The Art Student's Masterpiece and the Professor's Criticism

Back to Treaty of Versailles

Creator:
J.N. (Ding) Darling

Publication:

Jazz Era

Publication Date:
November 19, 1919

Description:

The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I. United States President Woodrow Wilson was a key figure in the peace conference, because his Fourteen Points formed the basis of the negotiations. The Fourteen Points included free trade, open diplomacy, arms reductions, and a League of Nations, an international body intended be a forum for settling international disputes without war. The final treaty was unpopular with the Republican Senate because it required joining the new League of Nations, which many Senators suspected would take away U.S. rights. The Senate approved amendments to the Peace Treaty that made the document completely different and unrecognizable to the treaty that Wilson sent them. The “Professor” personifying the Senate in this cartoon is Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (Republican-Massachusetts), Wilson’s leading critic.

Source:
The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library