a joint session of
Congress declaring his desire that: We shall fight for the
things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for
democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to
have a voice in their governments, for the rights and
liberties of small nations, for universal dominion of right
by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and
safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.
On the 6th of April--100 years ago today, where I am
standing--with concrete evidence of German hostility to the
United States, to international peace, and to liberal
democracy, Congress of the United States declared war on
Germany.
The first act of war committed on Germany was executed that very day,
when the United States Army's 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry marched from
Fort Jay, New York, to Hoboken, New Jersey, boarded and seized the
German ships in the harbor and interned the German crews. I had the
privilege to command the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry in Iraq in 2003-
2004.
Among the ships seized that day on April 6, 1917, was the SS
Vaterland, a luxury liner later renamed the USS Leviathan. This luxury
transport would send 10 percent of all doughboys to France and bring a
great many of them home as well.
The last American World War I veteran was Frank Buckles, who enlisted
from Oakwood, Oklahoma, in August of 1917. He died only 6 years ago, in
February 2011, at age 110.
I had the privilege to know a great many World War I veterans. The
last time I saw my great-grandfather was when I came home on leave as a
young Army captain. As we had a very pleasant visit and it came to a
close and I had to go, he told me: ``Don't go yet. I want to give you
something.''
He returned from his bedroom with some items in a cigar box that I
remember looking at as a kid. He said: ``I want you to have these.''
I said: ``I can't take these, grandpa. Those were your brother's.''
He said: ``You will take them because I know you will keep Frank's
memory alive.''
He was right. They have been displayed by me ever since, wherever I
have been.
As we reflect today on the declaration of war 100 years ago on this
very spot in 1917 that began the United States entry into World War I,
let us embark on a national centennial remembrance for all Americans of
that day who sacrificed so much for our Republic. They are all gone
now, but as long as we who knew them have breath and remember them,
they will live.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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