Wisconsin Plan

[2] Julia Grace Wales was a Canadian-born Wisconsin university professor who was deeply troubled by reports of the war.

[2][3] The United States was neutral at the time, and President Woodrow Wilson asked his compatriots to remain "impartial in thought".

The National Peace Party sent a delegation to present the idea to President Wilson and to the United States Congress, to which it was recommended by Wisconsin's Senator Robert M. La Follette, Sr.[3] Rosika Schwimmer, who had independently devised a similar idea, proposed the plan at the International Congress of Women, and Wales seconded it.

[3] Wilson appeared to be interested in the proposal, but the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by the Germans in March 1915 and the resulting deaths of 1,198 people (128 of whom were U.S. citizens) brought about an uncertainty about the neutrality policy, leading government officials to back away from mediation.

The industrialist Henry Ford started advocating the Wisconsin Plan and accompanied Wales to Europe, but the movement began declining.