The United States’ Refusal to join the League of Nations
The United States’ Refusal to join the League of Nations

Author(s): P. Schou
Subject(s): Interwar Period (1920 - 1939)
Published by: CEEOL Collections / Digital Reproductions
Summary/Abstract: Immediately after the Armistice President Wilson let it be known that he intended to go to Europe to represent the United States at the Peace Conference. This momentous decision constituted a breach of American constitutional practice, which had hitherto prevented the Presidents from leaving the country during their term of office; it was taken against the advice of the Secretary of State, Mr. Robert Lansing, and it did not fail to evoke a great deal of critical comment in the Press. So much so, that when opening the new Session of Congress on December 2nd, the President felt called upon to defend his decision: “I realize the great inconveniences that will attend my leaving the country, particularly at this time, but the conclusion that it was my paramount duty to go? has been forced upon me by considerations which I hope will seem as conclusive to others, as they have seemed to me”.

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