A Treaty to Be Passed (the Treaty of Versailles)

A Treaty To Be Passed

"A Tragedy of Disappointment: Woodrow Wilson and the Treaty of Versailles" by Margaret MacMillan is about President Woodrow Wilson and the attachment of the League of Nations to the Treaty of Versailles. The setting of the story is 1919-1920 when Wilson had came back from the Peace Conference in Paris. President Wilson being apart of the progressive party, he was a very educated man that work within the system to get his points made. With the progressive characteristics inside of Wilson he thought getting the Treaty of Versailles ratified would be no problem. MacMillan stated several different points about President Wilson in "A Tragedy of Disappointment," but the most important point was the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. Trying to get the treaty ratified was not easy due to the lack of support and Wilson's health problems.

Woodrow Wilson wanted to be a peacemaker and solve many problems, but he knew that was impossible. He also knew that with all the decisions that he made they would not all be supported. When it came to the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations President Wilson had a lack of support from the Senate. The Senate did not agree with the President for numerous reason with the biggest encounter being the League of Nations tagged onto the treaty. The top groups that did not agree with Wilson and the treaty were the republicans, irreconcilables, Henry Cabot Lodge, and the reservations.

With majority of the Senate being Republican the Senate had divided and people were taking sides leaving the President on a difficult mission to get the treaty ratified. With the President being a Democrats and the Senate being Republicans they were not going to agree with Wilson for that simple fact. The irreconcilables, which was a group within the Senate who opposed the treaty and would not support the treaty if their life dependent on it. The irreconcilables felt as if the United States was brought into the war and the League of Nations would do the same. Henry Cabot Lodge was a Republican Senator who led a campaign to reject the Treaty of Versailles. Lodge's group felt that decisions should be made by the Congress and not the League of Nations. The last opposing group was the Reservationists and they did not mind the Treaty of Versailles getting ratified so long as their reservations to protect the American sovereignty was registered. (MacMillan, 134)

Robert Lansing, the Secretary of State urged Wilson to compromise with the Reservationists and that made Wilson unhappy and more controversies came with getting the treaty ratified. President Wilson had to take matters into his own hands because he was determined to get the Treaty of Versailles ratified. President Wilson went to the Senate personally to discuss the treaty and the league of nations hoping to get some consideration from the Senate.