Arthur Zimmerman was the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the German Empire from November 1916 until August 1917, when the repercussions of the Zimmermann Telegram forced him to resign from his work. During his short term as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he made the decision to send the Zimmermann Telegram across the Atlantic to Mexico through the German U.S ambassador. This decision played a major role in convincing president Woodrow Wilson to make the U.S join World War I.