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Woodrow Wilson

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:6,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
Woodrow Wilson

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Auction Date:2014 Apr 16 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:236 Commercial St., Suite 100, Boston, Massachusetts, 02109, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Important vintage matte-finish 9.75 x 6.5 Harris and Ewing photo of Wilson delivering his request for a declaration of war against Germany to a joint session of Congress on April 2, 1917, affixed to its original 12.75 x 10 photographer’s mount, signed on the mount in fountain pen by Wilson and also signed by Vice President Thomas Marshall and Speaker of the House Champ Clark. Mount has been inlaid to a 17.5 x 14.5 off-white mount. Scattered silvering to edges and darker portions of the image, mild toning and foxing to mount, and a few creases to top left corner of mount, otherwise fine condition.

In early 1917, Germany increased attacks on neutral shipping interests in the Atlantic, resulting in ten American-registered vessels sunk during that time, including the steamer Aztec, which lost 28 crew members when she went down. In his powerful and solemn address, Wilson spoke of the rampant submarine warfare and the possible infiltration of spies across the country. While acknowledging the high stakes of war, he nonetheless asked for a formal declaration of war, declaring that not only had America’s rights as a neutral country been violated but also that, ‘The world must be made safe for democracy.’ Congress overwhelmingly passed the declaration two days later by a vote of 373 to 50, with the president approving it on April 6, 1917, which formally entered the United States into the first World War. A powerful portrait which captures the hushed and tense drama of Wilson’s momentous address.