1919: President Wilson failed to persuade the public about The League of Nations

It’s important for presidents to make the case for war.  Otherwise, they will lose the public.

What could we learn from President Wilson selling the US public about The League of Nations?  Let’s see:

“At a stalemate with Congress, Wilson embarked on an arduous tour across the country to sell the idea of a League of Nations directly to the American people. He argued that isolationism did not work in a world in which violent revolutions and nationalist fervor spilled over national borders. He stressed that the League of Nations embodied American values of self-government and the desire to settle conflicts peacefully, and shared his vision of a future in which the international community could preempt another conflict as devastating as the First World War.”

It failed because the country was tired of war.  Also, President Wilson never made the case for post-war engagement.  

In the end, the treaty failed and the US entered almost 20 years of isolationism.

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