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A Case for War
Reverend Mercer Johnston was the rector of Trinity Church in Newark, New Jersey. In this letter to his father, he expressed his strong opposition to Germany's role in the war and the desire to do what he could to "hasten Germany's day of judgment." Johnston wrote, "I could no more remain neutral towards the program that the Kaiser and his war party have put forth than I could remain neutral towards the program of His Satanic Majesty." Acknowledging that Johnston's sermons in favor of the Allies upset some of his German American parishioners and colleagues, the letter describes the divided sympathies among America's 100 million diverse people toward the warring nations. |