US Presidency
1921

No one may measure the vast and varied affections and sorrows centering on this priceless cargo of bodies - once living, fighting for, and finally dying for the Republic. One's words fail, his understanding is halted, his emotions are stirred beyond control when contemplating these thousands of beloved dead. I find a hundred thousand sorrows touching my heart, and there is ringing in my ears, like an admonition eternal, an insistent call, It must not be again! It must not be again! God grant that it will not be, and let a practical people join in cooperation with God to the end that it shall not be. I would not wish a Nation for which men are not willing to fight and, if need be, to die, but I do wish for a nation where it is not necessary to ask that sacrifice.