This book opens with the second inaugural address and contains the President's messages and addresses since the United States was forced to take up arms against Germany. These pages may be said to picture not only official phases of the great crisis, but also the highest significance of liberty and democracy and the reactions of President and people to the great developments of the times. The second Inaugural Address with its sense of solemn responsibility serves as a prophecy as well as prelude to the declaration of war and the message to the people which followed so soon.

The extracts from the Conscription Proclamation, the messages on Conservation and the Fixing of Prices, the Appeal to Business Interests, the Address to the Federation of Labor and the Railroad messages present the solid every-day realities and the vast responsibilities of war-time as they affect every American. These are concrete messages which should be at hand for frequent reference, just as the uplift and inspiration of lofty appeals like the Memorial Day and Flag Day addresses should be a constant source of inspiration. There are also the clarifying and vigorous definitions of American purpose afforded in utterances like the statement to Russia, the reply to the communication of the Pope, and, most emphatically, the President's restatement of War Aims on January 8th. These and other state papers from the early spring of 1917 to January, 1918, have a significance and value in this collected form which has been attested by the many requests that have come to Harper & Brothers, as President Wilson's publishers, for a war volume of the President's messages to follow Why We Are At War.

As a matter of course, the President has been consulted in regard to the plan of publication, and the conditions which he requested have been observed. For title, arrangement, headings, and like details the publishers are responsible. They have held the publication of the President's words of enlightenment and inspiration to be a public service. And they think that there is no impropriety in adding that in the case of this book, and Why We Are At War, the American Red Cross receives all author's royalties.

In the case of the former book the evolution of events which led to war was illustrated in messages from January to April 15th. In the preparation of this book, which begins with the second inaugural, it has seemed desirable to present practically all the messages of war-time, and therefore three papers are included which appeared in the former and smaller book, in addition to the twenty-one messages and addresses which have been collected for this volume.