Diplomats -- United States -- Biography; Morgenthau, Henry, 1856-1946; United States -- Foreign relations -- 20th century
During all this time it was more than interesting to watch the fixed
attention that the President was giving to the address. We all wondered
what was going on in his battling brain. Some of us noticed for the
first time a nervous twitching in his cheek, undoubtedly a reflex of the
tremendous harassment that he had undergone in Washington.
He had come back to America to sign some bills before the expiration of
Congress on March 4th, and brought with him this Covenant. Now, before
his departure for Europe, he listened to the fine approval of his ideal
by his predecessor, who, though prominent in his party and highly
esteemed by all Americans, was not speaking with final authority: the
Senate had to approve the Covenant before it could become binding on the
United States.
So Woodrow Wilson, whom the peoples of the world were ready to accept as
their leader, had to return to Paris knowing that the thirty-seven
Senators who had signed the “round robin” were pledged against him in
terms which could have no other purpose than to notify our Associates at
the Peace Conference that the Senate would not confirm any League of
Nations projected by him. With this fear in his heart, he was on his way
to resume his participation in the greatest diplomatic struggle of
modern times. This evening, he saw again unmistakable evidence that if
the American people possessed the authority and could express it, they
would undoubtedly grant him the necessary power, without restrictions or
reservations, to enter into an agreement, which would help to lift the
world out of the mire of militarism to a higher plane, where wars would
disappear, where international peace and justice would prevail, and
where the combined efforts of mankind, purified and energized by its
moral elevation, would be diverted from its destructive pursuits and
concentrated on the promotion of happiness.
That evening I brought Homer Cummings home with me. We were both buoyed
up, tingling from the enthusiasm of that great meeting, yet fearing that
this League of Nations might be shattered by partisan politics.
As we settled down in my library, I said to Cummings:
“Homer, you are really neglecting your duty as National Chairman unless
you undertake immediately to present to the American people the attitude
of the Democratic Party toward this League of Nations, and denounce, in
the unmeasured terms that it deserves this violent opposition that has
developed against it.” I told him that it required a real Philippic, and
then related to him my own recent experience with Demosthenes, which
occurred at a dinner given to some Greeks, when Dr. Talcott Williams
told an anecdote of Hellenic influence on modern life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account