Whereas, It has always been the reverent habit of the people of the United States to turn in humble appeal to Almighty God for His guidance in the affairs of their common life;
Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Thursday, the 30th day of May, a day already freighted with sacred and stimulating memories, a day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting, and do exhort my fellow-citizens of all faiths and creeds to assemble on that day in their several places of worship and there, as well as in their homes, to pray Almighty God that He may forgive our sins and shortcomings as a people and purify our hearts to see and love the truth, to accept and defend all things that are just and right, and to purpose only those righteous acts and judgments which are in conformity with His will; beseeching Him that He will give victory for our armies as they fight for freedom, wisdom to those who take counsel on our behalf in these days of dark struggle and perplexity and steadfastness to our people to make sacrifice to the utmost in support of what is just and true, bringing us at last the peace in which men's hearts can be at rest because it is founded upon mercy, justice, and good-will.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done in the District of Columbia, this eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighteen, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and forty-second.
WOODROW WILSON.
By the President:
ROBERT LANSING,
Secretary of State.
Mexico and the United States
The President's Pledge
President Wilson delivered the following important speech to a delegation of Mexican editors at the White House June 7, 1918:
I have never received a group of men who were more welcome than you are because it has been one of my distresses during the period of my Presidency that the Mexican people did not more thoroughly understand the attitude of the United States toward Mexico. I think I can assure you, and I hope you have had every evidence of the truth of my assurance, that that attitude is one of sincere friendship—not merely the sort of friendship which prompts one not to do his neighbor any harm, but the sort of friendship which earnestly desires to do his neighbor service.
My own policy and the policy of my own Administration toward Mexico was at every point based upon this principle; that the internal settlement of the affairs of Mexico was none of our business; that we had no right to interfere with or dictate to Mexico in any particular with regard to her own affairs.
Take one aspect of our relations which at one time may have been difficult for you to understand. When we sent our troops into Mexico our sincere desire was nothing else than to assist you to get rid of the man who was making the settlement of your affairs for the time being impossible. We had no desire to use our troops for any other purpose, and I was in hopes that by assisting in that way and thereupon immediately withdrawing the troops I might give you substantial proof of the truth of the assurances that I had given your Government through President Carranza.