G. Johnson (Ed.) (2010). Peacemaking,Peacemakers and Diplomacy, 1880–1939. Essays in Honour of Professor Alan Sharp

He [Wilson] was more than just an idealist: he was the personification of the heritage of idealism of the American people. He brought spiritual concepts to the peace table. He was a born crusader.

Herbert Hoover

¹ 1 Herbert Hoover, The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson (rev. ed. Baltimore, 1992) ix.

The issue of the Japanese plea for race equality at the Paris Peace Conference is generally seen as a secondary issue for American delegates. Most accounts see Wilson as being bullied into rejecting the proposal by the Dominion delegates — most notably Australia’s Billy Hughes. Analyzing his views on race and its intricate connection with immigration and examining his own and his advisers response to political allies and opponents at home and in Paris over these issues, this piece will argue that Wilson responded as much to domestic pressures as external forces in his eventual compromise with the Japanese in Paris.