In January 1916, President Woodrow Wilson spoke from the back of his train during a cross-country tour calling for greater military preparedness. Stops in towns like Waukegan, Illinois, brought large crowds who gathered near the tracks to hear him in person. With war already raging in Europe, Wilson argued that the United States needed to strengthen its defenses, even as many Americans hoped to remain neutral. The whistle-stop tour captures a turning point, as the nation weighed its place in a conflict it would enter the following year.