In this Book
- A Journalist's Diplomatic Mission: Ray Stannard Baker's World War I Diary
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: Louisiana State University Press
- Series: From Our Own Correspondent
At the height of World War I, in the winter of 1917--1918, one of the Progressive era's most successful muckracking journalists, Ray Stannard Baker (1870--1946), set out on a special mission to Europe on behalf of the Wilson administration. While posing as a foreign correspondent for the New Republic and the New York World, Baker assessed public opinion in Europe about the war and postwar settlement. American officials in the White House and State Department held Baker's wide-ranging, trenchant reports in high regard. After the war, Baker remained in government service as the president's press secretary at the Paris Peace Conference, where the Allied victors dictated the peace terms to the defeated Central Powers. Baker's position gave him an extraordinary vantage point from which to view history in the making. He kept a voluminous diary of his service to the president, beginning with his voyage to Europe and lasting through his time as press secretary. Unlike Baker's published books about Wilson, leavened by much reflection, his diary allows modern readers unfiltered impressions of key moments in history by a thoughtful inside observer.
Published here for the first time, this long-neglected source includes an introduction by John Maxwell Hamilton and Robert Mann that places Baker and his diary into historical context.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xii
- Introduction
- pp. xiii-xxxiv
- PART I: REPORTING ON PUBLIC OPINION IN GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND ITALY
- 1. I Sail for England
- pp. 3-6
- 4. I Dine with Ambassador Page
- pp. 18-24
- 6. Great Battle in France
- pp. 33-39
- 7. I Meet a Saint
- pp. 40-46
- 8. The Peace-by-Negotiation Movement
- pp. 47-52
- 9. Lord Mayor’s Dinner
- pp. 53-57
- 10. London in War Time
- pp. 58-61
- 12. The “Other Half” and the War
- pp. 67-71
- 13. The Snowdens and the “I.L.P.”
- pp. 72-74
- 17. A Crucial English By-election
- pp. 92-97
- 19. Ulster Speaks Its Mind
- pp. 106-110
- 20. A Visit to the Pages at Sandwich
- pp. 111-119
- 21. A Lull in the Battle
- pp. 120-125
- 22. Wilson’s Leadership in Europe
- pp. 126-130
- 23. I Sit Between the Lion and the Unicorn
- pp. 131-135
- 24. English Leaders and English Ideas
- pp. 136-140
- 26. I Attend an American Baseball Game
- pp. 148-153
- 27. In London Again
- pp. 154-164
- 28. The British Sense of Superiority
- pp. 165-169
- 30. I Went Today to Dorking
- pp. 180-184
- 32. I See Something of the War in Italy
- pp. 190-194
- 34. A Great Day in War-Shattered Venice
- pp. 198-199
- 35. Great News in Milan and a Great Strike
- pp. 200-204
- 36. Rome Again
- pp. 205-211
- 38. I Visit the Radical Leaders of Rome
- pp. 217-220
- 40. Night Train to Paris
- p. 230
- PART II: THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE
- 1. I Arrive at Paris
- pp. 233-239
- 3. The Armistice in Paris
- pp. 245-251
- 4. I Return to Italy
- pp. 252-259
- 5. Genoa and Florence
- pp. 260-266
- 6. I Return to Paris
- pp. 267-270
- 7. Wilson’s Arrival in Paris
- pp. 271-276
- 8. The King of Italy Visits the President
- pp. 277-283
- 12. The President Throws a Bombshell
- pp. 303-312
- 13. Efforts to Wear the President Down
- pp. 313-320
- 14. The President Falls Ill
- pp. 321-329
- 17. May Day Riots in Paris
- pp. 354-360
- 19. I Fly to Brussels
- pp. 369-379
- 20. Jokers in the Treaty
- pp. 380-388
- 24. Europe Awakening to the Realities
- pp. 413-419
- 26. Wilson as a Story Teller
- pp. 429-436
- 27. Breathless Final Days
- pp. 437-448