The Versailles Treat y Controversy
Analyze the United States rejection of internationalism, including postwar disillusionment, the Senate’s refusal to ratify the Versailles Treaty, the.
Dec 16, 2015
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USHC 5.5Analyze the United States rejection of internationalism, including postwar disillusionment, the Senate’s refusal to ratify the Versailles Treaty, the election of 1920, and the role of the United States in international affairs in the 1920s.
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
14
PRINCIPLES:
1. Freedom of the Seas
2. Reduction of Arms
3. Open Treaty Negotiations
4. Self Determination of Peoples
5. League of Nations
USS George Washington
Irony
PEACEWithout Victory
Paris Peace Conference
“The Conference was an affair of three sides – the victors, the vanquished, and Wilson.”
-- Richard Hofstadter
David Lloyd George (British Prime Minister)
“I was seated between Jesus Christ and Napoleon.”
Article 231
Britain and France wanted Germany to claim responsibility for the war and pay reparations to the allies.
The “War Guilt”
Clause
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
PRINCIPLES:
1. Freedom of the Seas
2. Reduction of Arms
3. Open Treaty Negotiations
4. Self Determination of Peoples
5. League of Nations
14
HOW
14
231
can the two ideas be reconciled???
EASY!!!
14
231
JUST USE BOTH!
Signing of the
Treaty of Versailles
June 28, 1919Five years to the day of the assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand
Look Familiar???
Now, for the hard part…
USS George Washington
Ratifying
Treaties“[The President] shall have
Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur....”
-- Article II, Section 2
2/3The Senate vote necessary
to ratify a treaty
0The number of senators included in Wilson’s peace delegation to
Europe.
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
The U.S. Senate 1910-1920
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
The U.S. Senate 1910-1920
Republican
Majority
The League of Nations
An Entangling Alliance???
Article Xof the League Covenant
The Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members of the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression the Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled.
Three Views of the Treaty
Internationalists
Ratify the Treaty
AS IS
Reservationists
Ratify the Treaty
with Reservations
Irreconcilables
DON’T RATIFY
the Treaty
SOVEREIGNTY
“What is the result of all this? We are in the midst of all the affairs of Europe… We have joined in alliance with all the European nations… we have forfeited… the great policy of 'no entangling alliances' upon which the strength of this Republic has been founded.”
Sen. William Borah (R-ID)
Irreconcilable
Reservationists
(Imperialist Wing)
America should engage the world on its own terms.
Irreconcilables
(Isolationist Wing)
America should avoid all foreign entanglements.
The Lodge Reservations
14Stipulations
Sen. Henry
Cabot Lodge (R-MA)
View
Wilson’s Dilemma
Compromise with Reservationists or stand his ground?
EUROPE TO US:
Reservation
s OK!
“The Senate must take its medicine.”
-- Woodrow Wilson
Speakin
g Tour
President Wilson waves to a crowd in Saint Louis, Missouri, on September 6, 1919, during a speaking tour to promote the League of Nations.
Wilson’s Route
Political Calculation Image Source:
NPS.gov
STROKE!Wilson suffered a stroke brought on by the stress of his campaign for the League.
He was an invalid for the remainder of his term. (The public had no clue.)
Woodrow Wilson's first posed photograph after his stroke. He was paralyzed on his left side, so his wife Edith holds a document steady while he signs. June 1920.
Review: The Treaty Factions
Internationalists
Ratify the Treaty
AS IS
Reservationists
Ratify the Treaty
with Reservations
Irreconcilables
DON’T RATIFY
the Treaty
Where is
THIS GUY when we
need him?
Answer: Dead
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
A “Solemn Referendum”
1920
BIGGER Republi
can Majorit
y
League Membership
The United States never joined the League.
Wilson’s mission to intimately involve the U.S. in global affairs was a failure.
1920-1946
Map Credit: Maps & Lucy
I went to Versailles and all
I got was this lousy
peace prize.
1919
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