While World War I escalated in Europe, the United States took the position of . President continued to support this practice even after the Germans torpedoed the ship , where 128 American were killed. Following that attack, Americans were upset, but not enough to go to war. Public opinion began to change after the attack of the ; this attack was proof that the Germans had gone back on their promise to end unrestricted submarine warfare. Americans could no longer ignore the threat from Germany after the code was broken on the telegram, known as the , indicating that Germany was preparing to go to war with the US.