Woodrow Wilson

by John Milton Cooper, Jr.

  31. New York Times, Dec. 6, 1919. Finley Peter Dunne was the satirical newspaper columnist, best known for his fictional Chicago Irish American bartender, “Mr. Dooley.”

  32. Ibid.

  33. Gilbert Hitchcock pamphlet, “Brief View of the Late War and the Struggle for Peace Aims,” Jan. 13, 1925, Gilbert W. Hitchcock Papers, LC; New York Times, Dec. 15, 1919.

  34. Draft statement, [ca. Dec. 17, 1919], PWW, vol. 64.

  35. On the list of senators, see PWW, vol. 64, n. 1.

  36. On the efforts to reconsider the treaty, see Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  37. JPT to WW, Dec. 28, 1919, PWW, vol. 64. On Edward Grey’s mission and Charles Kennedy Craufurd-Stuart, see PWW, vol. 63, n. 1. For a detailed rendition of the incident, see Phyllis Lee Levin, Edith and Woodrow: The Wilson White House (New York, 2001).

  38. JPT draft, [Jan. 6, 1920], PWW, vol. 64, pp., 247–49; EBGW handwritten addition, [Jan. 7, 1920], PWW, vol. 64. See also Houston, Wilson’s Cabinet, vol. 2.

  39. Philadelphia Public Ledger, Jan. 11, 1920; New York Times, Jan. 23, 1920. On the bipartisan conference, see Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  40. JPT to EBGW, Jan. 15, 1920, PWW, vol. 64. See also RL desk diary, entries for Jan. 14 and 15, 1920, PWW, vol. 64 and EBGW notes, [ca. Jan. 14, 1920], PWW, vol. 64, n. 1.

  41. JPT draft, Jan. 15, 1920, PWW, vol. 64; JPT to EBGW, Jan. 17, 1920, PWW, vol. 64.

  42. RSBD, entry for Jan. 23, 1920, PWW, vol. 64. The neurologist, Bert E. Park, uses the terms “focal psychosyndrome” and “caricature of himself” to describe Wilson’s condition. See Park, “The Aftermath of Wilson’s Stroke,” PWW, vol. 64. Other neurologists are less categorical about divorcing such conditions from the effects of isolation.

  43. CTG to SA, Jan. 24, 1920, PWW, vol. 64; RSBD, entry for Jan. 23, 1920, PWW, vol. 64; WW to Gilbert Hitchcock, Jan. 26, 1920, PWW, vol. 64. The editors of The Papers of Woodrow Wilson state that Tumulty wrote this letter to Hitchcock. See PWW, vol. 64, n. 1. Its tone and approach persuade me, however, that Wilson either dictated it or substantially revised it. On this new referendum scheme, see EBGW to Albert S. Burleson, with enclosed list, Jan. 28, 1920, PWW, vol. 64, and Burleson to EBGW, Jan. 28, 1920, PWW, vol. 64.

  44. CTG note, n.d., quoted in PWW, vol. 64, n. 1. For Grayson’s divulgences about the resignation scheme, see EMHD, entry for June 10, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; John W. Davis diary, entry for Sept. 2, 1920, quoted in PWW, vol. 64, n. 1; and RSBD, entry for Nov. 28, 1920, PWW, vol. 66. For the treatment of the matter by the editors of The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, see PWW, vol. 64, n. 1.

  45. RSBD, entry for Feb. 5, [1920], PWW, vol. 64. On British and French attitudes toward the deadlock, see George W. Egerton, Great Britain and the Creation of the League of Nations: Strategy Politics, and International Organization, 1914–1919 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1978).

  46. WW to RL, Feb. 7, 1920, PWW, vol. 64; RL memorandum, Feb. 7, 1920, PWW, vol. 64; RL to WW, Feb. 9, 1920, PWW, vol. 64. In his memorandum, Lansing also speculated that Tumulty, a Catholic, might have conspired against him because he was active in the Inter Church World Movement, a Protestant organization.

  47. Memoir; JPT, Wilson As I Know Him.

  48. Carter Glass to WW, Feb. 9, 1920, PWW, vol. 64; EBGW to Glass, [Feb. 11, 1920], PWW, vol. 64. Edith Wilson’s letter is a handwritten draft; a reply from Glass indicates that he received a more polished version.

  49. Diplomatic note sent by RL to Hugh C. Wallace, Feb. 10, 1920, PWW, vol. 64. For Wilson’s restoration of harsh language, n. 1.

  50. WW to RL, Feb. 11, 1920, PWW, vol. 64; RL to WW, Feb. 12, 1920, PWW, vol. 64; RL memorandum, Feb. 13, 1920, PWW, vol. 64. On Long’s visit to the White House, see Breckinridge Long diary, entry for Feb. 13, 1920, Breckinridge Long Papers, box 2, LC.

  51. RSBD, entry for Feb. 15, [1920], PWW, vol. 64; New York Times, Feb. 11, 1920; Philadelphia Press, Feb. 16, 1920.

  52. Literary Digest, Feb. 28, 1920; McAdoo to Zach Lamar Cobb, Feb. 25, 1920, William Gibbs McAdoo Papers, box 230, LC.

  53. CTG memorandum, Feb. 25, 1920, PWW, vol. 64.

  54. HCL, quoted in Raymond Clapper diary, entry for Feb. 25, 1920, Raymond Clapper Papers, box 6, LC.

  55. Keynes, The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, ed. Elizabeth Johnson, vol. 2, The Economic Consequences of the Peace (Cambridge, U.K., 1971); JPT to WW, Feb. 27, 1920, PWW, vol. 64. Whether Tumulty sent this letter is not clear. The only copy is in Tumulty’s papers, not Wilson’s, and there is no record of a reply from Wilson. On the publication of Keynes’s book in America, see Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  56. Edward N. Hurley, The Bridge to France (Philadelphia, 1927). On this meeting and whether there was any follow-up, see Homer Cummings diary, entry for Feb. 29, 1920, PWW, vol. 64; Albert S. Burleson to JPT, Mar. 5, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; and Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  57. WW draft, [ca. Feb. 28, 1920], PWW, vol. 6.

  58. WW to Gilbert Hitchcock, Mar. 8, 1920, PWW, vol. 65.

  59. Washington Post, Mar. 9, 1920; New York World, Mar. 10, 1920; 66th Cong., 2nd Sess., Congressional Record 4050–51 (Mar. 9, 1920). On the final debate and vote on reservations, see Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  60. On this final day and the voting, see Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  61. On the repercussions of the vote and Lodge’s intentions, see Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  62. For a consideration of the meaning of the League fight, see Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  63. CTG memoranda, Mar. 20 and 25, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; CTG, Woodrow Wilson: An Intimate Memoir (New York, 1960).

  24 DOWNFALL

  1. CTG memoranda, Mar. 25, 26, and 31, 1920, PWW, vol. 65.

  2. CTG memoranda, Mar. 25 and 31, 1920, PWW, vol. 65.

  3. CTG memorandum, Apr. 13, 1920, PWW, vol. 65.

  4. JDD, entry for Apr. 14, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; RL desk diary, entry for April 14, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; David F. Houston, Eight Years with Wilson’s Cabinet, 1913–1920 (Garden City, N.Y., 1926), vol. 2. See also CTG memorandum, Apr. 14, 1920, PWW, vol. 65.

  5. Sir Auckland Geddes to David Lloyd George, June 4, 1920, PWW, vol. 65.

  6. See CTG to Cleveland H. Dodge, May 29, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; CTG to Frances X. Dercum, June 7, 1920, PWW, vol. 65.

  7. CTGD, entries for Apr. [20], 1920; May 3, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; WW to William Royal Wilder, May 3, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; Charles E. Swem to JPT, June 3, 1930, quoted in PWW, vol. 65, n. 4.

  8. Marc Peter to Giuseppe Motta, May 28, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; Sir Auckland Geddes to David Lloyd George, June 4, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; WW draft statement, [May 24, 1920], PWW, vol. 65.

  9. WW message, May 24, 1920, PWW, vol. 65. On the Senate action, see John Milton Cooper, Jr., Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations (New York, 2001).

  10. WW veto message, May 27, 1920, PWW, vol. 65. On the override vote, seventeen Democrats voted in favor, and two Republicans voted against. On the Knox resolution, see Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  11. Homer Cummings diary, entry for May 31, [1920], PWW, vol. 65.

  12. WW notes, [ca. June 10, 1920], PWW, vol. 65.

  13. Carter Glass memorandum, June 16, 1920, PWW, vol. 65. See also Woolley, “Politics Is Hell,” Robert W. Woolley Papers, box 44, LC.

  14. New York World, June 18, 1920. On Tumulty’s intentions, see PWW, vol. 65, n. 1.

  15. New York World, June 18, 1920.

  16. Carter Glass memorandum, June 19, 1920, PWW, vol. 65, p., 435. For Glass’s discouragement of a third term, see New York Times, June 21, 1920.

  17. On this convention, see Wesley Marvin Bagby, The Road to Normalcy: The Presidential Campaign and Election of 1920 (Baltimore, 1962).

  18. Albert S. Burleson to Daniel C. Roper, July 12, 1920, quoted in PWW, vol. 65, n. 3. See also New York Times, June 29, 1920.

  19. See CTGD, entries for July 3 [and July 6] 1920, PWW, vol.
65; Charles E. Swem diary, entry for [ca. July 6, 1920], PWW, vol. 65; Bainbridge Colby to WW, July 2, 1920, PWW, vol. 65. Colby used Homer Cummings’s code in the telegraph to Wilson. Swem claimed that Wilson dictated to Edith a telegram in reply approving Colby’s plan (see Swem diary, entry for [ca. July 6, 1920], PWW, vol. 65), but no copy of such a telegram survives, and Colby did not mention it in his communications with Wilson.

  20. JPT to EBGW, July 4, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; Irwin Hood Hoover, Forty-two Years in the White House (Boston, 1934), quoted in PWW, vol. 65, n. 2. On the meeting in San Francisco, see Colby to WW, July 4, 1920, PWW, vol. 65; Cummings memorandum, [July 3 and 4, 1920], PWW, vol. 65. Cummings recalled that two meetings took place on July 4, and not all the men named may have been present at both of them. On the move to fire Albert Burleson, see James Kerney, The Political Education of Woodrow Wilson (New York, 1926). Ike Hoover’s memoir also states that Tumulty kept Burleson “afloat.”

  21. Franklin D. Roosevelt to Claude G. Bowers, quoted in James M. Cox, Journey through My Years (New York, 1946); Memoir. See also CTGD, entries for July 18 and 19, 1920, PWW, vol. 65, 529.

  22. Charles E. Swem diary, entry for July 26, 1920, PWW, vol. 65. See also Edmund W. Starling with Thomas Sugrue, Starling of the White House: The Story of the Man Whose Secret Service Detail Guarded Five Presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Franklin D. Roosevelt (New York, 1946).

  23. William W. Hawkins interview, [Sept. 27, 1920], PWW, vol. 66.

  24. WW statement, [Oct. 3, 1920], PWW, vol. 66.

  25. WW to Selden P. Spencer, Oct, 6, 1920, PWW, vol. 66; Homer Cummings memorandum, Oct. 5, 1920, PWW, vol. 66.

  26. WW to Warren G. Harding, Oct. 18, 1920, PWW, vol. 66; WW speech, Oct. 27, 1920, PWW, vol. 66.

  27. WW to James M. Cox, Oct. 29, 1920, PWW, vol. 66.

  28. Voters had not so much turned against the Democrats as they had stayed home. Thanks to the Nineteenth Amendment, nationwide woman suffrage boosted the total vote, but in percentages, participation fell. For the first time in American history, less than half of all eligible voters cast ballots in a presidential election. For a good assessment of the election results, see Bagby, Road to Normalcy.

  29. Henry J. Allen to White, Mar. 23, 1920, William Allen White Papers, series E, box 51, LC.

  30. Bagby, Road to Normalcy. On the role of foreign policy in the election, see Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World.

  31. Charles E. Swem diary, entry for Nov. 3, 1920, PWW, vol. 66; SA to Jessie Wilson Sayre, Nov. 4, 1920, PWW, vol. 66; Homer Cummings memorandum, [Nov. 6, 1920], PWW, vol. 66; WW to Bainbridge Colby, Nov. 6, 1920, PWW, vol. 66.

  32. A. Mitchell Palmer to WW, Jan. 30, 1921, PWW, vol. 67; WW notation, PWW, vol. 67, n. 8; Ida M. Tarbell memorandum, May 22, 1922, PWW, vol. 68.

  33. WW to Lawrence C. Woods, Dec. 1, 1920, PWW, vol. 66. On Tumulty’s role and the functioning of the government, see editors’ comments, PWW, vol. 63, n. 6, and vol. 66.

  34. RSBD, entry for Nov. 28, 1920, PWW, vol. 66; EBGW to RSB, Nov. 30, 1920, PWW, vol. 66.

  35. RSBD, entry for Dec. 1, 1920, PWW, vol. 66; CTG memorandum, Dec. 6, 1920, PWW, vol. 66.

  36. WW message, Dec. 7, 1920, PWW, vol. 66.

  37. See WW veto message, Mar. 3, 1921, PWW, vol. 67.

  38. Memoir.

  39. For the figure on Wilson’s savings, see New York Tribune, Sept. 27, 1921.

  40. Memoir. On the Wilsons’ finances, see Phyllis Lee Levin, Edith and Woodrow: The Wilson White House (New York: 2001).

  41. Memoir, 308. On the house hunting.

  42. JDD entry on Jan. 17, 1921, PWW, vol. 67.

  43. New York Times, Mar. 5, 1921.

  44. Ibid.

  45. New York World, Mar. 4, 1921. For Wilson’s expression of appreciation, see WW to Frank Cobb, Mar. 7, 1921, PWW, vol. 67.

  25 TWILIGHT

  1. In her memoir, Edith insisted that the painting in the bedroom was a portrait of herself. See Memoir. For descriptions of the house and RSB, “Memorandum of a Talk with Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, January 27, 1925,” RSBP, box 124.

  2. Memoir.

  3. On the routine, see Memoir.

  4. RSBD, entry for Mar. 22, [1921], PWW, vol. 67.

  5. WW to Robert S. Henderson, May 7, 1921, PWW, vol. 67; RSBD, entry for May 25, [1921], PWW, vol. 67. See also SA to John Hibben, June 11, 1921, PWW, vol. 67.

  6. On the law partnership, see Memoir; RSB, “Memorandum of a Talk with Mrs. Woodrow Wilson at 2340 S St., N.W., Washington, D.C., on December 7, 1925,” RSBP, box 124; and Bainbridge Colby, interview by RSB, June 19, 1930, RSBP, box 103.

  7. WW to Colby, Feb. 17, 1918, PWW, vol. 67; WW to Colby, June 10, 1918, vol. 68.

  8. Colby to WW, Aug. 22, 1922, PWW, vol. 68; WW draft letter and telegram to Colby, Aug. 23, 1922, PWW, vol. 68; RSB, “Memorandum of a Talk with Mrs. Woodrow Wilson at 2340 S St., N.W., Washington, D.C., on December 7, 1925,” RSBP, box 124. Edith erroneously recalled that Wilson telephoned Colby; she also recalled that Colby had already entertained second thoughts of his own.

  9. WW to Colby, Nov. 29, 1922; Dec. 14, 1922, PWW, vol. 68. Almost eight years later, when Baker interviewed Colby, he found him almost worshipful in his attitude toward Wilson. See Colby, interview by RSB, June 19, 1930, RSBP, box 103.

  10. WW to William Gibbs McAdoo, Sept. 17, 1922, PWW, vol. 68.

  11. New York Times, Nov. 12, 1921.

  12. WW to Bainbridge Colby, Feb. 24, 1922, PWW, vol. 67; RSBD, entry for Apr. 4, [1922], PWW, vol. 67.

  13. WW notes, Apr. 26, 1922; [ca. May 1], 1922, PWW, vol. 68; WW to J. Franklin Jameson, May 11, 1922, PWW, vol. 68.

  14. WW, “The Road Away from Revolution,” [ca. Apr. 8, 1923], PWW, vol. 68.

  15. George Creel to EBGW, Apr. 19, 1923, PWW, vol. 68; SA, interview by RSB, Sept. 2, 1931, PWW, vol. 68, n. 1.

  16. SA, interview by RSB, Sept. 2, 1931, PWW, vol. 68, n. 1.

  17. On the formation of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, see New York Times, Dec. 29, 1922, and PWW, vol. 68, n. 2.

  18. New York Times, Nov. 12, 1922; Dec. 29, 1922; CTG memorandum, [ca. Dec. 28, 1922], PWW, vol. 68.

  19. WW statement, [ca. Oct. 20, 1921], PWW, vol. 68; WW statement, Nov. 6, 1921, PWW, vol. 67.

  20. WW to John Hessin Clarke, Oct. 27, 1922, PWW, vol. 68; WW to Hamilton Holt, Nov. 5, 1922, PWW, vol. 68.

  21. For Baker’s account of writing Woodrow Wilson and the World Settlement, see RSB, American Chronicle: The Autobiography of Ray Stannard Baker (New York, 1945).

  22. WW to JPT, Apr. 6, 1922, PWW, vol. 67; “Dictated by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, to Give Her Memory of the Tumulty Incident,” Nov. 21, 1924, RSBP, box 124.

  23. JPT to WW, Apr. 10, 1922, PWW, vol. 68; New York Times, Apr. 9, 1922; WW to editor, New York Times, Apr. 12, 1922, PWW, vol. 68; WW to Arthur Krock, Apr. 12, 1912, PWW, vol. 68; Memoir. On the recommendaton of Tumulty for the Senate, see WW to James Kerney, Oct. 30, 1923, PWW, vol. 68, and Kerney, “Last Talks with Woodrow Wilson,” Saturday Evening Post, Mar. 29, 1924, PWW, vol. 68.

  24. Wilson to James F. McCaleb, July 8, 1922, PWW, vol. 68; WW to John Hessin Clarke, Nov. 13, 1922, PWW, vol. 68. After William Cabell Bruce’s victory in the primary, Wilson wrote a bitter letter about him to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. See WW to Cordell Hull, Sept. 12, 1922, PWW, vol. 68.

  25. WW to Frederick I. Thompson, Nov. 4, 1922, PWW, vol. 68.

  26. New York Times, June 10, 1923.

  27. On the McAdoo visit, see RSB, “Memorandum of an Interview with Mrs. Woodrow Wilson—January 4, 1926,” RSBP, box 124.

  28. Ida Tarbell memorandum, May 5, 1922, PWW, vol. 68.

  29. WW to EBGW, [Aug.] 31, 1923, PWW, vol. 68.

  30. Lord Riddell diary, entry for [Sept. 10, 1923], PWW, vol. 68; Margaret Wilson, quoted in Edith Gittings Reid, Woodrow Wilson: The Character, the Myth and the Man (New York, 1934).

  31. WW to Raymond Fosdick, Oct. 22, 1923, PWW, vol. 68; Fosdick to RSB, June 23, 1926, RSBP, box 108.

  32. Fosdick to W
W, Nov. 27, 1923, PWW, vol. 68; WW to Fosdick, Nov. 28, 1923, PWW, vol. 68; Raymond B. Fosdick, Chronicle of a Generation: An Autobiography (New York, 1958).

  33. WW speech, Nov. 10, 1923, PWW, vol. 68.

  34. New York Times, Nov. 12, 1923. See also Arthur Link’s description of the scene in PWW, vol. 68.

  35. New York Times, Dec. 29, 1923.

  36. WW to RSB, Dec. 13, 1923, PWW, vol. 68; WW to NDB, Jan. 20, 1924, PWW, vol. 68; New York Times, Jan. 17, 1924. On the delivery of “The Document,” see Randolph Bolling to NDB, Jan. 21, 1924, PWW, vol. 68, n. 1; 544.

  37. Raymond Fosdick to RSB, June 23, 1926, RSBP, box 103.

  38. WW notes, [ca. Jan. 21, 1924], PWW, vol. 68.

  39. Margaret H. Cobb to WW, Dec. 27, 1923, PWW, vol. 68; WW foreword, [Jan. 6, 1924], to Frank Irving Cobb, Cobb of “The World,” ed. John L. Heaton (New York, 1924), in PWW, vol. 68; Raymond Fosdick to RSB, Jan. 23, 1924, RSBP, box 103.

  40. RSB to WW, Jan. 7, 1924, PWW, vol. 68; WW to RSB, Jan. 8 and 25, 1924, PWW, vol. 68.

  41. RSB, American Chronicle. Two other letters Wilson dictated that day were condolences to an old friend and supporter among the Princeton trustees, Thomas Jones, on the death of his brother David, another friend and supporter, and a brief reply to an inmate in a federal prison who had requested help in having his sentence commuted.

  42. On these days, see Randolph Bolling, “A Brief History of the Last Illness of Honorable Woodrow Wilson,” [Feb. 7 or 8, 1924], PWW, vol. 68.

  43. Bolling memorandum, PWW, vol. 68; White House staff memorandum to Calvin Coolidge, Feb. 2, 1924, PWW, vol. 68; New York Times, Feb. 3 and 4, 1924.

  44. New York Times, Feb. 4, 1924; CTG statement, [Feb. 3, 1924], CTG Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Va.; death certificate, CTG Papers. See also, “Memorandum of Interview with Dr. Cary T. Grayson on February 18, 19, 1926 at Washington,” RSBP, box 109.

  45. Helen Manning Hunter, quoting WHT in Lewis L. Gould to John Milton Cooper, Jr., June 13, 2008.