Following the sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915, American newspapers carried stories of German atrocities and editorials calling for war. President Woodrow Wilson, who had secretly received a manifest of the cargo bolstering German claims that the second explosion which sunk the ship was most likely caused by the tons of armament it covertly carried, chose to negotiate with the Germans using the only method available: the giant, 850-foot-high wireless tower at Tuckerton.