Thomas Edison was one of the most sought-after political endorsements of the day, as the inventor of the light bulb and the phonograph was one of the most popular people in America. Here he throws his hat behind incumbent President Woodrow Wilson’s reelection bid, which he would ultimately win in November. Edison argued, as the sub-headline states, that the country was at peace and its economy was at unprecedented highs.

And in what could be seen as a parallel to Donald Trump’s “big beautiful wall that Mexico will pay for” in 2016, Edison also appreciated Wilson’s measured policies towards that country:

“President Wilson’s Mexican policy has been wise and just and courageous. Mexico has been a troublesome neighbor, but war and conquest are not going to make her a better one. Both against England, and then against human slavery, the United States has worked out her salvation through revolution, and it was a pretty slow, trying process.”

Edison Tells Why He Will Vote for Wilson: We Are at Peace, and the Country Was Never So Prosperous, Why Change?

From September 10, 1916