Was America's entrance into WWI justified?

[MarkDel]

You guys have made some interesting arguments about whether or not the United States should have been involved in World War I, but none of you have touched on the really big picture and why we SHOULD HAVE been involved and why we definitely chose the right side.

It may or may not have made sense to enter the war at an earlier date, but it made PERFECT sense to enter when we did. By entering the war when we did, we were protecting the long term interests of the United States, both in terms of security and economic markets. By 1916/1917, it had become painfully obvious that the War was going to have a profound impact on the future of the world in terms of what kinds of governments and alliances would emerge. The heavy toll of the war on lower and middle class Europeans was tremendous, and what happened in Russia in 1917 could very easily have happened in France, Germany, Italy or any other number of countries (except England) in the years immediate following. Had this happened, a growing Marxist tide could have swept mainland Europe with the resultung power vacuum. This would have endangered American security, and severely limited American markets, thus destroying our ability to become the world's dominant power in the post World War I era.

The United States entered the War mainly to insure German defeat and protect against the long term destabilization of the European mainland. If you don't think fear of Marxism was one of our primary motives for entering the war, then you should consider the American efforts to recognize and prop up the Kerensky government in post-revoltionary Russia. After the first Russian Revolution in the Spring, the Bolsheviks were NOT in power and not anywhere close to power despite the best efforts of Lenin and others. The fact is that there was an Interim Government led by Alexander Kerensky which was not all that different than today's modern American Democratic Party, and the Wilson government tried their best to aid Kerensky and suppress the Bolsheviks.

So our entry into World War I was both selfish and moral, because it brought to an end a conflict that was destroying Europe and creating a possibly dangerous future. Now, things turned out really bad anyways because instead of Marxism, Europeans turned to "National Socialism" instead, which is just as hideous. But the truth is that people like Hitler were able to rise to power because of terrible post-war policies by the Allies, NOT because the Allies won the war. The Treaty of Versailles was a huge mistake, but that doesn't mean our entry into the war was anything but fully justified and extremely sensible.

[MarkDel]

Had we not entered the war in 1917, the war would have ended in 1917 and not been available as the excuse that Lenin used to depose Kerensky.  Unfortunately, Wilson thought like you do MarkDel.  He tried to be both Machiavelli and st. Augustine ("The purpose of all war is peace.") and failed at both.  Without a doubt, Wilson was the worst two-term president we;ve had.  Its harder ro judge one tern or part term Presidents simply because they have less time to do harm, so I'm not prepared to say that Wilson was the worst President of all time, but he certainly is a candidate.

Ernest,

OK, this should be worth some amusement...please explain to me how you believe the War would have ended before the end of 1917 if the US had not gotten involved, who would have won and why, and what would have happened in the post-war world to countries like Russia, France, Italy and Germany? Then based on what you claim would have happened, I'll be glad to break that down step by step and explain why it was still the right thing to do to enter the War.