Taft Papers on the League of Nations, Vol. 7, The Collected Works of William Howard Taft ed. by Frank X. Gerrity (review)

George Wright could have fled the city just a year after the close of their ii, augural professional season, taking apparently everb thing with them, including the name Red Stockings. which they kept for the Boston team they orginized. One would like rc, know more about how Cincinnatians coped \ Vitl the loss, or,even whether they understood the Red Stocking' s departure to be a loss at all. David Stradli, ig University of Ci, icimiati Frank X. Gerrity, ed. Taft Papers on tbe League of Nations,Vol. 7, Tbe Collected Works of William Howard Taft. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2003. 302 pp. ISBN: 0821415182 ( cloth), $ 49.95.« his volume of the William Howard Taft papers consists ,«: , «* U * of speeches, newspaper articles > c? 4and complementary documents * f" » ,:# produced from 1915 through 1919 , " >» »>that deal with the I. eague of NaL tions. During that period, Taft, a leader of the nation's conservative internationalists, headed the League to Enforce Peace ( LEP). Founded in 1915 mostly by Republicans,the LEP advocated a world parliament, arbitration of international disputes, and collective security arrangements. Unlike Wilsonian liberals, however, the LEP also favored a longterm expansion of the United States armed forces and universal military training on the theory that peace could be insured through a policy of military strength. The LEP also opposed any formal renunciation of national sovereignty by the United States to the League of Nations,and insisted that the nation reserve the right to use fc, rce independently,stands that placed the group at odds with the Wilson administration' s views. Most of the papers in this volut»ne consist of statenients by Taft explaining the LEP' s views on internationalism in general and commenting on Wilson's I.eague of Nations prc, posal in pat'ticular. B> fir the most interesting aspect of this volume is the e, idence it proides of support among itifluentia] American conservatives in the earlr tu'entieth century fur internatic, nal arbitration as an alternative to a Controntation among the Great Porvers. Equ. 11] y interesting is the inforiiiatic,n presented here about hov conserzitives favored collective security arrangements to deter military aggression, and sought a world court to develop and apply principles ot international law to a wide range of disputes between natic,ns. In this I (, ltillie, Tatt's views Cand the LEPs) on diplomacy and intertiational affairs are revealed to be ot a moderate but consen-ati,e kind. rather than the more extrellie Old Guard"position that historians usuall, associate with Taft and his allies. Even T. itt' s statements in defense of retaining fc, rinal nation. 11 sovereignty are nuanced. In response to complaints that the United States would surrender its sovereignty by joining the League of Natic, ns. fc, r Sovereignty is only extimple, Tift firmly replied, a matter of definition and degree... We need not be frightened by a definiticm. We agree to arbitr: itc; we agree to abide by the result of an arbitration. That limits our sovereigtity,does it not? 15 that so heinous?" ( 175) Taft' s moderation on the League of Nations issue can also be seen very clearly in his decision to endorse the League Covenant developed at the Paris Peace Con ference of 1919, and in his subsequent tour ot the United States during which he spoke in favor ot the treaty creating the I. eague that Wilson had submitted to the U.S. Senate fc, i- its approval. Although Taft would have preferred to insert into the treaty some article or clause that would explicitly exempt the Monroe Doctrine from that SUMMER 2004 69 CofTED........ 1.. BY FRANK X . ERRITY TH. Col.1. ECTFD WORKS 03 WILLIAM HOWARD t VOLUME vit . TAFT PAPERS ON LEAGUE OF NATIONS BOOK REVIEWS Ancella R. Bickley and Lynda Ann Ewen, eds. Memphis Tennessee Garrison:Tbe Remarkable Story of a Black Appalacbian Woman. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2001. 249 pp. ISBN: 0821413740 paper), $ 17.95. 4* i**%-* D agreement' s reach,he nonetheless publicly stated on March 16, 1919, that if the choice were between the League treaty as submitted or insisting that it be renegotiated, " I should, without the slightest fear as to the complete safety of...