Important People

Personable People

Bryan, William Jennings
In 1912, Woodrow Wilson, whom Bryan had supported at the Democratic convention, won the presidential election and named Bryan secretary of state. Bryan supported Wilson's Mexican intervention (1914), but, preferring peaceful diplomacy, he persuaded 30 nations to sign treaties that committed them to arbitration of international disputes. When World War I broke out in Europe in 1914, Bryan advocated strict neutrality, including restrictions against American travel on belligerent vessels and the prohibition of loans to Britain and France. These views increasingly placed him at odds with the administration, and he resigned his post in June, 1915, during the Lusitania crisis.

Carranza, Venustiano
After a power struggle with Pancho Villa, Carranza became president, first (1915) provisionally and later (1917) by election. His presidency was marked by disagreements with the United States over the invasion lead by General Pershing and over American property rights.

Clemenceau, Georges
The French statesman Georges Clemenceau, popularly known as "the Tiger," contributed to the Allied victory in World War I and helped formulate the Treaty of Versailles. Clemenceau led the Allied victory in World War I and helped formulate the treaty of Versailles. Clemenceau led the French delegation at the Paris Peace Conference. There he advocated the establishment of French-occupied buffer states on the Rhine River and the creation of strong states on Germany's eastern border. He also demanded reparations from the Germans for French war damages. Although Clemenceau was much harsher toward the Germans than either President Woodrow Wilson or Prime Minister David Lloyd George, many in France criticized him as being too lenient.

Harding, Warren G.
In foreign policy, the Harding presidency generally continued the retreat from assuming responsibility for world politics that begin when the Senate rejected U.S. participation in the League of Nations in 1920. The president did encourage disarmament, however, especially in the Washington Conference of 1921-22, which led to international agreements to reduce naval forces.

House, Edward M.
Wilson's closest advisor. Sent to Europe to work toward a negotiated peace and postwar cooperation.

Huerta, Victoriano
Antagonized the U.S. administration of Woodrow Wilson, and U.S. marines landed at Veracruz in April 1914. Huerta was finally forced to resign in July 1914. He fled to Spain and in 1915 went to the United States, where he was arrested and charged with conspiring to violate the neutrality of the United States.

Lodge, Henry Cabot
Senate Republicans, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, refused to approve the Treaty of Versailles without significant modifications of the US commitment to the League.

Orlando, Vittorio
Premier of Italy, toward the end of World War I and headed its delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, where he was one of the Big Four. At the peace conference, which convened in January 1919, Orlando's unsuccessful efforts to annex the seaport of Fiume ( now Rijeka, Yugoslavia) led to a bitter clash with US President Woodrow Wilson.

Pershing, John J.
He led (1916-17) the difficult punitive expedition against Pancho Villa in Mexico. Experience and seniority brought him command of the AEF in 1917. Pershing's tasks in France during World War I were more managerial than warlike; he had to organize, train, and supply an inexperienced force that eventually numbered more than 2 million. Constantly rebuffing British and French efforts to siphon his men off into their depleted ranks. Pershing found himself waging two wars-against the Germans and against the Allies. AEF successes in the war were largely credited to Pershing, and he emerged from the war as its most celebrated American hero.

Villa, Pancho
He led guerrilla raids, including several into New Mexico in retaliation for US President Woodrow Wilson's recognition of Carranza in October 1915. In the resulting invasion (1916) of Mexico by US troops under Gen. John J. Pershing, Villa avoided capture and continued fighting against Carranza.

Wilson, Woodrow
In foreign policy, Wilson was faced with greater problems than any president since Abraham Lincoln. He attempted to end U.S. dollar diplomacy and promote the mediation of disputes He rejected a loan to Chine on the grounds that it impaired Chinese sovereignty, and he helped thwart Japanese designs on the Chinese mainland. He joined with Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan in an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a Pan-American pact guaranteeing the integrity of the Western Hemisphere. In attempting to deal with revolutionary Mexico, Wilson first sought to promote self-government by refusing the military usurper Victoriano Huerta and forcing him to allow free elections. When Huerta resisted, Wilson tried to force him out by ordering (April 1914) limited American intervention at Veracruz and by supporting constitutionalist Venustiano Carranza. Intervened again after Carranza's rival, guerrilla leader Pancho Villa, had raided a town in New Mexico, killing several Americans. In 1915 and 1916 he reluctantly sent troops to Haiti and Santo Domingo to establish U.S. protectorates. Wilson struggled with considerable success to fulfill the obligations of neutrality, to keep trade channels open, and to prevent any abridgment of U.S. rights, all in the face of the British blockade of Germany and the latter's introduction of submarine warfare. He warned Germany in February 1915 that it would be held to a "strict accountability" for the loss of American lives in the sinking of neutral or passenger ships. After the Lusitania was sunk in May 1915 (with the loss of 128 Americans), he negotiated with such firmness that Secretary Bryan, fearing a declaration of war, resigned in protest. In September 1915, Wilson won pledges from Germany to provide for the safety of passengers caught in submarine attacks, and in May 1916 the Germans agreed to abandon unrestricted submarine warfare. When Germany renewed all-out submarine warfare in 1917, Wilson severed diplomatic relations. In April he asked Congress for a declaration of war, asserting that "the world must be made safer for democracy." As war president, Wilson made a major contribution to the nation's resources. Establishing a series of war agencies, he extended federal control over industry, transportation, labor, food, fuel and prices. in May 1917 he forced through Congress a Selective Service bill under which 2.8 million men were drafted by the war's end. He sought and received legislative delegation of increased powers, thus leaving for his successors the precedents and tools to meet future crises. With the United Sates in the war, Wilson hoped to have a stronger influence on the peace settlement. On Jan. 8, 1918, he presented his fourteen points, a comprehensive statement of war aims. It became at once a war weapon and peace program, inspiring the peoples of the Allied powers while undermining the confidence of the Germans. Germany made its peace overture in hope of obtaining just treatment under Wilson's proposals. Wilson headed the American delegation to the Paris Peace Conference. He erred seriously, however, by not developing bipartisan support for his peace plans; he did not appoint a prominent Republican to the delegation, and he called on voters to reelect a Democratic Congress in 1918 as a vote of confidence. At the conference (January-June 1919) Allied leaders Georges Clemenceau, David Lloyd George, and Vittorio Orlando favored a traditional settlement. Wilson worked tirelessly for a peace along the lines of his Fourteen Points; only his shrewd bargaining prevented even harsher terms from being imposed on Germany. Wilson characterized the Versailles Treaty as the best obtainable compromise and put his hopes in the League of Nations, an integral part of the treaty, as the institution through which inequities could be later rectified. Senate Republicans, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, refused to approve the peace treaty without significant modifications of the U.S. commitment to the League. Wilson eloquently defended the League and U.S. membership as essential to lasting world peace.

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