Woodrow Wilson and the First World War Start date 20 March 2015 End date 22 March 2015 Venue Madingley Hall Madingley Cambridge Tutor Dr John Thompson Course code 1415NRX108 Director of Programmes For further information on this course, please contact Emma Jennings Clare Kerr, Public Programmes Co-ordinator 01223 746237, clare.kerr@ice.cam.ac.uk To book See: or telephone 01223 746262 Tutor biography Dr Thompson is Reader Emeritus in American History, University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St Catharine s College, Cambridge. He has held visiting positions at various American Universities and Fellowships at the Wilson Centre in Washington, D.C. and the National Humanities Centre in North Carolina. His research interest is the history of United States foreign policy. Among his publications are Reformers and War: American Progressive Publicists and the First World War (Cambridge, 1987) and Woodrow Wilson (Longman 2002). He has recently completed an interpretative history of U.S. foreign policy from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth. Entitled A Sense of Power: The Roots of America s World Role, the book is due to be published by Cornell University Press later this year.
Course programme Friday 20 March 2015 Please plan to arrive between 16:30 and 18:30. You can meet other course members in the bar which opens at 18:15. Tea and coffee making facilities are available in the study bedrooms. 19:00 Dinner 20:30 22:00 Introduction: America as a new Power; Woodrow Wilson 22:00 Terrace bar open for informal discussion Saturday 21 March 2015 08:00 Breakfast 09:00 10:30 Upholding Neutrality but abandoning Isolationism, 1914-17 10:30 Coffee 11:00 12:30 America's war: why, and for what ends? 13:00 Lunch 14:00 16:00 Free 16:00 Tea 16:30 18:00 Encountering the world: Wilson in Paris 18:00 18:30 Free 18:30 Dinner 20:00 c. 21:30 Film: WILSON (Twentieth-Century Fox, 1944, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck) c. 21:30 Terrace bar open for informal discussion Sunday 22 March 2015 08:00 Breakfast 09:00 10:30 Defeat at home: The League Fight, 1919-20 10:30 Coffee 11:00 12:30 Appraising Wilson's Record and Legacy 12:45 Lunch The course will disperse after lunch
Course syllabus It seems no exaggeration to pronounce that the action of the United States with its repercussions for the history of the world depended, during the awful period of Armageddon, upon the workings of this man s mind and spirit, to the exclusion of almost every other factor; and that he played a part in the fate of nations incomparably more direct and personal than that of any other man Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis, 1916-1918 (London, 1927). Aims: The aim of the course will be to explore the following questions: 1. Why did the United States abandon the policy of non-involvement in the power politics of Europe, a tradition that dated back to the injunctions of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, by entering World War I and seeking to shape the peace settlement? And why did it not sustain that involvement by becoming a member of the League of Nations? 2. To what extent does this story show the influence an individual may have on large historical developments? Was U.S. policy the product of President Woodrow Wilson's personal ideals and worldview? Were Wilson's psychological weaknesses or ill-health responsible for the severity of the Treaty of Versailles and the failure of the United States to join the League of Nations? 3. To what extent, and for what reasons, did the events of 1914-17 set a pattern for future U.S. foreign policy? Content: The first session will set the background by outlining the traditions of U.S. foreign policy and the great growth of the nation s power between the end of the Civil War and 1914, and by introducing Wilson himself his career, thought and character. Thereafter, the course will treat the period 1914-19 chronologically. First, we shall examine Wilson's policy in the period of neutrality, focussing on the issue of when and why he came to depart from the traditional policy of non-involvement. The next session will examine in depth the question of why the United States entered the war in 1917, and the historiographical controversies this has engendered over the years. The following discussion of America's own war effort will focus on the question of whether, as Wilson claimed, American policy was directed to the same ends after the United States became a belligerent as it had been before. The next two sessions will focus on Wilson's role at the Paris peace conference and his unsuccessful attempt thereafter to gain Senate approval of the Treaty and the League of Nations, in both cases considering the criticisms and divergent interpretations that these have given rise to. Finally, we will appraise Wilson's performance overall, the reasons why this has always been so controversial, and why the principles and programme he enunciated have been both so frequently evoked and so much debated from his time to the present. Presentation of the course: Apart from the showing of the film on Saturday evening, the sessions will be a mixture of lecture and group discussion.
During the sessions, we shall examine key documents, particularly some of the more notable speeches in which Wilson explained and sought to justify his policies, and through which he gained political support in the wider world as well as within the United States. Outcomes: As a result of the course, within the constraints of the time available, students should be able to: 1. Have a better understanding as well as knowledge of U.S. foreign policy in this world crisis, and the reasons for its achievements and failures. 2. Engage with divergent historical interpretations of Wilson himself, how far he should be seen as an idealist, and the skill with which he sought to achieve his goals. 3. Engage with divergent historical interpretations of the forces shaping U.S. foreign policy generally. 4. Evaluate key documents from the period and discuss their historical significance.
Reading and resources list Listed below are a number of texts that might be of interest for future reference, but do not need to be bought (or consulted) for the course. Author Title Publisher and date Ambrosius, Lloyd E. Wilsonian Statecraft: Theory and Practice of Liberal Internationalism during World War I SR Books, 1991 Cooper Jr, John Milton Cooper Jr, John Milton Ikenberry, G. John and others Woodrow Wilson: A Biography Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations The Crisis of American Foreign Policy: Wilsonianism in the Twenty-First Century Vintage Paperback, 2011 Cambridge University Press, 2001 Princeton University Press, 2009, 2011 Kennan, George F. American Diplomacy, 1900-1950 University of Chicago Press, 1985 Kennedy, Ross Knock, Thomas J. Woodrow Wilson, World War I and American National Security To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order Diplomatic History, Winter 2001 Princeton University Press, 1995 Link, Arthur S. Woodrow Wilson: Revolution, War, and Peace Harlan Davidson, 1979 Ninkovich, Frank MacMillan, Margaret Smith, Tony The Wilsonian Century: U.S. Foreign Policy since 1900 The Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War America's Mission: The United States and the Worldwide Struggle for Democracy in the Twentieth Century, chapter 4 University of Chicago Press, 2001 John Murray, 2003 Princeton University Press, 1994 Thompson, John A. Woodrow Wilson: A Profile in Power Longman, 2002 Thompson, John A. Tucker, Robert W. Wilsonianism: The Dynamics of a Conflicted Concept Woodrow Wilson and the Great War: Reconsidering America s Neutrality International Affairs, January 2010 University of Virginia Press, 2007
Note Students of the Institute of Continuing Education are entitled to 20% discount on books published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) which are purchased at the Press bookshop, 1 Trinity Street, Cambridge (Mon-Sat 9am 5:30pm, Sun 11am 5pm). A letter or email confirming acceptance on to a current Institute course should be taken as evidence of enrolment. Information correct as of: 30 January 2015