TIt,·S(C.""~oflllrprMrfrr"ly"IVrTSilillrJ.TheLeagueo f Nanons wastobe an org aniz ation
whererepresen t atives of theworld'snationswould
meetandsettle their differencesby discussionin stead
o f war .Ithad takenWilsonmonthsofha rd
bargainingtopersu ad etheotherAlliedleaders ro
acceptthi splan. Nowhefaced abattletopersuade
Cong ressand th eAmericanpeopletoaccept it, too.
Wilsonk newth atth iswouldnotbeeasy.Many
Americansw ereagainstthe ircoun trybecoming
perm an entl yin volved in th e p rob lemsofEurop e.
Andtheywere sus piciousoftheLeagueo f N ati ons.
Wouldn't j oi n i n g suc hano rgan izatio nmean thatthe
U n itedStatesmightbe draggedintoqua rrels,
perhapsevenwars, thatwerenoneofits bus iness?
Wilson tried torem o ve suchfears .Butasthemonths
passed it begantoseem tha the wasfailingto do so.
After anothertrip toEuropeh e returnedtoAmerica.
tired and ill.Bu t heboardeda special t rainandsetoff
011 a speak ingtourofthew esternUnitedStates to
pleadfor the Leagu e.
The tou rwasn evercom pleted. 011 September25.
1\)19,th e exhaustedWilsonsuffereda severest roke.:!\ AW.'l.R.'l.N IIAPEACElie wastakenbacktoWashing ton ,his h ealth bro ken
fo r ever.InM ar ch 192 0.theSena tevotedagai nst the
UnitedStatesjoiningthe LeagueofNarions. andthe
ideaw asdropped.
Fromhisin val id 'sarmchairin theWhi te Ho usea sick
an ddisappointed Wilsonspoketh e lastwords 011 the
su bject." Wehad a chancetogain the leadershipof
th eworld.Wehavelost it andso o n we shallbe
witnessingthetragedyofir all."Wilson'sFourteenPoints
Pr esidentWilso n alwaysinsistedthatthe United
States was figh ting the First Wo rl dWar not
against the German people but against their
warlikeleaders. InJanuar y 191 8,h e ou tline d his
ideasfo r a justan dlastin g peace ill a speec h to th e
U nitedStates Senate.Theseideaswerecalled the
FourteenPo int s.
A mo n gother things, Wilson's Fou rt een Po ints
requiredn ation stostopmakingsecre tagreements,
to red u ce their militaryforcesand arma me n ts,to
tr ad efreelywitho neanother andtodrawu p new
nationalboundariesth atwould allo wthe separate
peoplesofEurop eto rulethem sel ves.Itw as inthe
Fo ur teen Po int s, also. th at Wilso n firstsuggested
the LeagueofNatio ns.WhentheGermangovernmentaskedfo rpl.-aceIn
October 1918. ithopedthattheAllieswouldbase
their te rms on the Fourteen Points. But other
Alliedleadersreg ard edsomeofWilson'sideas as
ideal isticn onse nse. TheFrench leade r, C lemen-
ccau.co m pa red the Fo urtee n Poi nt s sarcast ically
totheChristianreligio n's Ten Comm andment s.
" M r.Wilsonbores me with hisFourteenPoints,"
he gru mbled. " Why. God Almighty has only
ten!"
III the end the Fourteen Points had much less
influence on the termsoftheVersailles T reaty
th an Wilson had hoped for. Some people'still
believe that thiswasa tragedy. T heyS3Ythatth e
post-warworld would ha vcbeen a bette r and a
safer place if th e Fo ur teen Points had been
followed more closel y. Oth ersdisagree. They
believethat th eworldwou ld ha vcbeen safer i f the
Fourtee n Po int shadbeenless closely followed!