On 16th January 1917, the German Foreign Secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, sent a coded telegram to the ambassador in Mexico City where he informed him that Germany intended to begin unrestricted submarine warfare on 1st February. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own." (3) Zimmermann Telegram However, he did make a speech after his victory he warned Germany that submarine warfare resulting in American deaths would not be tolerated, saying: "The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. In the 1916 Presidential election campaign, Woodrow Wilson stressed his policy of neutrality and his team used the slogan: "He kept us out of the war". Wilson also announced an increase in the size of the US armed forces. Wilson replaced Bryan with the pro-Allied Robert Lansing. Bryan eventually resigned in June 1915, by raising the question "why be so shocked by the drowning of a few people, if there is to be no objection to starving a nation." (2) He also pointed out that by traveling on British vessels, which were at risk of attack, "an American citizen can, by putting his own business above his regard for this country, assume for his own advantage unnecessary risks and thus involve his country in international complications" and suggested a more even-handed policy. William Jennings Bryan, Wilson's Secretary of State disagreed with this approach. President Wilson warned the Germans about the consequences of causing the deaths of American citizens. However, he refused to do this as he wanted "to preserve the world's respect by abstaining from any course of action likely to awaken the hostility of either side in the war, and so to keep the United States free to undertake the part of peacemaker". Some newspapers in the United States called on President Woodrow Wilson to declare war on Germany. Opinion against Germany hardened after the sinking of the Lusitania. This made it possible for Britain and France to keep fighting the war against the Central Powers and this influenced Germany's decision to announce its unrestricted submarine warfare policy. The First World War helped the USA economy with exported goods to Allied countries increasing from $825 million in 1914 to $3.2 billion in 1916.
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