Existing comment:
The Infamous Kaiser Wilson Banner
For several days in mid-August 1917, attacks on the pickets reached a fevered pitch, fueled by sailors and soldiers enraged by banners comparing Woodrow Wilson to German emperor Wilhelm II. This one, held by Virginia Arnold, questioned Wilson's supposed sympathy for self-government. August 14 was especially violent, and when unable to keep replenishing their torn banners, the pickets withdrew to the balcony of NWP headquarters, only to have sailors scale the wall. A gunshot ripped through a window. This colorful fragment was retrieved from the White House sidewalk by passerby Anne B. Cushman, who sent it to the NWP in 1943. |