Plain Words From America

Plain Words From America is a 1917 open letter to a German professor by Douglas Wilson Johnson (1878-1944), the Columbia University geologist. Written before America’s entry into the war, it answers German academic propaganda point by point, explaining in measured terms why American opinion had turned against the Central Powers over Belgium, the Lusitania, and submarine warfare. Johnson later served as a geographic specialist at the Paris Peace Conference. The pamphlet shows the war of arguments that ran alongside the war of arms. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.