964 THE PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL INTEGRITY
as the foundation of one's business or professional philosophy is the
equivalent of economic suicide.
COMMENTARY
As noted in the previous lesson, many people at the time thought the First
World War was not only the defining moment of their generation but a
turning point for the entire world. Just ten years before they had experi-
enced the first large-scale, impersonal, mechanized war in which there
was little chivalry or honor, and tanks, aircraft, submarines, bombs, poison
gases, and scientifically engineered devices killed indiscriminately. The
president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, believed the war had
been so horrifying that leaders throughout the world could not help but
see that negotiation and conciliation were preferable to another such
devastating conflict. He proposed the creation of a League of Nations,
an organization through which the countries of the world could come
together and world leaders could reason together in a way that would
make future wars avoidable. Napoleon Hill was a staunch supporter of
Wilson's dream, but it was not to be.
Even among the European allies there was widespread disagreement
about the Treaty of Versailles that had redrawn the borders at the end of
the war. At home, President Wilson was unable to effectively convince the
public at large that the United States should be responsible for defending
the borders of foreign countries. Further, the Congress and Senate were
not persuaded that America should be subject to the decisions of a world
body and forego its right to act unilaterally. In 1920 the Senate refused to
ratify the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nations foundered. By 1932
Adolph Hitler's rise to power was assured and a second, even more deva-
stating, worldwide war was all but inevitable.
At the end of the Second World War the hope flourished once again
that the nations of the world could come together and future wars could
be prevented. On June 26, 1945, fifty nations including the United States