I agree with Alex that President Wilson gave great insight into the philosophy behind the League of Nations. Woodrow Wilson was forced by circumstance to leave his pacifistic policy of international diplomacy and instead bear the psychic armor of war. His mission to Versailles and the almost messianic reception he received from throngs of cheering French men and women was his road to Damascus. The vision he saw was the potential of redemption for the bloodshed that he unleashed. However, the failure of the Allies to accept the Fourteen Points presented as an enticement for armistice coupled with Wilson’s lack of power to sign a treaty without Congressional ratification all but destroyed his bargaining power. Wilson’s final glory was the creation of the League of Nations. His fervent belief that the war must stand for a higher purpose than mere political boundaries radicalized him and sent him on a cross country journey appeal to all Americans. Wilson, in his own words, felt deeply guilty when mothers “who lost their sons in France . . . said “God bless you, Mr. President.” “Why should they weep upon my hand and call down the blessings of God upon me?” he asks aloud, knowing that his orders were the instruments of death for those young men? It was because they believed this war was fought to protect the liberty of all peoples and “to see to it that there was never such a war again.” To prevent the horror of future wars, Wilson gave his very life to promote the League of Nations. To end a war with a compromise that does not effectively resolve conflicts or creates an abused underclass (e.g. the unresolved issue of slavery in the case of the American Revolution) only leads to further war. The tragedy here was that Wilson was well aware of this fact, and like Cassandra of Greek mythology, he was not believed when he told this simple but profound truth and thus, powerless to affect a change. Woodrow Wilson may have had a stroke, but he died of a broken heart.
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