The nationâs economy grew just 1.2 percent in the second quarter of the year, and 0.8 percent in the first three months of the year. Don't forget the national debt. It hit $19.5 trillion for the first time ever during the week just ending, a little more than seven months after it hit the $19 trillion mark.
U.S. proclaims neutrality in World War I, August 4, 1914. On this day in 1914, as World War I erupted across Europe, President Woodrow Wilson declared that the United States would remain âimpartial in thought as well as in action.â At the time, a vast majority of Americans approved of Wilsonâs policy of strict U.S. neutrality.
The House concurred two days later. The United States later declared war on Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917. Germany's resumption of submarine attacks on passenger and merchant ships in 1917 was the primary motivation behind Wilson's decision to lead the United States into World War I.ilson cited Germany's violation of its pledge to suspend unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and its attempts to entice Mexico into an alliance against the United States, as his reasons for declaring war.