How did the sinking of the lusitania change the way pinchot thought of the war?

Gifford Pinchot said that the sinking of the Lusitania brought war home to the United States, realizing that the right of people to rule themselves is what was at stake in the Great War.

Gifford Pinchot was quoted in the New York Times in May, 1915, after he had just recently returned from Europe. He asserted that Americans on the Lusitania (along with other passengers) were killed because an autocratic military empire was trying to dominate nations that were self-governing. His characterization of German intentions would mirror how President Woodrow Wilson later called on the USA to enter the war to "make the world safe for democracy."

Gifford Pinchot had been the Chief of the US Forestry Service (from 1905 to 1910) and later would serve as Governor of the State of Pennsylvania (from 1923 to 1927 and from 1931 to 1935).