Woodrow Wilson Papers

President Wilson to Senator Henry L. Myers 21

My Dear Senator: I think I need not tell you my own cordial feeling towards Mr. Bryan. I should have entire confidence in his principles and in his influence at the conference, but I feel that it is our duty to keep in mind, particularly at this time when all the world is a bit abnormal in its acute sensibilities, the reactions of the public mind of the several countries concerned. Mr. Bryan is soft-hearted, and the world just now is very hard-hearted. It would render a very large and influential body of our public opinion very uneasy if they thought that peace was to be approached in the spirit which they would attribute to Mr. Bryan. I think it highly important to hold opinion steady and calm, and for that reason I do not think that it would be wise to include Mr. Bryan among the commissioners, much as it would personally gratify me to do so.

Cordially and sincerely yours,

[ Woodrow Wilson ]
  1. Replying to a letter of Nov. 18, 1918 (not printed), from Senator Myers of Montana suggesting that William J. Bryan be named to the Commission to Negotiate Peace.