Customer Reviews

Woodrow Wilson and the Great Betrayal

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It's a shame this book is out of print because it's absolutely superb. It's a history book that is fast paced, written with all the drama of a novel and even has an elment of supsense. Great Betrayal tells the story of how the League of Nations treaty fell apart. It brings all the players from the proud and inflexible Woodrow Wilson, to Henry Cabot Lodge and Lord Grey. And it includes includes comments from editorial pages from around the country and Europe at the time. Woodrow Wilson was an extremely difficult man and particularly after his illness (the book makes it clear that Wilson should've resigned) he may have been one of the prime reasons why the treaty failed. I really enjoyed this fascinating look into a piece of our country's history that still affects us to this day.

This is a solid look at President Wilson and the failure of the Versailles Treaty in the U.S. Senate. Bailey examines Wilson's vision, his 14 points, and most importantly, his destructive rigidity and self-righteousness. ¨The Senate will take its medicine,¨ Wilson said about Senate passage after signing the Treaty in June, 1919. That line alone speaks volumes, given Senate opposition from the irreconcilibles (led by Bob La Follette), Henry Cabot Lodge, and perhaps most importantly, the nation's weariness for foreign adventure. The author also examines the effects of Wilson's stroke, when the ever-inflexible President deferred to his wife and probably should have resigned. All in all, readers come away with a firm understanding as to why the Versailles Treaty failed in the Senate, which many believe led to future disaster.

Historian Thomas A Bailey (1902-1983) has given us a very good, and surprisingly readable look at one of history's great IFs - What IF the U.S. had entered the League of Nations.