Versailles 1919

The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, and the Treaty of Versailles

When the Germans surrendered, President made a fateful decision—he himself would go to Versailles to help write the terms of peace. (He had earlier declared it unthinkable that America should have no role in that great enterprise.) He wanted a “peace without victory,” a generous peace, but the allied leaders who had suffered so fearfully would have none of it. Wilson’s goals, outlined in his Fourteen Points, called for a lasting peace based on national self-determination among the nations and a League of Nations, and that was partially realized. Wilson was unable, however, to prevent the victors from saddling Germany with enormous reparations and restrictions which in retrospect can be called at best unfair.

Wilson took no Senators with him to Paris, nor any Republican leaders, a serious flaw in his desire to achieve his goals, as the United States Senate was controlled by the Republican Party. Thus while Wilson was in Europe for the best part of six months, having been greeted by the European people as a conquering hero, if not a modern Messiah, Republican leaders in the Senate fretted and stewed and awaited his return with bated breath.

When Wilson presented the treaty of Versailles to the Senate, they balked. Wilson was tired and in poor health from his exertions in Europe, and was in no mood to compromise. Neither was Senate later Henry Cabot Lodge. It soon became apparent that Wilson would not accept the treaty with the reservations which the Senate proposed, and the Senate would not ratify the treaty as presented to them, and thus a standoff existed. Wilson decided, unwisely as it turned out, to take his show on the road. He set off on a train trip around United States designed to take his case to the American people in the hope that they would pressure the Senators to accept this treaty without reservations. While on the trip, Wilson became ill and was rushed back to Washington, where he suffered a serious stroke. For weeks Wilson was unable to conduct his business, and for several months, his wife, Edith Galt Wilson, became for all practical purposes the acting president of the United States. She controlled access to her husband, told him what to read and what to sign, and delivered all communications to and from the ailing President.

In the end, the United States never ratified the treaty of Versailles and concluded a separate peace with Germany in 1921.