Woodrow Wilson Papers
President Wilson to the Secretary of the Navy ( Daniels )6
My Dear Daniels: I am sure you know my own cordial personal feeling towards Mr. Bryan, but I would not dare, as public opinion stands at the present moment, excited and superheated and suspicious, appoint Mr. Bryan one of the Peace Commissioners, because it would be unjustly but certainly taken for granted that he would be too easy and that he would pursue some Eutopian scheme.
As I have said, this would be unjust, but I am sure you agree with me that it would be thought, and the establishment of confidence from [Page 160] the outset in the processes of the Peace Conference on the part of our people, now too much in love with force and retribution, is of the utmost importance.
Cordially and faithfully yours,
- Replying to a letter of Nov. 14, 1918 (not printed), from Secretary Daniels urging the appointment of William J. Bryan to the Commission to Negotiate Peace.↩