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Monday, January 21, 2019
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Texas History Minute With the end of World War I two months prior, January 1919 became a critical time to solidify peace. President Woodrow Wilson Dr. Ken had been working Bridges to end war in Europe since 1914 and redoubled his efforts after America entered the war in 1917 in response to German provocations. Two Texans, Edward House, Wilson’s most trusted advisor and son of a Houston sugar magnate, and Sidney Mezes, the former president of the University of Texas, served in key positions to advise Wilson on the postwar peace before the war ended and at the peace negotiations in France.
common ground. Mezes played a quieter role than in New York, but Wilson still relied on his advice, support, and diplomatic skills. While Clemenceau was hesitant about Wilson, he was impressed with House. “Colonel House is practical, I can understand him,” he had said.
Wilson briefly returned to America in February to find that his political opponents were attempting to sabotage his peace plans, especially American entry into the League of Nations. Wilson returned to Paris to negotiate a few details he felt would satisfy his critics before the treaty was signed in June. But the treaty faced a hostile Senate dominated by Republicans. A bitter debate on Senate ratification Mezes and House had studied the ensued that summer and fall. issues surrounding the war in House and other peace delegates Europe as part of a special spoke in support of the treaty presidential commission appointed while Wilson campaigned across in late 1917 and helped Wilson craft the country for it. a framework called the Fourteen Points. Armed with this plan for Wilson rebuffed his critics. this lasting peace, Wilson was “Some people call me an idealist,” confident that the most powerful he said. “That is how I know I am nations could live free of war in the an American. America is the only future. Eight of these points idealist nation in the world.” In included provision for restoring September 1919, he was awarded territories to France and Belgium as the Nobel Peace Prize for his well as an independent Poland and efforts. The strain of the war and redrawing the boundaries of Eastern the negotiations continued to be a Europe and the Middle East after drag on his health. Biographers the Central Powers governing those believe that Wilson had already areas were defeated. The remaining suffered several small strokes that dealt with issues of international were affecting his judgment trade, armaments, and cooperation. before he had a massive stroke in At the same time, the American October that left him mostly delegation was mindful of the paralyzed, mute, and incoherent possible problems that could for weeks. Physicians of the day develop with China and Japan. could do little for stroke victims, and Wilson never fully recovered. Wilson named 21 diplomats to the American Peace Commission in With Wilson still recovering and Paris, including House and Mezes. seeing treaty ratification failing, In his bid to negotiate the peace House jumped in to try to save the treaty, Wilson became the first treaty. As House negotiated with American president to travel Senate Republicans on a overseas during his presidency. compromise for the Treaty of When Wilson arrived, he was Versailles and the League of greeted by more than two million Nations, the still frail Wilson ecstatic French citizens when he grew furious at House’s efforts. rode through Paris in a parade in his He considered any effort to water honor. Though the French were it down further a betrayal. grateful Allies with the United Wilson’s rebuke was enough to States, their government was scuttle the remaining determined to rid themselves of negotiations. The two never future threats from Germany and to spoke again. punish them for the 1914 invasion. Georges Clemenceau, the president In the end, the United States never of France, was especially resistant signed the treaty nor joined the to Wilson’s plans. “The Almighty League of Nations. America gave us Ten Commandments, but ultimately signed a separate peace Wilson has given us Fourteen.” with Germany, and the League drifted without American Negotiations took place at the old influence. In 1921, historian and French royal palace of Versailles fellow delegate Charles Seymour, outside Paris, an ornate, 67,000 along with House and Mezes square-foot mansion that was once wrote What Really Happened at the envy of all European kings. Paris, an attempt to explain the House continued his wartime role as treaty and the controversies that an outspoken negotiator with other followed. delegates, running from one delegation to another in an effort to Mezes retired to California where relay Wilson’s wishes and find he died in 1931. House spent
most of the 1920s lobbying the Senate to ratify the League of Nations and for the United States to join the League of Nations, both efforts ending in futility. In spite of this, he was honored with a statue in a newly independent Poland in 1932. He died in 1938. For all their attempts to keep the world from another cataclysmic war, the major powers of Europe
chose not to listen to Wilson or anyone else, and bitterness from the first war steadily hardened. World War II started in Europe in 1939. Dr. Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor. He can be reached at drkenbridges@gmail.com.
