Why Did America Fail To Join The Leage Of Nations?

America entered World War One in 1917. America and the President, Woodrow Wilson, were horrified by the destruction that had taken place in such a humane part of the world. The only way to avoid a repeat of such a disaster was to create an international committee whose purpose was to prevent wars by maintaining world peace. This would be the task of the League of Nations. Woodrow Wilson was the creator of the League of Nations in his Fourteen Points Speech. This was ironic because the United States failed to join the League of Nations. This can be seen in the US delegations in Paris, the Congressional election of 1918, Article X, Wilson's conflict with republican senators and his problem with compromising, the Americans that didn't agree with The Versailles treaty.

On January 18, 1919 Wilson led the U.S. delegation in Paris to ensure his fourteen points were used. The conference went into the hands of the "Big Four" which were Wilson as the "chairman"; Premier Uittons Orlando from Italy; Prime Minister David Lloyd George from Britain; and Premier Georges Clemenceau from France. In February, 1919 the world diplomats agreed to make the League Covenant. When Wilson returned to Paris, Premier Clemenceau pressed French demands for the German-inhabited Rhineland and the Saar Valley, a rich coal area. Wilson feared that if he didn't compromise he would be violating the point of self-determination so the compromise was that the Saar Basin would remain under the League of Nations for fifteen years, and then a popular vote would determine its fate. Then Italy wanted Fiume, a valuable seaport. Wilson said the seaport belonged to Yugoslavia and the Italians turned against Wilson. Another struggle was with Japan over China's Shandong Peninsula and the German islands in the Pacific (Japan had won both of these in the war). Wilson made a compromise whereby Japan kept Germany's economic holdings in Shandong and he said he would return the peninsula to China at a later date. The Chinese were outraged. Wilson realized that all of these compromises caused for injustices in the League of Nations, but he was hoping that this League would even out with good for America, which would have strong say in the League. When he returned home to get final say from America he was again hit hard by the senators.

Wilson felt that strong support from Congress, especially in the senate, would be important with bargaining with European powers in the upcoming negotiations. The voters elected republican power in Congress in the Congressional elections of 1918. Wilson had enjoyed majority in both houses for his first two years in congress so in October of 1918 Wilson issued an appeal to the voters claiming he wanted to keep a Democratic majority in the both the senate and the House of Representatives. The Republicans became very angry saying that they had actually been more supportive of Wilson's war plans than his own party had. The voters responded with a fifty-seat majority in the House and a two-seat majority in the Senate.

The Senators, already strongly disagreeing with Wilsons Treaty and fourteen points, hated Article X of the Treaty. This was an article that morally bound the United Sates to aid any member of the League of Nations victimized by external aggression. Congress especially hated this article because it jeopardized their power to declare war, and Senator Lodge said it would pull America into yet another European conflict. This article above all was the reason the senators began to hate the League of Nations.

Wilson went to Paris without commanding a legislative majority at home. Wilson, a democrat himself, wanted to keep his Fourteen Points the same so he took democrats with the exception of a few moderate republicans

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