On August 19, , in a break with conventional practice, U. President Woodrow Wilson appears personally before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to argue in favor of its ratification of the Versailles Treaty , the peace settlement that ended the First World War. Two days later, he went before the U. The 96 members of the Senate, for their part, were divided. The central concern with the treaty involved the League of Nations. Some three dozen Republicans were uncommitted as of yet.
While most Democrats publicly went along with Wilson, many privately thought more along the lines of the Mild Reservationists. Wilson was absolutely unwilling, however, to accept any degree of change or compromise to the treaty or to his precious League of Nations. His mental and physical health already deteriorating over that summer, Wilson broke tradition to make a personal appearance before the committee on August 19, making it clear that he continued to stand firm on all points.
Four days later, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on the first of many amendments to the treaty—the reversal of the award to Japan of the Shantung Peninsula, and its return to Chinese control. Furious, Wilson decided to take his case directly to the American people. On September 2, , he began a whistle-stop tour across the country, sometimes making as many as three speeches in one day.
The strain of the trip destroyed his health; suffering from exhaustion, he returned to Washington in late September, and the rest of the tour was canceled. On October 2, back at the White House , Wilson suffered a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed; he would never effectively function as president again.
He continued to influence the proceedings on the treaty, however, all the way from his sickbed. The treaty made its way through the Senate all through October and part of November, as a total of 12 amendments were defeated by Democrats and moderate Republicans.
Treaty negotiations were also weakened by the absence of other important nations. Russia had fought as one of the Allies until December , when its new Bolshevik Government withdrew from the war. The Allied Powers refused to recognize the new Bolshevik Government and thus did not invite its representatives to the Peace Conference.
According to French and British wishes, the Treaty of Versailles subjected Germany to strict punitive measures. The Treaty required the new German Government to surrender approximately 10 percent of its prewar territory in Europe and all of its overseas possessions. It placed the harbor city of Danzig now Gdansk and the coal-rich Saarland under the administration of the League of Nations, and allowed France to exploit the economic resources of the Saarland until It limited the German Army and Navy in size, and allowed for the trial of Kaiser Wilhelm II and a number of other high-ranking German officials as war criminals.
Under the terms of Article of the Treaty, the Germans accepted responsibility for the war and the liability to pay financial reparations to the Allies. The Inter-Allied Commission determined the amount and presented its findings in The amount they determined was billion gold Reichmarks, or 32 billion U.
Instead, a strong president needed to act as a national leader who guided the nation in right principles through rhetoric. Early in the morning of November 19, , spectators flooded the Senate gallery, jockeying for a good vantage point to view the historic debate and the vote on the treaty. Members of the press were there to report the outcome for their newspapers.
This political cartoon, created by John T. McCutcheon in , depicts the U. The senators debated the treaty during a hour marathon, hearing from all sides, and then prepared to vote. Prodded by Wilson, who told them not to compromise, they rejected the treaty with reservations by a vote of 55— A vote was then taken on the treaty without reservations, as the Wilson administration wanted. It was also defeated, by a nearly identical vote of 53— Several Democrats begged Wilson to compromise, but he refused.
Let Lodge hold out the olive branch. Throughout the debate over the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations, President Wilson and Senator Lodge rooted their positions in very different visions of American diplomacy.
Wilson thought the only way to achieve a lasting peace and new world order was a league of nations. Lodge wanted to preserve American national sovereignty and protect American national interests. This debate between idealism and realism continued to define the course of American foreign relations during the twentieth century.
Senate ratification of the Treaty of Versailles required President Wilson to gain the support of. The United States shall be the sole judge as to whether all Its international obligations and all its obligations under the said Covenant have been fulfilled. The United States assumes no obligation to preserve the territorial integrity or political independence of any other country or to interfere in controversies between nations. The United States reserves to itself exclusively the right to decide what questions are within its domestic jurisdiction.
The United States shall not be obligated to contribute to any expenses of the League. Lodge, Henry Cabot. Wilson, Woodrow. Cooper, John Milton Jr. Woodrow Wilson: A Biography. New York: Knopf, New York: Simon and Schuster,
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