January 8, 1918
President Woodrow Wilson delivered his Fourteen Points speech to Congress, articulating the ideas that would form the backbone of American foreign policy as the nation inched toward superpower status in the early 20th century. Wilson advocated equal trade conditions, arms reduction and national sovereignty for former colonies of Europe’s weakening empires and urged the establishment of an international governing body of united nations affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.
