Greetings to France on Bastille Day

Title

Greetings to France on Bastille Day

Creator

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924

Identifier

WWP20646

Date

1918 July 14

Publisher

Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library

Subject

Press Releases
Bastille Day

Language

English

Text

America greets France on this day of stirring memories with a heart full of warm friendship and of devotion to the great cause in which the two peoples are now so happily united. July fourteenth, like our own July fourth, has taken on a new significance not only for France but for the world. As France celebrated our Fourth of July, so do we celebrate her Fourteenth, keenly conscious of a comradeship of arms and of purpose of which we are deeply proud. The sea seems very narrow today, France is so close neighbor to our hearts. The war is being fought to save ourselves from intolerable things but it is also being fought to save mankind. We extend our hands to each other, to the great peoples with whom we are associated, and to the peoples everywhere who love right and prize justice as a thing beyond price, and consecrate ourselves once more to the noble enterprise of peace and justice, realizing the great conceptions that have lifted France and America high among the free peoples of the world. The French flag flies today from the staff of the White House, and America is happy to do honor to that flag.

WOODROW WILSON

Original Format

Miscellaneous

Files

D30261.pdf

Citation

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924, “Greetings to France on Bastille Day,” 1918 July 14, WWP20646, Woodrow Wilson Press Statements, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.