The memoirs of Will H. Hays (1955)

1 74 NATIONAL POLITICS I 9 I 0 1 9 2 2 invariably expressed dissent. It might have been more fortunate for Mr. Wilson had House opened up at this time, but apparently nothing more was said about the proposed letter, and the President's wise counselor was on the Atlantic when the appeal was issued. It was dated October 25 and was addressed to "My fellow countrymen!" In view of the events that followed almost immediately, also in the light of the present trend of world affairs, it is worth repeating here. It shows how easy it is to change the course of history. The letter reads: The congressional elections are at hand. They occur in the most critical period our country has ever faced or is likely to face in our time. If you have approved of my leadership and wish me to continue to be your unembarrassed spokesman in affairs at home and abroad, I earnestly beg that you will express yourselves unmistakably to that effect by returning a Democratic majority to both the Senate and the House of Representatives. I am your servant and will accept your judgment without comment but my power to administer the great trust assigned to me by the Constitution would be seriously impaired should your judgment be adverse and I must frankly tell you so because many critical issues depend upon your verdict. No scruple of taste must in grim times like these be allowed to stand in the way of speaking the plain truth. I have no thought of suggesting that any political party is paramount in matters of patriotism. I feel too keenly the sacrifices which have been made in this war by all our citizens irrespective of party affiliations, to harbor such an ideal. I mean only that the difficulties and delicacies of our present tasks are of a sort that make it imperatively necessary that the nation should give its undivided support to the government under a unified leadership and that a Republican congress would divide the leadership. The leaders of the minority in the present Congress have unquestionably been pro-war, but they have been anti-administration. At almost every turn since we entered the war they sought to take the choice of policy and the conduct of the war out of my hands and put it under the control of instrumentalities of their own choosing. This is no time either for divided counsel or for divided leadership. Unity of command is as necessary now in civil actions as it is upon the field of battle. If the control of the house and senate should be taken away from the party now in power, an opposing majority could assume control of legislation and oblige all action to be taken amid contest and obstruction. The return of a Republican majority to either house of Congress would, moreover, certainly be interpreted on the other side of the water as repudiation of my leadership. Spokesmen of the Republican party are urging you to elect a Republican congress in order to back up and support the President, but even if they should in this war impose upon some credulous voters on this side of the water, they should impose on no one on the other side. It is well understood there as well as here, that the Republican leaders desire not so much to support the president as to control him. The peoples of the allied countries with whom we are associated against Germany are quite familiar with the significance of elections. They would find it very difficult