Political rivalries define American government. The dual-party system by nature sets up partisan rivalries between members of all three branches of our government - rivalries that have at times pushed our government to progress and at other times slowed it to a grinding halt. The contrasting backgrounds and resulting political ideologies of Woodrow Wilson and Henry Cabot Lodge created a modern rivalry that defined American foreign policy in the twentieth century.

Woodrow Wilson's religious background and academic pursuits shaped his personality into one characterized by impatience. Born in Virginia in 1856, Wilson grew up around strict Calvinist doctrine in the Presbyterian church (Lafeber 269-270). This theology served as the foundation for all of Wilson's endeavors, as he believed he was "guided by God's will" (Lafeber 270). The future President's first career path was law, but Wilson's inability to excel in the field bred in him distaste for the profession. Wilson hastily abandoned any thoughts of being a lawyer and pursued an academic career in political science. His refusal to give his law profession time to prosper represents a larger trend in Wilson's behavi

The rivalry between the two politicians escalated with Wilson's introduction of his 14 Points for Peace after World War I. As Wilson negotiated with other leaders of the Entente Powers after the war, the President had to contend with fierce skepticism over the Points at home, particularly from Lodge and his fellow Republicans (Lafeber 321). Lodge countered the 14 Points with a Republican challenge, as the Senate leader clearly had more than enough votes to prevent ratification of the Points. Wilson, realizing he lacked the necessary support at home to get American approval of the 14 Points, returned to Europe to find a way to force the Senate to accept his proposals (Lafeber 321-322).

Lafeber, Walter. The American Age: U.S. Foreign Policy at Home and Abroad from

"superpower" status of the United States (Lafeber 314). Lodge grouped Wilson and Jefferson together in their mutual willingness "to keep peace ... at all hazards" (Widenor 203). While Lodge may have been correct in his argument that Wilson needed to back up American neutrality with some use of force, Wilson's interpretation of American neutrality leading up to World War I kept America from war as long as possible without compromising American national interests of trade and security.

A more likely scenario, however, was that Lodge truly believed that the 14 Points would severely compromise the United States influence internationally. While Lodge and Wilson conceived an "idealistic" role for America in the post-war era, Lodge believed America's "individuality" was a quality only America should strive to maintain - not something for a President to try to enforce on other countries. As Widenor supports, "Lodge believed that America had evolved a special, historical individuality and a unique system of values which were ... the product of propitious circumstance. . . . Though he was prepared to go to great lengths to defend and preserve that individuality, he did not, like Wilson, attempt to secure its universal acceptance. (Widenor 326)" Lodge saw these 14 Points - in particular, the "heart of the Covenant (Lafeber 325)" of Article 10 dealing with resolution of international conflicts between members of the League of Nations- as a form of pre-emptive US intervention abroad (Widenor 325, 328-329). Lodge was "thoroughly disgusted" with this concept, and while his foreign policies were not isolationist (Widenor 318), his foreign policy ideology conflicted with Wilson's over the issue whether America should be "policeman of the world".

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Approximate Word count = 2186
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)