US Participation In Treaty Of Versailles

President George W. Bush, despite continuing opposition from his own people, has placed his country at the unenviable point of no-return. Interestingly, what is happening in America today seems to be an echo of the events of 1918 when another president had to face resistance to the forceful stance he wanted his country to adopt in the aftermath of World War 1.
America chose to take a neutral stand when European nations got enmeshed in a world conflict, and President Woodrow Wilson endorsed this stand. He wanted overseas trade over the Atlantic to remain uninterrupted and this did not allow for a partisan stance in European affairs. However, British naval strategies wrecked all trade with Germany, and the latter reacted by torpedoing all ships steaming through the Atlantic, including U.S. merchant vessels. When the Lusitania went down in 1915, taking with it among others, 128 Americans, and Germany continued to target American ships, public opinion in America swung around, in favor of a proactive stance. The Zimmerman telegram in 1917 gave the President the final reason to enter the war. An overwhelmingly strong troop of American soldiers started on the Meuse-Argonne offensive in the September of that year and forced Germany to yield by November 1917. Having been instrumental in halting the destruction wrought upon the European world, America had to take on the responsibility to ensure that such a war would never repeat itself. Or, so President Wilson felt. Hence, when negotiations started for a peace treaty in Versailles, early in 1919, America played a leading role.
Woodrow Wilson led the negotiations, for he strongly believed that peace must be sought out “to make the world safe for democracy.” His was the moderating voice amidst a Babel of conflicting opinions, although focused on wreaking vengeance on Germany. He supported strongly the idea of a League of Nations that would make each nation morally and ethically responsible to bring about world accord. It is ironic that the man who persuaded other nations to accept an arrangement for a peaceful settlement would face resistance to it at home.
Right at the outset, Wilson made a tactical error when he included just one Republican in his team to Versailles. This immediately set the Republicans against any arrangement that Wilson advocated. Moreover, the worsening state of his health prevented him from doing all that he could to persuade the Senate. In addition to this, he had strong detractors and critics to contend with.
One of his harshest critics was Henry Cabot Lodge, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He purposely delayed the process of ratifying the treaty because of the deep personal antagonism he had towards the President. But the strongest force that resisted the ratification and joining the League was made up of the American people. Having lost innumerable lives in the war and its aftermath, with survivors suffering the after--effects of the war, Americans did not want to become involved anymore. They wanted to retreat, to resume their detached status. As Senator William E. Borah from Idaho stated, “We are told that this treaty means peace. Even so, I would not pay the price. Would you purchase peace at the cost of your independence?” This expression summed up the attitude of the American people in general. No one paid any attention when Wilson lamented, “If the treaty is not ratified by the Senate, the war will have been fought in vain, and the world will be thrown into chaos. I promised our soldiers, when I asked them to take up arms, that it was a war to end wars...”
The question today is not if it is an idealistic notion that is being enforced by the President of the United States. The question is whether history will repeat itself – whether America will take the same road that it did over the Treaty of Versailles.