Ted Poe: “I thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding and for his support on this legislation. I also thank the gentlewoman from…”

“I thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding and for his support on this legislation. I also thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia. Madam Speaker, they said that World War I would be ``the war to end all wars.'' But it wasn't. It was a world war and encompassed the entire globe and most of the countries in the world. The war started in 1914, and the United States entered in April of 1917. The United States entered the war for three main reasons: one, the sinking of the British liner Lusitania and 128 Americans being killed in that submarine attack; and then seven U.S. Merchant Marine ships were sunk by German submarines when they had unconditional rights to sink any ship on the high seas, according to the German Government; and the third thing was when the Germans sent the Zimmerman telegram to Mexico. Madam Speaker, a lot of Americans don't know what that was, but basically the Germans were telling the country of Mexico if they would enter the war on the side of Germany, the central powers, that they would help Mexico invade the United States and take the States of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona and give them to the country of Mexico. So the United States entered the war in April 1917. H.R. 3159 would create a commission to commemorate the 100th anniversary of World War I. Over 116,000 Americans died in World War I. That's more than in Korea, Vietnam, and both Iraq wars and Afghanistan combined.…”