636 Chapter 23 Woodrow Wilson and the Great War
have liked to run for a third term, but in his enfeebled
condition he attracted no support among Democratic
leaders. The party nominated James M. Cox of Ohio.
Cox favored joining the League, but the election
did not produce the referendum on the new organiza-
tion that Wilson desired. The Republicans, whose can-
didate was another Ohioan, Senator Warren G.
Harding, equivocated shamelessly on the issue. The
election turned on other matters, largely emotional.
Disillusioned by the results of the war, many Americans
had their fill of idealism. They wanted, apparently, to
end the long period of moral uplift and reform agita-
tion that had begun under Theodore Roosevelt and
return to what Harding called “normalcy.”
To the extent that the voters were expressing
opinions on Wilson’s League, their response was
overwhelmingly negative. Senator Harding, a strong
reservationist, swept the country, winning over
16.1 million votes to Cox’s 9.1 million. In July 1921,
Congress formally ended the war with the Central
Powers by passing a joint resolution.
The defeat of the League was a tragedy both for
Wilson, whose crusade for a world order based on
peace and justice ended in failure, and for the world,
which was condemned to endure another, still more
horrible and costly war. Perhaps this dreadful out-
come could not have been avoided. Had Wilson
compromised and Lodge behaved like a statesman
instead of a politician, the United States would have
joined the League, but it might well have failed to
respond when called on to meet its obligations. As
events soon demonstrated, the League powers acted
timidly and even dishonorably when challenged by
aggressor nations.
Yet it might have been different had the Senate
ratified the Versailles Treaty. What was lost when the
treaty failed was not peace but the possibility of peace,
a tragic loss indeed.1914 United States invades Veracruz, Mexico
Great War begins in Europe
1915 German U-boat torpedoesLusitania
1916 Wilson appoints Louis D. Brandeis to
Supreme Court
Adamson Act gives railroad workers eight-hour day
“Pancho” Villa burns Columbus, New Mexico
Wilson is reelected president
1917 Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare
Russian Revolution begins
United States declares war on Central Powers
Bernard Baruch heads War Industries Board
Former President Taft heads War Labor Board
1918 Sedition Act limits freedom of speech
Wilson announces Fourteen PointsRepublicans gain control of both houses of Congress
Armistice ends the Great War
1918– Flu epidemic kills 600,000 Americans
1919
1919 Steel workers strike
Red scare culminates in Palmer raids
Big Four meet at Paris Peace Conference
Senate rejects Versailles Treaty and League
of Nations
Wilson wins Nobel Peace Prize, suffers
massive stroke
1920 Senate again rejects Versailles Treaty and League
of Nations
Warren Harding is elected presidentMilestones
Chapter Review
Key Terms
Allied Powers The military alliance during World
War I, chiefly consisting of Britain, France, Russia,
and Italy, that opposed the Central Powers, chiefly
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey, 613
Central Powers Germany and its World War I
allies—Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria, 613
Espionage Act A law passed in 1917 that made it a
crime to obstruct the nation’s effort to win World
War I, 623
Fourteen Points A comprehensive plan, proposed
by President Woodrow Wilson in January 1918,
to negotiate an end to World War I. It called for
freedom of the seas, free trade, arms reduction,
national self-determination and an end to colonial
rule and secret diplomacy, 628
League of Nations A worldwide assembly of
nations, proposed by President Woodrow Wilson,
that was included in the Treaty of Versailles end-
ing World War I. The refusal of the United States
to join the League limited its effectiveness, 631
“red scare” Public hysteria over Bolshevik influ-
ence in the United States after World War I; it led
to the arrest or deportation of thousands of radi-
cals, labor activists, and ethnic leaders, 635