TLS as president, two pages, 6.75 x 8.75, White House letterhead, July 8, 1918. Letter to artist Bernhardt Wall, who had recently sent to the president an etching of Wilson wearing a military uniform, in full: “I warmly and sincerely appreciate the sentiment which led you to make the etching of which you were kind enough to send me a copy, but I feel bound, in replying to your letter of June seventeenth which was laid before me only the other day, to say that there is a sense in which putting me in uniform violates a very fundamental principle of our institutions, namely, that the military power is subordinate to the civil. The framers of the Constitution, of course, realized that the President would seldom be a soldier and their idea in making him the Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States was that the armed forces of the country must be the instruments of the authority by which policy was determined. It is for that reason that we can so truly say that our organization is in no sense and can in no sense be militaristic. I do not think this is a mere formal scruple on my part. I believe it goes to the root of things, and I am sure I may thus candidly express it to you without creating the impression that I do not fully appreciate the motive and the idea of your etching, by which I am very much complimented.” In very good to fine condition, with light brushing to the signature, and light toning from prior display. Accompanied by the included etching, signed by the artist and inscribed “To Hon. Woodrow Wilson,” and the address panel of the original White House mailing envelope.
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