Out of Their League

It has been almost a month since Swipeback Saturday checked in on events of 100 years ago, so let's see how the Republican campaign to scuttle the League of Nations was going, shall we?

A Senate vote to scrap the Treaty of Versailles over its granting of China's Shantung peninsula to Japan failed by at 55 to 45 vote. The Republicans' next objection to the League of Nations was that Great Britain would get six votes to the United States' one.

"The Acid Test of Americanism" by John McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, October 14, 1919

Senator Hiram Johnson (R-CA) introduced an amendment to ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, insisting that Great Britain, including all its colonies and dominions from Canada to Australia, get only one vote. The Republican Chicago Tribune editorialized:

"The British empire is a nation and acts as such, but it seeks to enter the league as six different nations. We might just as reasonably present a claim for a vote for each state in the American union."

"Let's Make It Seven" by Gustavo Bronstrup in San Francisco Chronicle, Oct., 1919

The British Empire would be the only member of the League of nations to enjoy separate membership for its dominions: the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada,  India, New Zealand, and South Africa. French, Portugese, Spanish and Belgian colonies in Asia and Africa were not members separately from their colonial overlords — indeed, independent Liberia was the one and only non-British African country in the League until Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia and Eritrea) joined in 1923.

Regarding Bronstrup's cartoon above, Persia (modern-day Iran) was officially neutral during the war, but British and Ottoman forces fought for control of western Persia's oilfields. The Treaty of Versailles authorized British troops to take control of the region, where they remained until 1921. Britain established a "protectorate" and had a hand in helping Reza Shah Pahlavi overthrow Ahmad Shah Qajar in the coup d'état of that year.

"Getting Some Testimonials" by Albert Reid in Rutland Herald (?), ca. Oct., 1919

Meanwhile, President Wilson was sidelined by a serious stroke. That he was in poor health was well and widely known, even if the full extent of his condition was not public knowledge. Editorial cartoonists, for their part, continued to draw him making the case for the League — as well they might in the absence of any other prominent administration or congressional official stepping forward to hoist the president's standard.

"The Child Who Wanted to Play By Himself" by L. Ravenhall (?) in Punch, ca. Oct., 1919

Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October, 1919 in recognition of his efforts to establish the League. He was, of course, not able to accept the prize until a year later.

"Hope" by W. Clyde Spencer in Omaha World-Herald, ca. Oct., 1919

So what was Germany making of this? Whether the U.S. ratified the peace treaty or not, there was no chance of the European victors of the Great War easing up the treaty's punitive measures toward the vanquished Central Powers.

If U.S. cartoonists were circumspect regarding the president's medical condition, however, at least one German cartoonist wasn't above a little schadenfreude.

"Der Nervenchoc Wilsons" by Arthur Johnson in Kladderadatsch, Berlin, October 12, 1919

(The reference being to Wilson's Fourteen Points.)

"Ding" Darling's cartoon mashing together ratification of the peace treaty and the beginning of the 1920 presidential campaign season, depicts Wilson as an active player, even though he had withdrawn from the race earlier in the year.

"They Do Say Game Is Unusually Plentiful This Year" by J. "Ding" Darling in New York Tribune, October 13, 1919

Sen. Hiram Johnson, whom we mentioned above, also appears in this cartoon as the one menacing-looking waterfowl attacking the GOP elephant. It's worth taking a moment to remember his career: he had been Teddy Roosevelt's running mate on the Progressive ticket in 1912, and was actively seeking the 1920 Republican nomination. He would be disappointed by Republicans who had backed the Bull Moose ticket; they coalesced around General Leonard Wood (one of the ducks in the water with Pershing and Hoover) instead. He could have had the Progressive Party's nomination for the asking, but he decided he wasn't interested.

He would go on to a lengthy career in the Senate, always in opposition to the U.S. getting involved in international affairs, including World War II. He died on the very day that the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.