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Woodrow Wilson Typed Letter Signed as President - Great Content
28th President. Typed letter signed (TLS) "Woodrow Wilson" AS PRESIDENT, Washington, D.C., June 8, 1914, on White House stationery, to "Hon. Reed Smoot, United States Senate", in full:
Thank you for your thoughtful courtesy in sending me a copy of your speech delivered at Arlington on Memorial Day. My similar experience on the fourth of June made me vividly aware of how you must have felt. It is too bad to have had so excellent a speech delivered under such discouraging conditions.
On May 30, 1914, President Wilson spoke at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of Memorial Day services, after first refusing to attend the ceremonies. Reed Smoot, Senator from Utah, also gave a speech that day, obviously forwarding the text to the President as witnessed in this letter.
On June 4, 1914, Woodrow Wilson dedicated the Monument in Memory of the Confederate Dead at Arlington, saying: I am not going to detain you by trying to repeat any of the eloquent thoughts which have moved us this afternoon, for I rejoice in the simplicity of the task which is assigned to me. My privilege is this, ladies and gentlemen: To declare this chapter in the history of the United States closed and ended, and I bid you turn with me with your faces to the future, quickened by the memories of the past, but with nothing to do with the contests of the past, knowing, as we have shed our blood upon opposite sides, we now face and admire one another.
Reed Smoot was Utah's longest serving senator with tenure of thirty years. A devout Mormon, Smoot served as an apostle, and was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. When he was first elected, a bitter 4 year battle ensued to determine whether Smoot would be allowed to serve because of his role as a Mormon apostle. Although the committee recommended that Smoot be removed from office, the Senate overruled the decision and Smoot was allowed to serve his term. After repeated re-elections, Smoot would continue to serve as Utah's Senator for 30 years. He would also continue to serve as an apostle of the LDS, and upon his death, he was third in the line of succession to lead the church.
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