He is a professor of Political Science. Bachelorse with a degree from university of oklahoma and a phd from georgetown university. Assistantss research 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 inner earlier this year just to drop a name or two to impress you. Jewellined the William College faculty in 1992 and now serves as chair of the department of Political Science and director of the International Relations major. The William Jewell student body has voted him professor of the year an amazing four times. Gary is also a longtime supporter of the National World war i museum and memorial and for that we are very appreciative. Please give a warm welcome to dr. Gary armstrong. [applause] good evening and thank you for coming tonight. Of interesting questions. On the 100th anniversary of the senates first rejection of the versailles peace treaty. What a great moment to talk about americas place in the world. Of growingme polarization and radicalization. There had been a series of race riot in the current estimate is that between probably the summer 21,9 and the summer of about a thousand americans were killed. They were killed in the tulsa race riots which was 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 would lead to something called the red scare. It is entirely wrongly named. The people who did the bombings were anarchists. Attorney general palmer whose own house was bombed in one of those raids launched a series of very vigorous raids to detain about 10,000 at arrest about 3000 anarchists, about 550 were deported. Its a time when we have race riots, we have radicals, we have the government using force. Forgetso a time lest we when americans were intensely polarized at the political level as well. On the day that Woodrow Wilson appeared to ask the u. S. Congress for a declaration of famousapril 1917, his speech had to be postponed. A very important matter had to be settled first, which was was going to have the speakership of the u. S. House of representatives. 1916 elections which Woodrow Wilson had barely won at the president ial level. Some of the most closely fought in all of American History. Look what happened in the United States house of representatives. Virtual tie. There were hours of political finagling over who was going to get the majority. This is the only time that the Largest Party did not get the speakership. The republicans had more seats than the democrats what they did not get the speakership. This was the last time in American History where the speakership was given because the democrats formed a small alliance with small parties. And whats really interesting is that then the house turned to the question of the president s speech and declaration of war. A lot of very interesting members of congress voted no on the declaration of war. The first woman to sit in the u. S. House of representatives who would also vote against war after the japanese attack on pearl harbor. She was a lifelong pacifist and could not accept the violation of her principal even if the United States had been attacked in 1941. The man who had just got the speakership of the house of representatives broke with the president , the director of his party and refused to vote for the declaration of war. This is a time when Great Questions are at stake. People are intensely divided. And politics is going to start impacting Foreign Policy. A greatay, its also time because just as we are getting ready to start debating how to end world war i, a gigantic pandemic breaks out. Today the cdc estimates that 670 5000 americans lost their lives in the great influenza of 1918, 19 19. Notice that kansas city had about 2300 dead. That is significantly larger than st. Louis who is better organized and more ruthless in dealing with the influence of then kansas city was. 1 the month of october 19 18, hundred 95,000 americans died of flu. 50,000 americans died of wounds. During world war i. And at about the time that 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 the second. He has been on a gigantic nationwide tour. Toward the end of the tour they realized there was something seriously wrong with president. Railroad linehe and got him back as fast as he could to washington, d. C. He had been there just briefly when he had the massive stroke. For six weeks, his wife maintained the charade that 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 own press secretary, the essential joseph to multi was not allowed to see the president whats really interesting is a lot of specialists now believe that misses wilson made a terrible mistake. She isolate 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 that we are going to see later that the president s catastrophic stroke lead to an increasing rigidity in his personality that will lead him to make fundamental errors during the debate over the versailles peace treaty. Are we talking plague, war, stroke . Are this closee to the four horsemen of the apocalypse while we try to figure out what is americas role in the world. So the versailles peace treaty debate. It is the first time that a president of the United States proposed sweeping reforms to the fundamental basis of International Relations. An americanst time president goes abroad for negotiations. President wilson will be abroad for basically seven months. There are people who challenge this. They dont believe he has the constitutional right to leave the territory of the United States. This is going to be the moment where we have the first proposal for a permanent World Organization with something called collective warranted security in war and peace. This is going to be the first time the United States will consider a treaty that technically formally requires it to end its historical isolation. Im using the definition that we use in Political Science, a reluctance or avoidance of military commitments to europe. Favor ofuld be in sending missionaries to china. That doesnt make you an isolationist. Been inyou could have favor of annexing the philippines. That would make you an imperialist. But opposed to making any security commitments to europe which could make you simultaneously an imperialist and an isolationist. This will be the first time in the history of the body that the toate will invoke cloture stop the filibuster so they can actually get the business of voting done. And this will be the first time the United States senate will reject a peace treaty. And this is how it starts. Wilson landed back in the United States on july 8 1919 from his long time in europe. He goes to new york and he goes to washington, d. C. He carries the bound in normas copy of the treaty into the enormous copy of the treaty into the senate. He is asked if you would like help carrying the treaty and he laughs and says not on your life. Then he gives this speech. The hand of god has led us into his way. We cannot turn back. We can only go forward with lifted eyes and freshen spirits to follow the vision. It was of this that we dreamed at our birth. America shall show the way. The light streams upon the path ahead and nowhere else. Dare we reject it and break the heart of the world. This from the most accomplished to come intover the United States. And the speech was done. High, it was too flowery. The New York Times coverage of the speech gives the basics of the speech, but you start to see down here some really interesting opening salvos. Says,w majority leader dont forget, we have the right to amend this treaty and we may have to approve it by two thirds vote but we can amend it by majority vote and by the way, we republicans are now the majority because of the elections of 1918. Youll also see that the president great scholars in the special room set aside for u. S. Capitol. 30 democrats went to see the president. One republican. It was the first sign that day serious trouble was brewing on the fate of the treaty. Now to skip ahead. Here the votes. Tonight and ago they closed at about 11 00 p. M. Washington, d. C. Time so i think theld all stay so we go for 400th hour. The vote for the set of reservations by henry cavett lodge. The two thirds requirement for that vote 61. Then the vote for the treaty with no reservations as president wilson himself had proposed it was 38 yes, 55 now. It was not even close. Then in march of 20, after four months, they have another debate and another vote and this time the boats votes go up in part because 12 senators are absent. Are 49 time the votes yes, 35 no. The requirement to pass a treaty is 56 so it is failed by seven votes. Have with those who are absent can announce what their position would have been and thats how you wind up with this. 57 announced that had they been there, they would have voted yes or they did vote yes. 39 said they were there and voted no or they would have noted no. Thats the highest that the passing thecame to versailles peace treaty. Say, this ispeople a problem. Inside thea group senate called the irreconcilables. Drag usd you couldnt to vote for this treaty with all the horses of the american cavalry. We will not do this. Theres a lot of discussion about how many were there. Im going to be using an estimate that you can see in a couple different books. Going to lift the 18 and they include all kinds of fascinating senators. Theres fighting bob look full of theres president Theodore Roosevelts attorney general and William Howard tafts secretary of state. Was an irreconcilable. There was no way in the world he was going to vote for the treaty. There is a new senator from illinois, mccormick. People say, thats what happened. These people somehow managed to defeat the treaty. Thats the story. And thats not the story at all. Irreconcilables is a complicated character a collocatedes is character. He is our very own senator james reed from kansas city. From 1900 until 1904 when the Convention Center burned and a rebuilt it. He made very clear he was an irreconcilable i will not vote for this treaty because you was an isolationist. But theres something out. He was a racist. And he was a very direct that he league of that the nations, with its dark skinned people, would eventually be able to outvote the white skinned people and impose a new order of racial equality at the national level. I am not using some of his more incendiary quotes because they are public quotes laced with the nword. For some people, the story of story ofd becomes the people who opposed the treaty. Its provincial list bigotry. That is not a good understanding of what happened here either. , in this book, it says, lets take a look at this. A lot of people think cosmopolitans, people who are fluent in filing just, have strong experience abroad, are most likely to be in favor of the treaty. The people who were the most cosmopolitan members of the senate tended to be the ones most opposed to the treaty. For example, this from senator mccormick, he used to brag that he learned to speak french before he learned to speak english. He was very involved with global affairs. But he was opposed to the treaty. The republican who had been president tafts secretary of state, he was irreconcilable, but this is something very interesting. During the senate debate, he announced a revolution we now call the knocks doctrine knox doctrine that announced that in the future if there were any threat to the peace of europe, the United States would regarded consult withr, friendly governments, and consider the possibility of military action. In other words, he was in it irreconcilable, but not an isolationist. The people say, if its not ,tory of those irreconcilables then billy the American Public opinion was not ready for joining the Security Architecture of World Politics . Power without victory, he says its time we kill that myth. We do not have modern opinion polls where we gauge Public Opinion, but we look at where the newspapers are and the evidence is overwhelming. Theres a very strong American Public opinion support for the treaty and for joining the league of nations. Look at that list. , including the st. Louis dispatch favor the treaty. Its incredibly important. A laborer was very and favor with very strong reservations about one component of the treaty, civic groups came out in favor of the treaty and joining the league of nations. 17 state legislatures passed resolutions including california , including the most important points. The league to enforce peace. The evidence that this treaty had the Popular Support to be approved. Viola by the way, there were important individuals. There is the great social worker , jane addams and there is w. E. B. Dubois, both of them very previousted for their support of Woodrow Wilson. Adams, because the president had not been a vigorous supporter of the vote. He had supported in franchising women, but not through a constitutional amendment. Wb the boys, who was unable to articulate strong opposition to lynching or why we needed to stop the race riots. What is interesting is both of them. Things over and decided they nevertheless would support Woodrow Wilson and little league. This is Walter Lippman. By the 1960s and 70s i am , theresave read hardly any serious question of the day that serious americans did not wait to read Walter Lippman to see what they would think about it. He was an advisor to Woodrow Wilson. And in the new republic in the summer of 1919, there was a major attack on the versailles peace treaty. Thousands of subscribers to the new republic canceled their subscriptions, angered at the attack on the president and his league. And he would say 15 years later, if i could do things over again, i would have continued to support Woodrow Wilson and the league. Not only is there strong public support, theres really interesting stuff among key american individuals who are aggravated with the president , reform andhting the International Governance is worth it to try to get to the league. But heres what i think you need to know. Before we start into a couple really important points. I think, using a stop approach, we can get a glimpse of what the balance in the senate was about this treaty and you are going to start to suspect something pretty quickly. This is a trap. If we take the green in the , we can see that three quarters of the senate was willing to join the league and passed the treaty. He opponents were small they were vigorous. They were vociferous. But they can never the votes to stop this treaty. The old question of whether this treaty would go was could be green and the yellow get together . What i want to do for the next little bit is explain why they didnt. Our antagonist. These are impressive leaders. Oodrow wilson the only phd in Political Science to ever become president of the United States. He may have done so badly he will be the only president who has a phd in Political Science. Reputation. A he was an important performer at Princeton University where, even as a christian presbyterian he led the formal secularization. He ended the chaotic system of undergraduate general education. Abolished what they called the fraternities as incompatible. The most important thing is the own. Of its they were shouting that incan lincoln had been elected and there would be war. Hospital was used as an infirmary and a p. O. W. Station and eventually one of the headquarters for the regional federal army of occupation in the south. Woodrow wilson is the only president in the history of the United States to know personally what total defeat looks like. The familiar nation, the bitterness, the sting of it, how it can corrupt the society and it will have a big impact on audi thinks about ending world war i. This is theodore roosevelt. If i ask my students what do you remember about the arose about, they say uh, something about a big stick. What we should remember is he was that weekly, scrawny boy whose father did not know he was heng to survive asthma and told his son, you must remake your body or it will kill you and he became effectively a bodybuilder. I think he had adjusted to two inches. Whats really interesting is, of course, he did that. Greateat cruise of the white fleets. That is under this guy. Both of these guys, wilson and roosevelt are trying to figure chinaat the leaders of are trying to figure out, given that we are the most important economic power on the planet, changeour Foreign Policy to match our economic half . They will be debating what to do with it. Because of his role in ending the russo japa