On December 2, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of the 65th United States Congress. In his opening remarks, Wilson, the former history professor, commented on the significance of the current year.
“The state of the Union has been so crowded with great events, great processes, and great results that I cannot hope to give you an adequate picture of its transactions…” He stated. “You have yourselves witnessed these things, as I have. It is too soon to assess them; and we who stand in the midst of them and are part of them are less qualified than men [@womenalsoknowhistory] of another generation will be to say what they mean, or even what they have been.”
Well, luckily for the 28th President of the United States, fifteen students from the 
These results reveal more about our current research interests than the actual year 1918. Many of our blog posts discussed race relations, and we used the term “Black” and “White” forty-four and forty-one times respectively. In his State of the Union Addresses, President Wilson made no mention of such matters. It’s interesting to see how openly we discuss race 100 years later.
Wilson did, however, reference the undeniable role women played during the war effort and hinted at his support for universal suffrage. But note his wording. He believed that men should grant women the right (how nice of him...).
“The least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in political rights as they have proved themselves their equals in every field of practical work they have entered, whether for themselves or for their country.”
Interestingly enough, terms like “women,” “female” or “suffrage” are not popular phrases in our blog posts. A few of us talked about women-related issues, just not suffrage and/or political rights. Why do you think that is?
The president also devoted much of his speech discussing the approaching Paris Peace Conference. This would be the first time a United States President visited Europe--a really big deal! Some of our most popular phrases were “American” and “world,” but it’s interesting to recall that during this time, the United States was very reluctant to assert itself on the world stage.
For this #explore1918 post, I wanted to compare our blogs with a combination of speeches and other texts from 1918. I had trouble finding accessible materials from that year that can be OCR’d. Can you uncover other texts from 1918 that reflect on that year? What are some apolitical sources we should consult? What are the obvious drawbacks only using text and speeches? Let me know what you think!
100% of the SBD rewards from this #explore1918 post will support the Philadelphia History Initiative
