Why American membership of the League was critically important

• America was, in 1919, by far the most economically powerful country in the world

• America had actually benefited economically from the war

• And with economic power comes military power

• America was also the only power that could have had a strong military presence in both Europe and the Pacific region

• At the same time, Britain and France were both severely economically weakened by the cost of sustaining total war for more than four years

• President Wilson, his 14 Points, had provided the moral leadership that had created the League of Nations

• France had only been persuaded to compromise on issues of security vis-à-vis Germany by the Anglo-American guarantee