If Teddy Roosevelt is president when the Lusitania goes down, does the US declare war on Germany?

If Roosevelt won the 1912 election would the sinking of Lusitania have been used by him as a pretext for war? There would be some vague similarities to the sinking of the Maine which started the Spanish-American war.
 

Ramontxo

Donor
I wouldn't like to be the German Government when Teddy realices the Lusitania has been sinked by the Kriegamarine with lots of American citizens killed
 

Kaze

Banned
Is water wet?

Of course he would - the only thing would be convincing him NOT to leading the troops into battle.
 
If Roosevelt won the 1912 election would the sinking of Lusitania have been used by him as a pretext for war? There would be some vague similarities to the sinking of the Maine which started the Spanish-American war.

Not unless there was a realistic chance of getting Congress to declare war - which there wasn't. Failing that he could advocate war, but probably wouldn't do that either unless he saw a realistic chance of being heeded.

He might conceivably have seized the German ships trapped in US ports, perhaps sneakily hoping that this would goad Germany into solving his problem by declaring war on the US. Again though, any such hope would likely have been disappointed.
 
Anticipating Roosvelt & the Warhawks of 1939-41:

Pump up 'war loans' and other assistance to the Entente nations.

Push for greater US mobilization/preparation. Wilson gave the US Army some field experience by sending a corps into Mexico, Roosevelt could double or triple that by calling on more state militia, and committing near all the Regular Army to the exercise. Or alternately push hard for expansion of the War Dept budget, and encourage the separate States to spend some money on basic preparation of their Militia.

Encourage industry to lobby Congress for rearmament contracts.

More liasion/observers to the Entente armies and navies. Contract wounded discharged Entente officers to lecture and instruct US Amy & Militia.

Grossly expand staff training for the the US Army.

In other words expand preparation as far as practical beyond what Wilson attempted OTL.
 
Bear in mind that declarations of war are a Congressional power. Teddy will agitate for war, but will the US public and legislature cooperate?

With the newspapers stirring up sentiments they would.

There would be arguably more tangible grievances against Germany than against Spain in 1898. Put some propaganda out about the Rape of Belgium and the actual ship sinking and you could get the public clamoring for blood.
 
FWIW, TR did not advocate a declaration of war after the sinking--at least not openly. He said that what he would do would be to seize every German vessel interned in an American port. Of course that might lead to Germany's declaring war, but if it didn't, TR would have a hard time convincing Congress to declare war. (Especially since the election of 1914 would likely see Democratic gains.)
 

BigBlueBox

Banned
Could Teddy start ordering the US Navy to escort merchant convoys in the Atlantic, or start an undeclared war against German U-Boats instead of or as a prelude to total war?
 
Could Teddy start ordering the US Navy to escort merchant convoys in the Atlantic, or start an undeclared war against German U-Boats instead of or as a prelude to total war?

He could, but I'd argue the former is more likely to lead to a war scars with BRITAIN, given the Germans historical backpedaling in the face of even a much milder response and the whole Royal Navy blockade. You can say goodbye to enforcing "rationing" on neutrals or insisting on inspections in British ports, which I have no doubt US bussinesses and European profiteers both will exploit to open up a transhipment network to Germany
 
Could Teddy start ordering the US Navy to escort merchant convoys in the Atlantic, or start an undeclared war against German U-Boats instead of or as a prelude to total war?

He could certainly order the USN to escort American merchant ships - though he has no power to make the merchant ships travel in convoy if they don't choose to.

Were he to extend it to Entente ones, or order the Navy to go after U-boats, that would be so blatantly unneutral as, given the overwhelming public and Congressional opposition to war, he could well be risking impeachment. Keep in mind that both Democrats and Regular Republicans, who between them comprise a large majority in both houses, will already be hostile to TR and taking every opportunity to undermine him.
 
With the newspapers stirring up sentiments they would.


What newspapers? See Doenecke[1]

“Despite their indignation, Americans expressed surprisingly little warlike sentiment. Commenting on the same day the Lusitania sank, British Ambassador Spring-Rice remarked concerning the conflict ‘The general feeling here is that the United States government ought to keep out of it.’ A compilation of about a thousand editorials, composed within three days after the sinking, revealed that just half a dozen wanted Congress to declare war - - Similarly, rudimentary Congressional polls reported that only one senator and three representatives believed that Germany had given the United States sufficient provocation for hostilities. The rest apparently thought that Americans should avoid ships that carried contraband,- - - Perhaps about one half of one percent of the entire population wanted to enter the clash. Wrote General Leonard Wood in his diary ‘Rotten spirit on the Lusitania matter. Yellow spirit everywhere in spots.’ - - A Mitchell Palmer remarked ‘The Lusitania was flying the British flag, and carrying munitions for the support of a belligerent.’ Why should Americans enter ‘a great war’ asked Ambassador Gerard, because someone want to travel on a ship where he can have a private bathroom? Even the contentious General Wood noted ‘You cannot cover 10,000 tons of ammunition with a petticoat’”

In short, had TR called for war in 1915, he would not have just been in a minority, but in almost a minority of one. In reality of course, this wouldn’t have happened , as he was far too smart a pol to get into such a situation. He would have waited, confident that eventually the Germans would make his case for him, as, if he were still POTUS in 1917, they indeed would.


There would be arguably more tangible grievances against Germany than against Spain in 1898. Put some propaganda out about the Rape of Belgium and the actual ship sinking and you could get the public clamoring for blood.

There was already lots of propaganda on both issues (and others). It did not generate any warlike sentiment until America's own ships came under attack in 1917.


[1] Justus D Doenecke Nothing Less Than War, Ch 3.


He wrote Rudyard Kipling stating that he would have pushed for war against Germany in August 1914.

When exactly?

In Vol 8 of his Letters, the nearest thing I can find to that is a letter of Nov 4, 1914, in which he speaks of "our duty to interfere on behalf of Belgium" but goes on "I purposely abstained from saying the form this interference should take. If I should advocate all that I myself believe, I would do no good among our people, because they would not follow me." IOW he knew perfectly well that advocating war would be a waste of breath.
 
If Roosevelt won the 1912 election would the sinking of Lusitania have been used by him as a pretext for war? There would be some vague similarities to the sinking of the Maine which started the Spanish-American war.
Honestly the country may have been better ready for war in 1916, and the American navy would have had a much larger role.
 
Honestly the country may have been better ready for war in 1916, and the American navy would have had a much larger role.

Teddy's Great White Fleet.

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Honestly the country may have been better ready for war in 1916, and the American navy would have had a much larger role.

There's the rub though: one of the big reasons Germany was so cavalier about the risks of restarting USW after the diplomatic debacles of the first wave was exactly the fact the US army wasn't an immediate threat,nor was its navy in the best position to immediately counter the commerce campaign. If the US threat is bigger and it's clear they intend to move against angrivation more quickly and forcefully, than Germany is unlikely to risk
talking the courses of action that would lead to Anerica entering he war in the first place.
 
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