For such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight
January 8, 2018 2:59 PM Subscribe
100 years ago today, Woodrow Wilson publishes the Fourteen Points. In a speech to Congress, the president laid the groundwork for ending the First World War and establishing a new world order. The points range from secret treaties to national details to a call for what will become the League of Nations. (Yale Law, WikiSource)
The Library of Congress reproduces Wilson's notes in shorthand.
Prreviously.
The Library of Congress reproduces Wilson's notes in shorthand.
Prreviously.
No "Suppression of the IWW?"
Also, I don't think the cartoonist who drew "European Baby Show" was working for peace.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:35 PM on January 8, 2018
Also, I don't think the cartoonist who drew "European Baby Show" was working for peace.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:35 PM on January 8, 2018
This was introduced to my US history class in high school as "How NOT to end a war"
posted by aniola at 3:55 PM on January 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 3:55 PM on January 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Indeed, Wretch729, and a reaction to the Bolsheviks publishing Entente/Allied secret treaties.
No mention of the IWW indeed, GenjiandProust. Jailing Debs comes about five months ahead; I hope to post about that on a similar schedule.
posted by doctornemo at 7:33 PM on January 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
No mention of the IWW indeed, GenjiandProust. Jailing Debs comes about five months ahead; I hope to post about that on a similar schedule.
posted by doctornemo at 7:33 PM on January 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
Wilson is a weird one in the historical record, who I think was horrible on many levels but he's bracketed by Taft and Harding (then Coolidge and Hoover) and I think that help him get way too much respect.
He was definitely out of his depth in the negotiations at Versailles--his counterparts were used to parliamentary debates and he'd never been anything but an executive: professor, university president, governor, president. His strength was pontificating, not deal making. The French got a lot of what they wanted by supporting the British in the international concerns, and then everyone else left bitter and betrayed. The further south and east you went the more ridiculous things got.
And the first link makes it clear Wilson completed the circle of incompetence by being unable to negotiate domestically, either, and refusing to accept Republican support that would have gotten ratification on reasonable terms.
On the other hand even with hindsight I can't imagine a good peace after that war. The post made me look at some of the demographics in disputed regions and I think it was basically predestined that things were going to be disputed in future wars, whether right away or WWII.
posted by mark k at 9:55 PM on January 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
He was definitely out of his depth in the negotiations at Versailles--his counterparts were used to parliamentary debates and he'd never been anything but an executive: professor, university president, governor, president. His strength was pontificating, not deal making. The French got a lot of what they wanted by supporting the British in the international concerns, and then everyone else left bitter and betrayed. The further south and east you went the more ridiculous things got.
And the first link makes it clear Wilson completed the circle of incompetence by being unable to negotiate domestically, either, and refusing to accept Republican support that would have gotten ratification on reasonable terms.
On the other hand even with hindsight I can't imagine a good peace after that war. The post made me look at some of the demographics in disputed regions and I think it was basically predestined that things were going to be disputed in future wars, whether right away or WWII.
posted by mark k at 9:55 PM on January 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Clemenceau famously commented with something to the effect of, “I grow weary of Mr. Wilson and his fourteen points. God himself was content to stop at ten.”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:44 PM on January 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:44 PM on January 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
"The American President, Wilson, patently a sanctimonious hypocrite, a Tartuffe in pious Quaker guise, travels around blood-drained Europe as the highest representative of morality, as the Messiah of the US dollar, chastising, pardoning and deciding the fates of nations." -- Leon Trotsky
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 1:49 PM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 1:49 PM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by Wretch729 at 3:32 PM on January 8, 2018