The U.S. Debate over Membership in the League of Nations

After the end of World War I, the world was weary of war and the ravages that it had taken on the European continent and it would seem reasonable to suggest that policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic would be eager to form some type of league to resolve future conflicts. According to Margulies (1998), "Following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles at the Paris Peace Conference in June 1919, where he played a major role in negotiating that treaty, which established the League of Nations, President Woodrow Wilson turned his attention to persuading the U.S. Senate to ratify the new treaty" (273). The Senate of the 66th Congress was almost equally divided between the Republican Party with 49 and the Democrats who fielded 47 senators (Marguilies). Although the president could rely on the majority of the Democrats...
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