The outbreak and aftermath of World War I is arguably the most significant period of the 20th and 21st centuries. By the end of the war, empires had fallen, new national boundaries were drawn, Russia was fundamentally changed, the precursor to the United Nations (the League of Nations) was created, new methods of warfare had been used to devastating effect, the fragile and ineffective peace treaty quickly fell apart, and as many predicted, the inconclusive War to End All Wars would result in a sequel. Among these many world-shaping factors was the involvement of the United States in the European conflict.
America’s Big Three
After the armistice was signed inside a train car in Compiègne, France, on Nov. 11, 1918, there were three individuals who oversaw the brokering of the peace negotiations in the following summer of 1919 in Paris: U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. They were known as the “Big Three.” But before Armistice Day (what Americans call Veterans Day) and well beyond the European continent, there were another “Big Three” in the United States: Wilson, former President Theodore Roosevelt, and social reformer Jane Addams.
“When the war began in the summer of 1914, a lot of Americans were absolutely shocked,” Mr. Lanctot said. “They couldn’t believe such a thing like this was happening in the 20th century. It just seemed so barbaric.”
Wilson’s View
By the time the war broke out, Wilson had been president for approximately a year and a half. He, too, felt the war, as unfortunate as it was, should not involve America. He thought, perhaps, that once the leaders of the warring nations either came to their senses or finally tired of fighting, America could play a role in peace negotiations (something Roosevelt had won a Nobel Peace Prize for when he assisted in brokering peace between Russia and Japan).
Roosevelt’s View
During this time, Roosevelt, who had lost a bid for a third term as president in 1912, believed Wilson was leaving America vulnerable in various ways and became a very vocal critic of Wilson and his policies.“He hates Woodrow Wilson. He detests him,” Mr. Lanctot said of Roosevelt. “Roosevelt, I think, sort of initially agreed with Wilson’s perspective as far as the war was concerned, ... but within a short time he came to conclude that Wilson had totally botched this.”
Mr. Lanctot added that it didn’t help that Roosevelt believed he could have done a much better job at leading the country and convincing the European powers to pursue the better angels of their nature.
Wilson’s Battle
In Wilson’s defense, while Europeans battled each other, Wilson was battling extreme grief over the death of his wife, First Lady Ellen Wilson. She died on Aug. 6, 1914, just days after the war began. Mr. Lanctot said that the only thing that helped Wilson mentally and emotionally was his workload.“There’s no question that he was having a kind of breakdown after his wife died,” Lanctot said. “Whether it affected his job capabilities, I’m not so sure. He was a very driven person. ... He dealt with emotional issues and problems and discomfort by throwing himself into his work. ... His whole belief system about himself was based on self-mastery―being able to keep a grip on your emotions.”
Addams’s View
Mr. Lanctot said that Addams was known around the world for her work in social reforms and her involvement with Chicago’s Hull House, a settlement house for European immigrants. She had used her celebrity for the women’s suffrage movement, until the outbreak of World War I.“When this happens, she really shifts most of her attention to this other great cause which was pacifism,” he said. “When we say pacifism, we shouldn’t think of it as nonviolent pacifism. Her idea was more of a dynamic pacifism that the United States should be doing everything in its power to find a way to get the two sides to start talking. Get them to the peace table. Her big idea, which she supported and tried to get Wilson interested in, was some sort of conference of neutrals, which would be that the United States and other neutral powers would get together and that would act like a bridge to a larger peace conference in the future.”
Mr. Lanctot acknowledged that Addams isn’t known very well today, but during the late 19th and early 20th century, she was one of the most well-known Americans in the world. She was known as a thoughtful and influential person, who, despite being a woman in a male-dominated world, commanded respect from those in high places. Hardly was this more obvious than during her time in Europe.
Deterrence by Preparedness
Roosevelt and Addams had been political allies during the lead up to the 1912 election. Roosevelt’s third party, the Progressive Party, had attracted Addams. The two, however, diverged concerning the war and America’s response, with Addams moving closer to Wilson. Roosevelt had been promoting the idea of “military preparedness.” He believed America should have been creating a deterrent against European aggression, something that Germany continued to exploit through its on-off-and-on-again unrestricted submarine warfare.
“I think [Roosevelt] was right on this one,” Mr. Lanctot said. “He would have built up our defenses and our military to such a degree that the Germans would never have been as cavalier in their behavior towards us. This was the argument Roosevelt expressed multiple times against Wilson.
“When the war begins, we have a pathetically small army. We have a 100,000-man army, and there’s not much we can do. This is why Roosevelt gets behind this preparedness movement that we have to be ready for this war, and if not this war, then the next one that’s coming. And Roosevelt even said [he] could see that if Germany came out ahead in this war they might team up with Japan in the future. Which is interesting that he was already able to see that happening in the future.”
‘A Crack in the Door’
Wilson, indeed, did not possess Roosevelt’s foresight. He strenuously worked to maintain neutrality, even badgering the British about their flouting international law and interfering with American trade. There were several moments when Americans lost their lives due to Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare, none more famous than the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, but Wilson remained steady, and for a time Germany rescinded their unrestricted warfare.
Wilson utilized that steadfastness to secure his reelection in 1916 with the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War.” America’s arm’s length involvement, however, was to shorten to face-to-face after Germany resumed their unrestricted submarine warfare and then sent what became known as the Zimmerman Telegram, a communication with Mexico requesting their military assistance against America, which led Wilson to sever diplomatic ties with Germany. According to Mr. Lanctot, however, the Zimmerman Telegram was just one of many factors, and a minor one at that, which led to Wilson requesting a declaration of war from Congress only a month after beginning his second term.
Alternative Views
During World War I and after its 1919 conclusion, and even after the war’s sequel (World War II), many commented on whether America’s involvement in The Great War was the right decision. Mr. Lanctot recalled what Johann-Heinrich von Bernstorff, the German ambassador to America, pondered.
“[Bernstorff] said that had America not gotten involved in this war it is quite possible that there would have been a draw, neither side would have gotten the upper hand, and that might have been better off overall for Europe and it may not have led to the problems that unfolded in the 1920s and the rise of Hitler,” Mr. Lanctot said. “We can’t know for certain that would have happened, ... but it certainly offers a scenario that getting involved in this war could have been a mistake.”
Mr. Lanctot added that by the 1930s, many Americans viewed U.S. involvement as a mistake not to be repeated. He noted there was a belief that Americans had been “tricked” by bankers and munitions industrialists. It left a very bitter taste in the mouths of Americans. The historian said this was one of the reasons why President Franklin Roosevelt found it so difficult to convince Americans of the threats arising in Europe at the start of World War II.
“If there had been polling in 1917, I think many Americans would not have been in favor of going to war,” Mr. Lanctot said. “I think Wilson, if he wanted to, could have probably kept us out of the war in 1917. He would have been strongly criticized by people like Roosevelt, but I suspect that much of the American population would have said we can stay out of this war.”
