Robert Lansing, Secretary of State of the United States, delivered an
address in New York on May 23, 1918, in honor of the third anniversary
of Italy's entrance into the war. He said in part:
Oh, you of the blood of a people who have given so much to
civilization, no greater task has ever fallen upon you, no greater
duty has ever been the lot of the Italian race, than that which
is yours today. You are called forth to defend the land which is
enshrined in the hearts of the world as the cradle of justice and
liberty. Fail you cannot, fail you must not, fail you will not in
such a cause and such a crisis.
This is no time to measure the price which must be paid in blood
and treasure. No price is too large, no sacrifice too great for
the protection of your sacred heritage from the invaders.
Today, America, youngest of the great powers of the earth, is
proud to cross the seas and to stand side by side with the most
ancient power of Europe in upholding the standard of democracy,
and to unite in proclaiming to the nations tortured by war that
peace must be won and will be won by the might of liberty-loving
men, a glorious peace which will endure throughout the ages
because it is written in the book of destiny that freedom will
rise triumphant from the ashes of this desolated world.
To gallant Italy, to our loyal associate and friend, we of America
extend greetings on this day of reconsecration to a noble cause,
on this day when the Italian people renew their solemn pledge to
resist to the uttermost the accursed ambitions of the military
rulers of Germany and Austria.
Italy's decision was the decision of a people who preferred the
horrors of war to dishonor, who preferred to die rather than to be
enslaved by Prussian masters or by Prussia's vassals. It breathed
anew the valor of Rome.
United with you of the Latin race are we who could desire no
prouder title than "the Romans of the West." A citizen of this
young Republic could crave no higher public virtue nor covet a
more devoted patriotism than that which inspired a dweller on the
Seven Hills in the brave days of the old Roman Republic.
My friends of America and of Italy, we will win this war. It may
be on the wasted fields of Flanders and Picardy; it may be in the
valley of the Piave and the snow-crowned peaks of the Alps; or it
may be on German lands beyond the Rhine. Somewhere and somehow and
some time we will win. It cannot be otherwise, for we fight for
justice, for liberty, and for humanity.