Now that the ides of March have passed, it is time to pay attention to events in April, past and present.
On this day in 1917, the United States officially entered World War I. President Woodrow Wilson tried to keep the U.S. out of the war, even after a German U-boat sunk the passenger ship Lusitania, until British intelligence intercepted a secret German communication to Mexico. Apparently, Germany had promised Mexico that they could have the U.S. if Mexico would support the German cause. (Source:; Garrison Keilor’s Writer’s Almanac)
They promised Mexico help in reclaiming territory lost in the Mexican-American war (i.e., Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona), not all the US.