In kansas city, missouri posted this event and provided the video. Moderator our guest speaker teaches American Foreign policy in washington, d. C. He is a professor of Political Science and liberty missouri. He graduated with a bachelors degree from Oklahoma University and a phd as well. Assistant to a political scientist, economist, and author and teaching assistant to former u. S. Secretary of state Madeleine Albright who was here for a private dinner earlier this year to drop a name or two. [laughter] gary joined the William JewellCollege Faculty in 1992 and Services Chair of the department of Political Science and director of the International Relations major. The William Jewell student body voted him professor of the year four times. Gary is also a longtime supporter of the National World war i museum and memorial and for that we are appreciative. Please give a warm welcome to dr. Gary armstrong. [applause] dr. Armstrong good evening and thank you for coming tonight. There should be a lot of interesting questions. The hundredth anniversary of the senates first rejection of the treaty of versailles. What a great moment to talk about americas place in the world. Growing time of polarization and radicalization. There had been a series of race riots in the current estimate is between the summer of 1919 in 1921 manyr of americans were killed. This would lead to the first bombing of an American City by our own air force. At the same time there were just two weeks before the senate would take its vote, a series of bombings that led to the red scare. It is entirely wrongly named. The people who did the bombings were anarchists, but attorney general palmer, whose own house was bombed, launched a series of very vigorous raids to detain about 10,000 and arrest 3000 anarchists. 550 were deported. It is a time when we have race riots, radicals, we have the government using force. It is also a time, lest we forget, when americans were intensely polarized at the political level as well. On the day Woodrow Wilson appeared to ask the u. S. Congress for a declaration of war in april 1917 his famous speech had to be postponed. A very important matter had to be settled first which was who was going to have the speakership of the u. S. House of representatives . In the 1916 elections which Woodrow Wilson had barely won, they are the most. Losely fought and therevirtual tie were hours of political and eggeling who was going to get majority. This is the only time the Largest Party did not get the speakership. The republicans had more seats, but did not get speakership. This was the last time in American History where speakership was given because the democrats formed a small alliance with small parties. What is really interesting is that then the house turned to the question of the president s speech and declaration of war and a lot of very interesting members of congress voted no on the declaration of war. Including the first woman to sit in the u. S. House of representatives, jeanette rankin, who would vote against war after the attack on pearl harbor. She was a lifelong pacifist and could not accept the violation of her principal even if the United States was attacked in 1941. The man who had just gotten the speakership of the house of representatives broke with the director of his party and refused to vote for the declaration. This is a time where Great Questions are at stake. Andle are intensely divided politics is going to start impacting Foreign Policy. Timee way, it is a great because just as we are getting ready to debate how to end world war i a pandemic breaks out. The cdc estimates toda about 75,000 lost their lives. Deads city had about 2300 that is significantly larger than st. Louis who is better organized and ruthless when dealing with a pandemic. Alone month of october 195,000 americans died. Woundsamericans died of during world war i. At about the time the senate is going to move into the most intense question about what should we do regarding the league of nations, we have the most serious medical crisis in the history of the american presidency. Woodrow wilson has a massive stroke on october 2nd. He has been on a nationwide tour. Toward the end of that to they realized something was wrong. They cleared the line, got him back as fast as they possibly could. He had been in washington, d. C. Briefly when he had the stroke. Weeks, his wife maintained the charade there was nothing wrong with the president. No one was permitted to see the president for six weeks except the first lady, his physician, a handful of trusted aides, his. Wn press secretary is thatinteresting a ms. Wilson made a terrible mistake. She isolated the president when what he probably needed the most for his longterm recovery was consistent interaction with people. That has led to a big argument we are going to see later that the president s catastrophic stroke led to an increasing rigidity in his personality that will lead him to make fundamental errors during the debate over the peace treaty. Are we talking plague or stroke . God bless us, we are this close to the four horsemen of the apocalypse. [laughter] so, the versailles treaty debate. It is the first time that the president of the United States proposed sweeping reforms to the fundamental basis of International Relations. It is the first time the american president goes abroad for diplomatic relations. Woodrow wilson goes abroad for basically seven months. People challenge this. They dont even believe he has the constitutional right to leave the territory of the United States. This is the first proposal for World Organization with something called collective security. Fights the heart of the we are going to be exploring. This is the first time the United States will consider a treaty that technically, formally requires it to end its historical isolation. By isolation, i am using the definition we use in Political Science. Favor for in example, in favor of ending missionary work. That doesnt make you an isolationist. Opposing commitments to europe could make you an imperialist and an isolationist. This will be the first time in the history of the body that the senate invokes cloture to stop the filibuster so they can get , andusiness of voting done this is the first time the United States senate will reject the peace treaty. And this is how it starts. Back int wilson landed the United States on july 8, 1919 after a long time in europe. He goes to new york. He goes to washington, d. C. Enormouss the bound, copy of the treaty into the senate. Henry cabot lodge asks if he would like help carrying it. He says not on your life. Then wilson gives this speech. The stage is set, the destiny disclosed. It has come about by no plan of our conceiving but by the hand of god who has let us into his way. We cannot turn back. We can only go forward with lifted eyes and fresh in spirit to follow the vision. This that we dreamed that we dreamed at our birth, know the way. From the most accomplished rhetorician ever to be president of the United States, and his speech was a dud. It was too flowery. Give the basics of the speech in the New York Times, but you start to see some opening solve those already being waged. Henry cabot lodge says hey, dont forget, we have the right to admit this treaty. We can amend it by majority vote. And by the way, we republicans are now the majority because of the election of 1918. There is a special room set aside for the president at the u. S. Capitol. 30 democrats would see the president. One republican. Was the first sign that very serious trouble was brewing about the fate of the treaty. 100 years ago tonight, and they closed at about 11 00 p. M. Washington, d. C. Time. We should all stay so we go for the full 100 hour. The vote for a set of reservations by Henry Cabot Lodge was 41 yes, 51 know. The two thirds requirement was 61. No vote for the treaty with reservations as president wilson proposed it was 38 yes, 55 no. It was not even close. In march of 1920, after four months, they have another debate and another vote, and this time wilson is absent. Yes,time, the votes are 49 35 no. The requirement to pass the treaty is 56, so it fails by seven votes. Absent, those who were although they could not vote, could announce what their position would have been. They hadced that if been there they would have voted yes. 39 said they wouldve voted no. That is the highest the senate ever came to passing the versailles peace treaty. Is a of people say this problem. There was a group inside the senate called the irreconcilables. They said you couldnt get us to vote for this treaty with all the horses of the american cavalry. There was a lot of discussion about how many there were. Going to get are between 1618. I am going to list the 18, and they include all kinds of fascinating senators. President Theodore Roosevelts attorney general and William Howard tafts secretary of state. An irreconcilable. There was no way in the world he would vote for the treaty. Is a new senator from illinois, mccormick. A lot of people say well, thats what happened. These people somehow managed to defeat the treaty. Thats the story. And thats not the story at all. One of the irreconcilables is a complicated character, our very own senator james reed from kansas city. Senator reid had been in the senate and would be in the senate for 18 years. He had been the mayor of kansas city from 190019 hundred four when the Convention City burned and they rebuilt it through fast work. Very clear he was in irreconcilable. I will not vote for the treaty. Because he was an isolationist. But there is Something Else. He was racist. He he was very direct that was afraid that the league of nations, with its dark skinned people, would eventually be able to outvote the white skinned people and pose a new order of racial equality at the international level. Some of his more incendiary quotes because they are laced with the nword. Now, for some people, the story of james reed becomes the story of who opposed the treaty. Provincial list bigotry. Prevention list bigotry sank the treaty. That is not a good understanding of what happened here either. About thisbest books fight, breaking the heart of says a lot of people think that cosmopolitans would be the people most likely to be in favor of the treaty. The people who were the most cosmopolitan in the senate tended to be the most opposed to the treaty. For example, senator mccormick use to boast and brag that he learned french before he learned english. He was very involved in global affairs. This is senator knox, the republican who had been senator tafts secretary of state. He was in irreconcilable, but heres something interesting. During senate debate, he announced a resolution we now call the knox doctrine. It announced that if in the future there were any threat to the peace of europe, that the United States would regarded as a grave matter, consult with friendly governments, and consider the possibility of taking military action to deal with it. He was inords, irreconcilable but not an isolationist. Some people say if its not the provincial bigots, than the story is American Opinion wasnt ready for this gigantic step of huge stride into a formal commitment of foreign politics. Book power without itsry, the author says time to kill that myth. We would not have what we now call Public Opinion polling for years, but what was normally used to gauge Public Opinion was newspapers, and the evidence is there was veryat strong american Public Opinion support for the treaty and for joining the league of nations. Except city star for the kansas city star. Many newspapers favored the treaty. There was overwhelming support from religious organizations, from catholics to jews. Fortin veryin in favor of the treaty. Rotarians and then new American Legion came out in favor of the treaty and joining the league of nations. 17 state legislatures passed resolutions, including the legislatures of california and massachusetts, which happen to be the homes of the two most important opponents of the treaty. Important brandnew single Issue Advocacy organization in the United States was something called the league to enforce peace. It had thousands of measure members all over the country and they advocated for the treaty. It was led by former president William Howard taft. The evidence is this treaty had the Popular Support to be approved. By the way, there were some interesting intellectuals involved. A great feminist worker of bothgo, w. E. B. Dubois, in theirppointed support of wilson. Wilson had not voted to give women the vote through a constitutional amendment. Jane addams was disappointed in that. Furious that was wilsons ability to articulate publicly why we needed to stop the race riots. Now, both of them thought things over and decided they nevertheless would support Woodrow Wilson in the league. By the 1960s and 1970s, there was hardly any serious question of the day that americans didnt wait until they read Walter Litman to see what they would think about it. A was a young republic young advisor to Woodrow Wilson. Attack oned a major the versailles peace treaty and the league of nations. Thousands of subscribers to the new republic canceled their subscriptions, angered at the attack on the president. By the way, Walter Litman 18 years later would say this was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. If i could do things over again, i would continue to support Woodrow Wilson and the league. Not only is there strong public a lot ofthere is aggravation with the president among american intellectuals. But overall, the possibility of progressive reform is still worth it. Here is why i think he needs help. Using the stoplight aproach that we can get glimpse of what the balance in the senate was about this treaty and you are going to suspect something pretty quickly. This is a tragedy. We take the green and the yellow, we can see that three quarters of the senate was willing to join the league and pass the treaty. Were small, vigorous, energetic, vociferous, but they didnt have the votes to stop the treaty. The whole question of whether the treaty would go was could the green and yellow get together. The nextnt to do for little bit is explain why they didnt. These are impressive leaders. Is the onlyon person with a phd in Political Science to become president of the United States. He may have done so badly that he will remain the only person with a phd in Political Science to become president. Had led the secularization of princeton. Collectived chaotic systems of undergraduate general education and said if we are going to have a democracy we all need people to know some stuff. He said the princeton fraternities were incompatible with the new equality of american democracy. He was doing a lot. Importantk the most thing to know about woodrow is the place of his birth. He was born in stockton, virginia, and he was raised by a presbyterian pastor in south carolina. He says his earlier earliest his of men running down the street shouting that lincoln had been elected and there would be war. Home became a headquarters for federal regency occupation in the south. He is the only president in the history of the United States to know personally what total defeat looks like. The humiliation, the bitterness, the sting of it, how it can corrupt a society out of anger and humiliation, and its going to have a big impact on how he thinks about how to end world war i. If i asked my students what they remember about Theodore Roosevelt, they all Say Something about a big stick. What we should remember about Theodore Roosevelts he was a weekly, scrawny boy whose father did not know if he was going to survive asthma and told his son eventually, you must remake your body or it will kill you, and he became effectively a bodybuilder. He eventually had a chest of about 52 inches. Whats really interesting is the greathat cruise of the great white fleet. The symbolic declaration that the United States was going to become a world power. Thats under this guy. Because both of these guys, wilson and roosevelt, are trying to figure out what probably the leaders of china are trying to figure out. Given that we are now the most important economic power on the planet, should our Foreign Policy change to match our new economic heft . And they are going to be debating how to deal with it. Because of his role in ending the russojapanese war, he is the first president to win the nobel peace prize. The second would be Woodrow Wilson. And