WOODROW WILSON BRITISH PERSPECTIVES, 1912-21 Woodrow Wilson British Perspectives, 1912-21 G. R. Conyne Lecturer in History University ofK ent Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978-1-349-22161-5 ISBN 978-1-349-22159-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-22159-2 ©G.R.Conyne1992 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992 978-0-333-54168-5 All rights reserved. For information, write: Scholarly and Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 First published in the United States of America in 1992 ISBN 978-0-312-07951-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Conyne, G. R. Woodrow Wilson: British perspectives, 1912-21 I G. R. Conyne. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-07951-2 1. Wilson, Woodrow, 1856--1924--Public opinion. 2. United States -Foreign relations-Great Britain. 3. Great Britain-Foreign relations-United States. 4. United States-Foreign relations-1913-1921. 5. Public opinion-Great Britain -History-20th century. I. Title. E767.l.C66 1992 91-42967 973.91'3-dc20 CIP For my parents and in memory of Marion McMaster Contents Preface viii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 1 Before the War, 1912-1914 7 2 Neutrality 44 3 The War, 1917 104 4 1918: Danger, Victory and Confusions 121 5 Face to Face in Paris 155 6 After Versailles: The Rapid End 183 7 Conclusions 190 Appendix 198 Notes 208 Bibliography 233 Index 238 vii Preface Although this piece is written in a traditional chronological, narrative style, it is not a typical piece of historical writing. Instead, it is more a series of portraits of Woodrow Wilson as painted by the shapers of British foreign relations. I hope the reader will realise that these Britons created an image on Wilson very early in their period of watching him, and then added the detail, subtle shadings, and minor features not noticed earlier during the nine years that they watched him. This is not to say that official Britain all agreed that a single portrait of Wilson was accurate on any one occasion, but that these mental portraits accentuate different features of the subject, as much the famous portraits of Wilson by William Orpen and John Singer Sargent do. I also wish to draw the reader's attention to the intellec tual background of the portraits as it influenced the way the diplo matists perceived Wilson. These mental portraits are one influence on the course of Anglo American relations because they lie at the base of how the govern ment of the most important Allied combatant viewed the sole de signer of the foreign policy of the new industrial giant. There were many others, but this is among the most important because of Wilson's aloofness from all advice in the direction of foreign rela tions. I hope, then, that this book allows for a deeper understanding of Anglo-American relations during this critical period by illuminat ing this central relationship. viii Acknowledgements This book had its origins in a PhD written at the University of Cambridge under the direction Dr Zara Steiner, as wise a mentor as one could wish. In that work's acknowledgements, I thanked numer ous scholars, librarians, and computer experts who helped me navi gate my way through the difficult academic shoals. I take pleasure in doing so again. There are two that must receive my thanks again. They are Charlotte Erickson, for her support and counsel, and John Wells Gould, who fired my interest in diplomatic history. In that space I also wrote of the vital role my friends played in the produc tion of that work. In this regard Patrick Kleyn, Richard Sparks, and Peter Arnold have continued their oft-needed support, and I am eager to state how important they were in the writing of this volume. Since that time, I have acquired numerous other debts that can only be partially repaid by thanking them in this space. Three friends from my graduate students days have offered their kind support in numerous vital ways. So I am pleased to thank Sean Matthews, Chris Weitz, and Scott Handy. Most directly important to the publication of this book are Michael Dockrill, the series editor, Belinda Holds worth, and all those at my publishers who have have shown great patience with my attention to unfortunately necessary diversions. In addition, my colleagues, students, and friends at the University of Keele gave me many kindnesses and gave my difficulties on the way to finishing this book a substantial share of their attention. In particu lar I have enjoyed the support of David Adams, Peter Sykes, Mary Ellison, Matthew Dann, Simon Flint, Gary Sloan, William Moore, Christopher Wakeling, Peter and Judy Thomas, Kelvin Yearwood, and the members of the Department of American Studies not men tioned here. Of course I am also indebted to Professor Arthur Link and my current colleagues at the University of Kent for their support and encouragement. They have all made important contributions, either directly or indirectly, to the completion of this book. I owe each of them more than I can state here. George Conyne Canterbury, January 1991 ix The situation is not satisfactory and we are drifting towards serious misunderstandings ..... Sir William Wiseman, August 1917 President Wilson's terms are capable of varying interpretations. Ronald Graham, December 1918 X Introduction The Wilson administration started at an unusual moment in United States history. Woodrow Wilson held office at a time when the United States was first exercising power on the world stage. It was also, perhaps, the last time when a very small elite conducted the foreign policy of nations, including the United States, with little or no reference to public sentiment. In Britain, the Foreign Office under Sir Edward Grey, who served from 1905 to 1916, paid little heed to outsiders in policy creation, preferring to rely on their own observa tions. When they examined the United States policy under President Wilson, they found policy-making quite centralised and quite differ ent from that of his Republican predecessors. As President Wilson was virtually the sole American foreign policy-maker throughout almost the whole of his tenure, British views of his character and personality became very important as determinants of British foreign policy during the years 1913 to 1921. The diplomatists did not view Wilson in a vacuum, but against a backdrop of conventional wisdom, the essence of which can be found in the travelogues and studies of the United States published in the years shortly before the war. These ranged in quality from the sober judgements of James Bryce in American Commonwealth to the gossipy travel narratives of members of London society. This is not to say that they reflect a single, clear picture of the United States, or that there was a single view ofthe United States in Britain. However, as these were written by members of the social elite of which British diplomatists were part, they deserve study because they often state explicitly the underlying assumptions of British diplomatists. Beckles Willson noted in his The New America: A Study of the Imperial Republic, that there were two schools of thought about the character of the nation in late nineteenth-century Britain. One school saw the United States as a great and noble free civilisation, and a redresser of imbalances and injustices of the Old World. For this school, the United States had perfected its institutions of government. The second school saw the nation as a land whose people were 'lop-eared and shaggy' and 'hulking and raw-boned'. This school saw the United States as populated with dyspeptic braggarts, corrupt politicians, and extravagant millionaires. While not all writers used such 1