March 21, 1919

Several days ago the President’s indignation at the way in which many of the senators are hampering his activities, the strong impression which he brought back with him from Washington, blazed out. To Lansing [secretary of state] he said (March 17), “I must free myself from the servitude which many of the senators seek to impose upon me, and for this reason I have decided to accept the time-saving expedient, which hitherto I have rejected, of a preliminary treaty.”

Lansing admitted that he was disturbed and shocked at the proposal. “While I must make a careful study of it, my first impression is that a preliminary treaty, even though provisional in character and merely to serve as a stopgap until the general treaty is signed, would have to be submitted to the Senate. So, while time might be gained here by this expedient, it would be lost in Washington where we would have to face two battles in the Senate instead of one. However, it is a matter that requires the most careful consideration and I advise submitting it to our legal advisers.”

The report of Miller and Scott¹ then consulted was in the hands of the President in a very few hours. They agreed that the plan was unconstitutional. They held that “the status of war cannot be changed into the status of peace so far as the United States is concerned, except by a treaty consented to by the Senate.” They fortified their opinion by citing a number of precedents drawn from our diplomatic history.

The President accepted this opinion in silence and immediately abandoned his plan. Later he is reported to have commented, “Lawyers! They can tell you a dozen ways how a thing cannot be done but not a single one how it can be done.” House says there is not a word of truth in this gossip which he says is simply embroidered on the President’s well-known dislike of the legal profession. I trust that the news of what the President had in mind will not reach Washington, where of course it would be regarded as another, if futile, attempt to kick over the senatorial traces.