Henry Cabot Lodge
Encyclopedia : H : HE : HEN : Henry Cabot Lodge
- This article is about Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924), a U.S. politician in the early twentieth century.
- For his grandson, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (1902-1985), a U.S. politician in the mid-twentieth century, see Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr..
Henry Cabot Lodge (May 12, 1850 – November 9, 1924), was an American statesman and Republican politician, and noted historian.
Lodge was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the great-grandson of Senator George Cabot. He was the first student of Harvard University to graduate with a PhD in political science (1876). Lodge represented his home state in the United States House of Representatives from 1887 to 1893 and in the Senate from 1893 to 1924. He was one of four Republicans to rotate in the office of Senate president pro tempore from 1911-1913, holding the seat for just one day. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he led the successful fight against American participation in the League of Nations proposed by President Woodrow Wilson at the close of World War I. He also served as chairman of the Senate Republican Conference from 1918 to 1924.
Lodge maintained that membership in the world peacekeeping organization would threaten the sovereignty of the United States by binding the nation to international commitments it would not or could not keep.
Senator Lodge argued in 1919 against the League:
- The United States is the world's best hope, but if you fetter her in the interests and quarrels of other nations, if you tangle her in the intrigues of Europe, you will destroy her powerful good, and endanger her very existence. Leave her to march freely through the centuries to come, as in the years that have gone. Strong, generous, and confident, she has nobly served mankind. Beware how you trifle with your marvelous inheritance — this great land of ordered liberty. For if we stumble and fall, freedom and civilization everywhere will go down in ruin.[link]
Lodge died in 1924 at the age of 74. He was interred in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Trivia
- When President Wilson delivered his war message to a joint session of Congress on April 2, 1917, Senator Lodge was punched in the face by a pacifist as he entered the Capitol building. Lodge responded by striking back at the pacifist before his assailant was led away by U.S. Cavalry providing security.
- Lodge was a close friend to Theodore Roosevelt, and both men were members of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity
See also
- Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge
- Lodge Committee
Sources
- [Library of Congress: "Today in History: May 12"]
- [Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. Against the League of Nations]
- [For Intervention in Cuba]
External links
|- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align: center;"
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.