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Henry Cabot Lodge, 1850-1924
Henry Cabot Lodge exuded the confidence and haughtiness that his New England ancestry, wealth, and influence bestowed. He became a powerful senator and one of the Republican Party's most respected, if not loved, leaders. Lodge joined his close friend Theodore Roosevelt in calling for the United States to increase its navy and assume a larger role in world affairs. When war broke out in Europe in 1914, he supported American neutrality but believed that Germany was the aggressor. Concerned that US security would be endangered by a German victory, he became increasingly angry with President Woodrow Wilson for not strengthening America's armed forces. Lodge successfully spearheaded the Senate's rejection of the Treaty of Versailles over the issue of the League of Nations. While he did not object to an international organization, he viewed the league as a threat to American sovereignty.
John Singer Sargent, 1890 |