World Affairs Institute

America and World Peace by John H. ClarkeAdvocate of Peace through Justice, Vol. 88, No. 6 (JUNE, 1926), p. 384Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20661307 .

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384 ADVOCATE OF PEACE June

marionettes of the pre-war period, according to one man's belief.

The narrative closes with April 2, 1917, when President Wilson made his speech to

Congress, asking that they declare war to be

existing between the United States and Ger

many. These volumes, to be complete, should

be followed by the story of the activities of

Colonel House during the next year and a

half. Doubtless, too, there will be, in time, a publication of Wilson's letters and papers, some of which are here, merely in summary. Whether shrewd or naive, there are de

licious spots in this narrative of Colonel

House-unofficial American. Who but the

Tzar of all the Americas could write as he

does in 1910, " I began now to look about for

a proper candidate for the Democratic nomi

nation for President." After a little give and take with Mayor Gaynor, of New York, he says, "I wiped Gaynor from my political slate." And a bit later, "I now turned to

Woodrow Wilson."

As the story goes on, and as far as one

can see, Colonel House provided all the ideas,

political sagacity and gray matter, in gen

eral, which twice elected Mr. Wilson Presi

dent, which engineered our entrance into the

World War, steered most of the President's

thinking, and attempted to do the same for monarchs and ministers for all Europe.

In June, 1914, a private interview was, with difficulty, arranged between House and

the German Kaiser. The American's un

sophistication on that occasion is, in retro

spect, both farcical and tragic. Colonel

House records, "I told him that the Presi

dent and I thought perhaps an American

might be better able to . . . bring about an understanding with a view to peace than

any European." The publication of these records completely

strips Colonel House of mystery. We see him

as an astute politician, a man of ideals, but

increasingly committed to devious methods.

His personality is simple and unself-seeking as to official prestige, but unlimited in am

bition as a power behind the throne. He

evidently possesses much charm with his

simplicity. He certainly wielded a power,

potentially dangerous, never before known in

this country and age. It was secret diplo macy par excellence.

His story reads interestingly wherever one dips in. Chuckles are Interspersed with gasps as one sees foreign diplomats, unable

to reach the President, appealing to this un

official Texan for clues as to the next move.

An English comment on these papers says, "He was not the least of the many dangers

which the allied cause escaped during the

war." Another states that President Wilson's

prestige has suffered considerably by this

publication. Whatever one may think as to either Mr.

Wilson or Colonel House, this is evidently the

truthful inside story as to the "alter ego" of

Mr. Wilson and his activities up to April, 1917. It is hitherto unwritten history of the

astounding part played by an officially-un official man in the amazing events of those

years. Like most diaries, however, this story

claims a quite disproportionate share of im

portance for the activities of its hero. Fur

thermore, it should not have appeared dur

ing the author's lifetime.

AMERICA AND WORLD PEACE. By Honorable

John H. Clarke. Pp. 145. Henry Holt, New York, 1925. Price, $1.50.

This is a small book, consisting of three

lectures delivered under the Colver lecture

ship at Brown University. The author, a

former Justice of the United States Supreme

Court, is a whole-souled believer in the

,League of Nations as now constituted and of

the desirability of the adherence to it of

the United States.

Like most of those belonging to that school

of thought, Justice Clarke assents to the

ultimate sanction, in international affairs, of

force. He discusses, in the third lecture, the

so-called Protocol for the Pacific Settlement

of International Disputes. He does not ad

mit that this protocol definitely strengthens articles X and XVI of the Covenant of the

League. On the same point Dr. Levermore, winner

of the Bok Peace Prize, also a supporter of

the League, said, at the time the protocol was

under discussion, "Coercion or resort to war

as a means of punishment of a so-called

'aggressor nation' is now the avowed policy of the League."

The United States has always objected to

just this potential super-national power of

the League. Thus the struggle between the latter-day

Hamiltonians and Jeffersonians goes on.

Shall strong central government of States

or shall democratic State rights prevail?

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