Question

Read the excerpt from "How We Entered World War I."

Nothing that Wilson said about the danger to democracy could not have been said all along. For that cause we could have gone to war six months or a year or two years earlier, with incalculable effect on history. Except for the proof of hostility in the resumed submarine campaign and the Zimmermann telegram, our cause would have been as valid, but we would then have been fighting a preventive war—to prevent a victory by German militarism with its potential danger to our way of life—not a war of no choice. Instead, we waited for the overt acts of hostility which brought the war to us...

The author's word choice gives the reader a sense that
the threat to democracy should have been enough motivation for the United States to enter the war.
the United States was incorrect in waiting for a hostile act from Germany.
the United States did not have a justifiable reason to go to war earlier.
the entry of the United States into World War I was justified, and the timing was accurate.

Answer 1

the United States was incorrect in waiting for a hostile act from Germany.

The passage argues Wilson's warnings about danger to democracy "could have been said all along" and that the U.S. "could have gone to war" earlier, criticizing the decision to "wait[] for the overt acts of hostility."