This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Batchel with Neil Langtoe. His book is The Approaching Storm, Roosevelt, Wilson, Adams, and their clash over America's future. Three voices, all looking to progressivism in the wave of reform in American government. But now they deal with the crisis in Europe. The Zimmerman

telegram, the revelation of it pushes everyone towards, we must do something. What was the Zimmerman

telegram, Neil? Well, Zimmerman Telegram was one of the strangest episodes of this of this time.

Uh, in early 1917, when there's all kinds of decision making being made in Germany,

particularly about the unrestricted submarine warfare, the decision we're going to go forward.

Uh, someone cooks up this scheme or kind of resurrects a scheme that will offer, Germany will offer almost a ladder to Mexico,

saying, you know, if you guys tie up American forces on the borders, if war comes with America and Germany,

and you guys tie up forces on the border, American forces on the border,

will give you the chance to

reacquire territory that was taken from you during the Mexican war, parts of, say, Arizona

and New Mexico and things like that.

It was a, as I said, a crazy scheme, but the message was sent from Berlin and the British intercepted.

The British were intercepting a lot of, a lot of of correspondence at this time when the Americans did not know.

The British sat on it for a while, but eventually turned it over to the Americans,

and then the Americans and Wilson were informed of it in late February.

It was a scheme that had no basis in reality because Mexico at this time was

couldn't was a was a was a country that was so unstable certainly were no position to wage any

kind of successful war with the United States. It was it was even some of the higher ups in

Germany later on who didn't put a stop to it or claim they didn't know this

message was going to go over, said this was the most idiotic thing ever. But it did succeed

in angering large segments of the American population, for a while anyway, convinced Wilson

again that the Germans were not to be trusted. And I think it was just another factor pushing him

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