100 years ago in Lewiston: Vice President Thomas Marshall says war with Germany is justifiable

U.S. Vice President Thomas R. Marshall visited the Inland Northwest and said, “I never expect to run for office again. The squeak last fall was narrow enough for me.”

He and Woodrow Wilson won with razor-thin margins in several states.

He also talked at length about World War I. This kind of talk was a relief to him since he had spent years keeping quiet in an effort to maintain a strict neutrality.

“I can tell you that this war is a justifiable war, and more, that it is an inevitable war,” he said, during a stop in Lewiston. “It isn’t a rich man’s war, though if the average man will come to the nation’s help as completely as the leaders of industry, railroads and finance, we’ll clean the German emperor until he doesn’t know his name.”

Marshall also said the war was a matter of national honor.

“If we had permitted one more insult to our flag, then even Greece would come over here to kick our dog around,” he said.

Marshall also said he wanted to make one more “little crusade” before he leaves public life. He wanted to make sure that “no man ever be permitted to vote who doesn’t talk, on the street and in his home, the English language.”

He was especially upset about German sympathizers who advertise their “disrespect for the president” and “opposition to the country.”