Cary T. Grayson Diary
Title
Cary T. Grayson Diary
Creator
Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938
Identifier
WWP17117
Date
1919 March 27
Source
Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia
Language
English
Text
The President met with the Council of Four at 11:00 o’clock in the morning at the temporary White House, and in the afternoon at the office of the French Minister for War. He also issued a statement dealing with the League of Nations covenant and correcting the erroneous impression that discussion of the League of Nations subject had delayed the final formulation of the Peace Treaty. The statement is as follows:
The situation continued extremely complicated because of the fact that the French were maintaining an attitude of bitter obstruction to the program suggested by the President, which had for its basis the payment by Germany only of a reasonable indemnity and did not carry with it annexation of the Saar Valley. The French were demanding the CSaar Valley despite the fact that its 500,000 inhabitants are entirely German and have no sympathy whatever with France.
At the end of the morning meeting I asked: “How are you feeling, Mr. President?” He replied: I feel terribly disappointed. After arguing with Clemenceau for two hours and pushing him along, he practically agreed to everything, and just as he was leaving he swung back to where we had begun. It seems impossible to get him to realize the value of time and the need for results. I laid the facts ldown to him very plainly and said that if he was going to continue to act in this way the other three of us would write out our views of the peace terms, and if his (Clemenceau’s) government did not accept them, they could take the consequences and we would go home.” Lloyd-George concurred with the President in his ultimatum, and so did Orlando.
The afternoon session developed into a discussion of the problems of the Supreme War Council, and especially as to the question of sending additional troops to the Odessa district. The President was in favor of the withdrawing of troops from Odessa and from Russia. He expressed himself as believing that to maintain a small body of troops in Russia was entirely worthless so far as any advantage being secured by the Allies was concerned. In expressing this view he said that he did not believe in using one finger to cover a situation where the entire hand was needed.
The Polish question also was discussed and the question of giving Poland a 200-mile corridor from Dantzig to Poland proper came up. Although there are 2,000,000 Germans in this particular section, Orlando, Lloyd-George and Clemenceau all three favored its being seized and made a part of Poland. This the President would not stand for. He told them very definitely that any such action would simplty sow the seed for a further war and engender bitterness that would be hard to overcome later on. He said that his colleagues did not realize that the whole object is not only to settle the immediate question but to establish a condition that will make for a permanent peace. All that Clemenceau wanted to do, it appeared, was to put a barrier between France and Germanyand -- he did not seem to have any vision for the rest of the world.
In the evening the President worked in his study.
The situation continued extremely complicated because of the fact that the French were maintaining an attitude of bitter obstruction to the program suggested by the President, which had for its basis the payment by Germany only of a reasonable indemnity and did not carry with it annexation of the Saar Valley. The French were demanding the CSaar Valley despite the fact that its 500,000 inhabitants are entirely German and have no sympathy whatever with France.
At the end of the morning meeting I asked: “How are you feeling, Mr. President?” He replied: I feel terribly disappointed. After arguing with Clemenceau for two hours and pushing him along, he practically agreed to everything, and just as he was leaving he swung back to where we had begun. It seems impossible to get him to realize the value of time and the need for results. I laid the facts ldown to him very plainly and said that if he was going to continue to act in this way the other three of us would write out our views of the peace terms, and if his (Clemenceau’s) government did not accept them, they could take the consequences and we would go home.” Lloyd-George concurred with the President in his ultimatum, and so did Orlando.
The afternoon session developed into a discussion of the problems of the Supreme War Council, and especially as to the question of sending additional troops to the Odessa district. The President was in favor of the withdrawing of troops from Odessa and from Russia. He expressed himself as believing that to maintain a small body of troops in Russia was entirely worthless so far as any advantage being secured by the Allies was concerned. In expressing this view he said that he did not believe in using one finger to cover a situation where the entire hand was needed.
The Polish question also was discussed and the question of giving Poland a 200-mile corridor from Dantzig to Poland proper came up. Although there are 2,000,000 Germans in this particular section, Orlando, Lloyd-George and Clemenceau all three favored its being seized and made a part of Poland. This the President would not stand for. He told them very definitely that any such action would simplty sow the seed for a further war and engender bitterness that would be hard to overcome later on. He said that his colleagues did not realize that the whole object is not only to settle the immediate question but to establish a condition that will make for a permanent peace. All that Clemenceau wanted to do, it appeared, was to put a barrier between France and Germanyand -- he did not seem to have any vision for the rest of the world.
In the evening the President worked in his study.
Original Format
Diary
Files
Collection
Citation
Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938, “Cary T. Grayson Diary,” 1919 March 27, WWP17117, Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.