Cary T. Grayson Diary

Cary T. Grayson Diary

Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938

WWP17144

1919 April 23

Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia

English

The President had breakfast at 8:25 o’clock, and until 11:00 o’clock he worked on official matters relating to home affairs and disposed of his correspondence. At 11:00 o’clock the President met with Lloyd-George and Clemenceau. They discussed the Italian developments, especially the defiant attitude which had been adopted by Orlando, Sonnino, and the remainder of the Italians. The President made it very plain to his colleagues that so far as he was concerned he would never consent to a surrender of principles even for the benefit of Orlando, whom he likes very much. They also discussed the Shantung proposition at further length, and the Chinese having filed a supplementary brief dealing with the case.

The President, Mrs. Wilson and I had lunch at one o’clock. During the lunch our conversation was carried on in a light vein. The President told us a number of stories. He wanted to know who I saw at the reception last night, which the Secretary of State had given to the new Ambassador of France. I then related conversations which I had had with Vice-Admiral Gleaves, ex-Ambassador Henry White, Admiral Benson, Secretary Lansing, and others.

Immediately after lunch the President read to me the statement which he had prepared concerning the Italian situation and asked me what I thought of it. I told him I could not find a point in it to criticise. He then requested me to give it out to the three press associations and to Ray Stannard Baker.

I asked the President whether he had shown it to Clemenceau and to Lloyd-George. He said Clemenceau had said that he would not change a word in it and that it was fine. The only thing in his (Clemenceau’s) mind was the question as to when the best time was to publish it, but he was in favor of publishing it. He said it would have a good effect in France. Lloyd-George approved it, the President said, and declared that he would back it up. He thought it was a remarkable statement. But the President said to me, confidentially: “He is as slippery as an eel, and I never know when to count on him.” The President also read it to the other members of the American Peace Delegation, and it met with their hearty approval. The statement is as follows:

FIUME AND DALMATIA.

ITALIAN UNITY SECURED.

The publication of the President’s statement caused the utmost consternation in Italian circles. The Italians had gathered together in the King Edward Hotel, where they had their headquarters, and were preparing a statement to be issued defining their position when the word reached them that the President had forestalled them. Immediately the representatives of Orlando and Sonnino announced that the Italians were prepared to quit the conference. Their especial complaint was that the President had addressed himself directly to the people of Italy along the lines which he had used to eliminate the Hohenzollerns as the ruling class of Germany. However, the majority of the Americans, French and British, who read the statement, endorsed it in its entirety.

The President and Mrs. Wilson dined alone. I had dinner at the Ritz Hotel with Admiral Long, who was entertaining in honor of Vice-Admiral Albert Gleaves.

The President spent a quiet evening with Mrs. Wilson playing Canfield. When I came in at twelve o’clock, one of the secret service men informed me that the President had asked for me three times in the past hour. I went to his room and he was just retiring. He said: “I do not feel sleepy. I have been sitting up talking with Mrs. Wilson and playing Canfield, trying to get my mind disconnected from the things that have been going on throughout the day. And before going to bed I wanted to know what reflections you have heard over my statement concerning the Italian situation.” I told him that taking it all in all the statement was making a fine impression and that the Italians had stated that they were leaving at two o’clock the next afternoon, withdrawing from the Peace Conference.

I then related a conversation I had with Sir Stuart Campbell Stuart during the afternoon. Sir Stuart Campbell is Lord Northcliffe’s right-hand man and he is very close to him, spending a great deal of his time with Lord Northcliffe. He told me that Lord Northcliffe was a most enthusiastic admirer of President Wilson, and that if the President would show him some personal attention, Lord Northcliffe would make all of his papers turn hand-springs at the the President’s suggestion and advocate his policies. Northcliffe is a great believer in the President’s principles and is a very fine man, Sir Stuart Campbell said, but he easily succumbs to personal attention an to personal flattery. Sir Stuart Campbell suggested to me that if I would go down to Fontainbleau and spend Sunday with Lord Northcliffe and convey to him a personal message of greeting of some sort from the President, or better still, if the President would invite him to call on him ro or to have lunch with him, Northcliffe would then do anything in the world for the President. He said to me: “Northcliffe is now depressed and blue and a visit from you as suggested would be a great tonic to him and would stimulate him to support the President.” I told him that this was all very fine but did he not think it would be inadvisable from the standpoint of the President for the President to mix up in any of the controversies between Northcliffe and Lloyd-George when he (the President) was working with Lloyd-George daily in this conference. I suggested that Northcliffe support the President’s principles loyally, thereby doing the fine thing for the world, and when it was all over and the Peace Conference was over we would send an invitation to Northcliffe to come to America, and we would then give him a royal welcome in America. In response to my suggestion regarding the inadvisability of the President interfering between Northcliffe and Lloyd-George, Sir Stuart Campbell smiled and said: “There might be something in that.” The President said: “I think you handled it just right. You are a diplomat.”

Diary