Paris Peace Conference--(1919-1920)

This inquiry considers the nature of the treaty ratification debates in France, England, and the United States from the June 28, 1919 signing of the Versailles Treaty until its final repudiation by the U.S. Senate in March 1920. It has two main linked objectives: to examine the agendas of Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and Wilson and the strategies each employed in their attempts to convince their constituents to accept the treaty package, and to argue that the peace these executives negotiated was by no means a foregone conclusion at the treaty signing since legislative approval was required in each case. In each country, objections to the Treaty were closely linked to the personalities and actions of each negotiator. Opposition to the treaty developed long before the delegates ever assembled at Paris. Prompted in part by a curious gap in historical scholarship in the time frame between the ceremony at Versailles and the decade of the 1920's, this thesis endeavors to prove that matters disputed after the conclusion of deliberations with Germany were actually a continuation of, rather than a reaction to, the politics conducted during the war itself.