Presidents versus Senators by F. Martin Harmon

Author:F. Martin Harmon [Harmon, F. Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781476683140
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2021-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

President Woodrow Wilson’s hope for a League of Nations to end the prospect of future wars and ensure world peace was met with contention in the United States Senate, as depicted in this political cartoon from that era. In it, the President is pictured realizing he cannot make his League work within the parameters and oversight of the U.S. Constitution, as a disapproving Uncle Sam looks on (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division—Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-30948).

Finally, on November 19, the Democrats received a hand delivered letter from the President advising them to refuse support for the Foreign Relations Committee (or Lodge) reservations. That same day, the Senate voted on the treaty with the Lodge reservations included and the Dems joining with the ­Borah-led Republican Irreconcilables, who opposed ratification in any form, to easily defeat that option 53 to 38. Upon that vote being taken, Lodge turned to a nearby colleague and reputedly said, “The door is closed.” Nationwide reaction to that news was, according to Schriftgiesser, “consternation and regret.” There followed a demand for compromise in the Senate Chamber, as Democrats believed public opinion demanded further consideration and even Lodge agreed to the effort.29

At the start of a new congressional session after Thanksgiving, Lodge contended that the President should withdraw entirely from the process, putting reconsideration back in committee, but the scheme was blocked, causing the majority leader to stand pat on the reservations, a clear sign he was in no compromising mood. A bipartisan committee of 10 senators was then proposed with Lodge clearly in opposition to the idea until the Republican “­middle-grounders,” as Schriftgiesser described them, reputedly warned him they would ignore his leadership unless he at least attempted a compromise. That’s how things stood until after the holidays and when the Democrats ­re-gathered for their caucus on January 8, 1920, another letter from the President was waiting on them. Schriftgiesser also provided the following excerpts from that Wilson message: “‘Personally, I do not accept the action of the Senate as the decision of the nation. We cannot rewrite this treaty. We must take it without changes, which would alter its meaning, or leave it and face the unthinkable task of making another, separate kind of treaty with Germany.’ Otherwise, ‘the clear and single way out’ would be to ‘submit the question to the voters of the nation in the next election [1920], making it a great and solemn referendum.’” For the Democrats, Wilson’s political solution seemed less than ideal as they continued to press for compromise, but Lodge accepted the President’s electoral challenge and made the case that it was the nation’s chief executive, who was unyielding, “not himself.”30

Threatened by the 16 Irreconcilables in his own party, however, Lodge was in no position to compromise either and rumors of him surrendering to pressure from across the aisle, the administration, or even the general public were greatly exaggerated. Ultimately, neither side, Democrats or Republicans, were willing, in Schriftgiesser’s words, “to run the risk of giving the other side any chance to claim victory.

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