Speech by Lieutenant Governor Calvin Coolidge: June 15, 1917.

In this speech, Coolidge declares the paramount importance of America’s struggle in the First World War. He cites other American conflicts and their leaders: Washington’s in the Revolution, Lincoln’s in the Civil War, and McKinley’s against Spain. Yet Coolidge says that the current struggle is even more important than any of those previous wars. If America were to fail in defeating “another Caesar”—Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II—“another Praetorian Guard will sell the purple to the highest bidder.” Yet, Coolidge asserts, “We are not to fail.”