Newton D. Baker to Woodrow Wilson

My dear Mr. President:
I send you herewith a note from Mr. Gerard which was sent to Mr. McAdoo and by him to me with the request that I send it to you for your information.

The newspapers were wrong. The only mention of Mr. Gerard's name in the Senate hearings was by Senator Wadsworth, who read an extract from Mr. Gerard's book about some dispatch which Mr. Gerard said he had forwarded to the State Department, expressing the belief in July, 1916, that the German Government would adhere to its policy of unrestricted submarine warefare. On the basis of that dispatch, Senator Wadsworth asked me whether I began immediately to prepare for war with Germany after the dispatch was brought to my attention. I merely replied that I could not discuss diplomatic matters and could give no other answer than was contained in the recommendations made to Congress for appropriations.