Foreign Postwar Policy Henry Cabot Lodge Dawes Plan Wilson's plan for peace most controversial part was the League of Nations. Wilson was confident that he could get the American public on board with the League of Nations proposal, despite the fact that many considered it an unacceptable loss of sovereignty. In the 1918 election, Republicans gained control of the House and Senate. Wilson's biggest opponents were called the irreconcilables. They were mostly isolationists and progressives. They were the same people who had opposed America's entry into World War I. Henry Cabot Lodge had a particular problem with Article X, a specific military commitment. Lodge proposed amendments that would allow the US to retain most of its sovereignty, but Wilson felt that he had already compromised his principles too much and refused to budge. There had always been a tremendous amount of personal animosity between Lodge and Wilson. Instead of compromising, Wilson took his case to the American people by embarking on a speaking tour. It was more than Wilson could physically handle at age 63. He collapsed in Colorado and his doctor forced him to cancel the rest of the tour. A week later in Washington, he has a stroke that leaves him partially paralyzed. Bed-ridden Wilson urges Democrats to either approve the treaty in its original form or vote it down altogether. Some Democrats broke with Wilson and voted for Lodge's version of the treaty, but it did not win the necessary two-thirds majority. Without the US, the credibility of the League of Nations was undermined. Republican Warren G. Harding ran against Democrat James Cox on a vague promise of a "return to normalcy". Harding wins a landslide. The socialist candidate Eugene V. Debs managed to get 900,000 votes despite being in jail. Historians generally interpret the Republican victory as a rejection of Wilson. American businesses increasingly are moving into friendly nations to sell in their markets. This had unfortunate consequences for some of the countries they entered, particularly Latin America. Because of the US control of their economies, these countries were unable to develop further and remained dependent on providing raw materials for export. The US favored governments that could best protect business interests so the US supported dictatorships and other governments that could suppress anarchy. During the 1920s, US businessmen, bankers, and investors step up and begin taking the reigns of international diplomacy. In 1923, Germany couldn't handle the reparation payments anymore so they suspended payment. France sends troops into Germany and occupies the Ruhr valley, the center of German industry. American investors see a money-making opportunity. After getting the blessing of the White House, they form the Dawes Plan, named after banker Charles Dawes. The plan cuts reparation payments in half and spreads the payments out over a longer period of time. It also provided short-term loans to Germany to help their economy. With payments resumed, France was forced to redraw its troops. Charles Dawes is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The 1920s are usually characterized as a retreat back into foreign isolationism, although there are notable exceptions. 1920s: Americans turning away from progressive reform and reliance on the federal government. There is a major revival of free enterprise individualism. Urban areas were being
overrun by organized crime. This is the era when the heart of American civilization became big business. A very prosperous decade. There is a break from the past and modernization. Americans had supreme confidence in technologies such as railroads and telephones. Americans began to pursue fun more and more, likely to avoid dwelling on the horrors of World War I.