The Great War: April 3, 1917

On this day a hundred years ago, the front page of the Hudson Evening Register bore this headline: "WILSON ASKS CONGRESS TO DECLARE THAT WAR EXISTS, ASKS ARMY OF 500,000 MEN." A subhead read: "President Asks Congress 'Formally to Accept the State of Belligerency Thrust Upon Us' and Exert All Our Powers to Bring Germany to Terms and End the War."

Also on the front page of the Evening Register for April 3, 1917, were two items that give a sense of what was happening in Hudson in the days before war was declared.

As we learned yesterday, the 71st Regiment from New York City was bivouacked at the Hudson Armory and assigned to guard the railroad between Tivoli and Stockport from being "interfered with by persons hostile to the government."

The front page of the Evening Register also included this item about people becoming citizens the previous day at the courthouse. The report provides an interesting contrast with the attitude toward immigrants a hundred years later being fostered by the current administration.

COPYRIGHT 2017 CAROLE OSTERINK