Wilsonian visions defeated

Woodrow Wilson's place in the history books is not, however, defined by his questionable forays into the Caribbean. Rather, it was the idealism and moralism that he tried to project back to the old continent as a result of America's belated intervention into the First World War that has made the term Wilsonian internationalism resonate loud in the history of twentieth-century international relations.

When Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany on 2 April 1917, he committed the United States to a struggle that had started two-and-a-half years earlier. He did so — and Congress supported him — in large part because of the unrestricted German submarine war that had resulted in heavy losses to the merchant marine; on 16—18 March 1917 alone, three American ships were sunk on their way to Britain. Wilson was further prompted by allegations of German efforts to forge an alliance with Mexico in the spring of 1917 and domestic pressure from, among others, former President Theodore Roosevelt. America's entry helped to tilt the balance of the war against Germany, but unfortunately for

Wilsonian internationalism

Woodrow Wilson's notion, outlined in his so-called fourteen points, of trying to create a new world society, which would be governed by the self-determination of peoples, be free from secret diplomacy and wars, and have an association of nations to maintain international justice.

see Chapter 1

League of Nations

An international organization established in 1919 by the peace treaties that ended the First World War. Its purpose was to promote international peace through collective security and to organize conferences on economic and disarmament issues. It was formally dissolved in 1946.

Versailles Treaty

The treaty that ended the Allied state of hostilities with Germany in 1919.

Wilson, it was an intervention that he had promised, during his re-election campaign of 1916, would never take place. Thus, Wilson — who wished to use America's role in Europe's war to dictate the conditions for peace — ultimately found himself fighting an uphill battle at home and abroad.

When Wilson returned home from the Paris Peace Conference with a treaty that had already been stripped of much of its Wilsonian idealism, the president faced another battle with his domestic opponents. Many Republicans objected to Wilson's attempt to get the United States to join a permanent international organization, the League of Nations, that Wilson hoped would become an agent of peaceful conflict resolution throughout the world. In a long and bitter fight that was clearly linked to the 1920 elections, the Republicans, headed by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, managed to block the ratification of the Versailles Treaty and American membership in the League. Wilson, unwilling to accept defeat, engaged in an extended speaking tour of the United States. It was too much for the 63-year-old, who collapsed in Colorado in September 1919 and suffered a severe stroke a few weeks later. While Wilson remained incapacitated throughout the rest of his second term, the Senate rejected the Versailles Treaty in November 1919. The following November, Republican Warren G. Harding — a man who could not be accused of an excess of idealism or a strong interest in foreign affairs — was elected president. The United States thus entered the ‘roaring twenties' with Wilsonian internationalism defeated and overt entanglement with Europe rejected. In a sense, one could see the Monroe Doctrine behind Wilson's defeat: in return for European non-intervention in the Western Hemisphere the United States had, after all, guaranteed its non-intervention in the affairs of the old continent.