In 1912 , Rice was sent to Washington , D.C. as the British ambassador to the United States of America . While serving as ambassador , he tried to get President Woodrow Wilson to give up on neutrality and join Britain and her Empire in the war against Germany . In 1912 , Spring-Rice was appointed as Ambassador to the United States of America where he influenced the administration of Woodrow Wilson to abandon neutrality and join Britain in the war against Germany .