Hershey, Amos S

English

Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law

Indiana Law JournalVolume 1 | Issue 2 Article 52-1926The Senate and the League of Nations, by HenryCabot LodgeAmos S. HersheyIndiana UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/iljPart of the International Law Commons, and the Law and Politics CommonsThis Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the LawSchool Journals at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been acceptedfor inclusion in Indiana Law Journal by an authorized administrator ofDigital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contactwattn@indiana.edu.Recommended CitationHershey, Amos S. (1926) "The Senate and the League of Nations, by Henry Cabot Lodge," Indiana Law Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 2, Article 5.Available at: http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol1/iss2/5BOOK REVIEWSThe Senate and the League of Nations. By Henry Cabot Lodge. Pp. 424.New York, Scribners. Price $4.00.The above title is somewhat of a misnomer. The title should be "Lodgeversus Wilson". The first chapter on the "Beginning of the Wilson Admin-istration," etc., is an attempt to show that Senator Lodge's earlier relationswith President Wilson were friendly. He then proceeds to indicate insuccessive chapters on "Mexico," "The Lusitania," etc., how he graduallycame to distrust the President. He insists repeatedly that he never hadany personal hostility to Wilson. "Methinks he doth protest too much."The book is essentially a defense of Henry Cabot Lodge and an attack onWoodrow Wilson. Apart from two chapters on "The League of Nations"and "The League in the Senate," there is very little that can be regardedas real contributions to our knowledge of the great debate. Chapter Xconstitutes a convenient reference for the Lodge Reservations. There arenearly two hundred pages of appendices-almost as much as the text---of which the White House conference of August 19, 1919 consumes eightypages. With the exception of several of Senator Lodge's own speeches, mostof the matter published by way of appendix is readily accessible elsewhereand the space might well have been devoted to a summary or an analysisof the Senate debate.If this volume contributes little to our historical or political knowledge, itdoes, however, throw considerable light on psychology-the psychology ofMr. Lodge.This persistent, mean-spirited attempt to expose Wilson's shortcomingsand impugn his motives throws a lurid light on Lodge's own petty weak-nesses and pitiable state of mind, so that one is tempted to exclaim: "Oh,shades of Henry Adams and Theodore Roosevelt! What do you think ofyour former friend, Henry Cabot Lodge?"The most amusing illustration of Lodge's mode of attack occurs on pp.220-221. It appears that Mr. Wilson was unquestionably a man of ability,but he was not a scholar in the true sense of the term. This is shown bythe fact that the Senator has noticed but one classical allusion in any ofWilson's writings or speeches; and an examination of this sole allusion re-veals the horrifying fact that, according to Wilson, "Hercules needed thetouch of mother earth;" whereas every school boy knows that the referenceshould be to Antmus. The delicious point Senator Lodge makes is that "itseems incredible that Mr. Wilson should have made a blunder of this sort,which not only would be impossible to a scholar but, one would think, im-possible to an education man."It also appears that, unlike Senator Lodge, Mr. Wilson rarely makes aliterary quotation. This would seem to indicate that he was not a widely--read man. He was not without a sense of humor, but not "sufficient togive him assurance of not mistaking his own relation to the universe. Hehad, however, a very keen sense of what was for his own political interest."Mr. Wilson was a "master of the historical use of idealism," and had a"selection of phrases which he used very skilfully." He was "extremelypractical and always had in view some material and definite purposes whichwould result, if successful, possibly in benefit to the world, certainly inbenefit to himself."It can hardly be said that this work will enhance Senator Lodge's repu-tation or place him in a more favorable light in the eyes of the historianor of posterity.AMos S. HERSHEY.

The Senate and the League of Nations, by Henry Cabot Lodge

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The Senate and the League of Nations, by Henry Cabot Lodge

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Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law