congressional_record: CREC-2006-12-08-pt1-PgE2141-2
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-2006-12-08-pt1-PgE2141-2 | 2006-12-08 | 109 | 2 | HONORING PRESIDENT WILSON ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH | HOUSE | EXTENSIONS | HONORING | E2141 | E2141 | [{"name": "Rush Holt", "role": "speaking"}] | 152 Cong. Rec. E2141 | Congressional Record, Volume 152 Issue 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006) [Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 135 (Friday, December 8, 2006)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E2141] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] HONORING PRESIDENT WILSON ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH ______ HON. RUSH D. HOLT of new jersey in the house of representatives Wednesday, December 6, 2006 Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, December 28 will mark the 150 anniversary of the birth of our 28th president, Woodrow Wilson. Throughout 2006, a number of organizations--including the Woodrow Wilson House, the Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson, the Woodrow Wilson Family Home, Princeton University, and the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library--have held multiple public events to commemorate the life and work of President Wilson. Today, along with my colleague, Mr. Goodlatte, I'm pleased to offer a resolution both recognizing the 150th anniversary of President Wilson's birth and the contributions of the many organizations that have made this sesquicentennial successful. It also affords us a moment to reflect on how important Woodrow Wilson's legacy is for the United States. President Wilson lived to see three major wars in his lifetime, each of which reshaped America's role in the world: the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I. In the wake of the First World War, President Wilson had the vision to understand that if America was going to prosper in the 20th century, it needed to be a part of the world, not separated from it. That vision was encapsulated in the last of his famous ``14 points'' in his January 8, 1918 address to a joint session of Congress: XIV. A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike. Wilson sought to create a just peace for the defeated Triple Alliance powers and a secure world for all nations. He understood both the value and need for collective security, and above all the moral imperative underlying it, as he revealed in his 1918 State of the Union speech: We have spoken now, surely, in terms too concrete to admit of any further doubt or question. An evident principle runs through the whole program I have outlined. It is the principle of justice to all peoples and nationalities, and their right to live on equal terms of liberty and safety with one another, whether they be strong or weak. Unless this principle [can] be made its foundation, no part of the structure of international justice can stand. Wilson's vision for America's role abroad--U.S. participation and leadership in the League of Nations--was ultimately undone by his lack of vision in dealing with a Senate that his party no longer controlled and by some flaws in the design of the League. Then-Senate Majority Leader Henry Cabot Lodge was skeptical of the value of the League and wary of the risks of committing America to a permanent, high-profile role in international affairs. The personal animosity between the two men undoubtedly contributed to Lodge's opposition to ratification of the League treaty. The intransigence of both men doomed the League treaty's chances in the Senate. Today, there is little debate among historians about the consequences. Had Wilson and Lodge been able to set aside their differences and ensure Senate passage of the treaty, America's membership in the League might well have moved the body to take far more decisive action against the fascist dictatorships that emerged in Germany, Italy, and Japan in the 1920s and 1930s, perhaps preventing the Second World War. Other presidents since have relearned the lesson that unless the Congress--the representatives of the people--are true partners in America's foreign policy initiatives, the results are usually tragic. Such was the case in Vietnam, and it is the case in Iraq today. History ultimately validated Wilson's vision for America's role in the world, and his dream of an international body designed to mediate conflicts between nations did become a reality in the form of the United Nations. Wilson was an innovator in international affairs, and we need to recapture his spirit of innovation and inclusiveness if we are to meet both the threats and the opportunities that lie before us. I want to once again thank all of the fine organizations involved with the Wilson sesquicentennial celebrations for reminding us all what President Wilson has bequeathed to our Nation and the world. ____________________ |