Editing League of Nations (section)

==Origins==
===Background===
[[File:Original Geneva Conventions.jpg|thumb|right|The [[First Geneva Convention|1864 Geneva Convention]], one of the earliest formulations of written [[international law]]]]

The concept of a peaceful community of nations had been proposed as early as 1795, when [[Immanuel Kant]]'s ''[[Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kant/kant1.htm|last=Kant|first=Immanuel|publisher=Mount Holyoke College|title=Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch|access-date=16 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514211750/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kant/kant1.htm|archive-date=14 May 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> outlined the idea of a league of nations to control conflict and promote peace between states.{{sfn|Skirbekk|Gilje|2001|p=288}} Kant argued for the establishment of a peaceful world community, not in a sense of a global government, but in the hope that each state would declare itself a free state that respects its citizens and welcomes foreign visitors as fellow rational beings, thus promoting peaceful society worldwide.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.constitution.org/kant/perpeace.htm|title=Perpetual Peace|author=Kant, Immanuel|year=1795|publisher=Constitution Society|access-date=30 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007175416/http://www.constitution.org/kant/perpeace.htm|archive-date=7 October 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> International co-operation to promote collective security originated in the [[Concert of Europe]] that developed after the [[Napoleonic Wars]] in the 19th century in an attempt to maintain the ''status quo'' between European states and so avoid war.{{sfn|Reichard|2006|p=9}}{{sfn|Rapoport|1995|pp=498–500}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2506&context=mlr|title=International Organization and World Peace--A Critique of the League of Nations Covenant|website=University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository}}</ref>

By 1910, international law developed, with the first [[Geneva Conventions]] establishing laws dealing with humanitarian relief during wartime, and the international [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907]] governing rules of war and the peaceful settlement of international disputes.{{sfn|Bouchet-Saulnier|Brav|Olivier|2007|pp=14–134}}<ref>{{cite book|last = Northedge|first = F. S.|title = The League of Nations: Its life and times, 1920–1946| publisher = [[Leicester University]] Press|year = 1986|isbn=978-0-7185-1194-4|ref=none|page=10}}</ref> [[Theodore Roosevelt]] at the acceptance for his Nobel Prize in 1910, said: "it would be a masterstroke if those great powers honestly bent on peace would form a League of Peace."<ref>{{cite book|last=Morris|first=Charles|title=The Marvelous Career of Theodore Roosevelt: Including what He Has Done and Stands For; His Early Life and Public Services; the Story of His African Trip; His Memorable Journey Through Europe; and His Enthusiastic Welcome Home|publisher=John C. Winston Company|year=1910|page=[https://archive.org/details/marvelouscareero01morr/page/370 370]|url=https://archive.org/details/marvelouscareero01morr}}</ref>

One small forerunner of the League of Nations, the [[Inter-Parliamentary Union]] (IPU), was formed by the peace activists [[William Randal Cremer]] and [[Frédéric Passy]] in 1889 (and still exists as an international body focused on the world's various elected legislative bodies). The IPU was founded with an international scope, with a third of the members of parliaments (in the 24 countries that had parliaments) serving as members of the IPU by 1914. Its foundational aims were to encourage governments to solve international disputes by peaceful means. Annual conferences were established to help governments refine the process of international arbitration. Its structure was designed as a council headed by a president, which would later be reflected in the structure of the League.<ref>{{cite web | title =Before the League of Nations | publisher =The United Nations Office at Geneva | url =http://www.unog.ch/80256EE60057D930/(httpPages)/B5B92952225993B0C1256F2D00393560?OpenDocument | access-date =14 June 2008 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20081209120513/http://www.unog.ch/80256EE60057D930/(httpPages)/B5B92952225993B0C1256F2D00393560?OpenDocument | archive-date =9 December 2008 | url-status =dead | df =dmy-all }}</ref>

===Plans and proposals===
{{ multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | total_width = 300
| image1 = 1st Viscount Bryce 1902b.jpg | caption1 = [[James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce|Lord Bryce]], one of the earliest advocates for a League of Nations
| image2 = Jan Smuts 1947.jpg | caption2 = [[Jan Smuts]] helped to draft the [[Covenant of the League of Nations]].
}}
At the start of the First World War, the first schemes for an international organisation to prevent future wars began to gain considerable public support, particularly in Great Britain and the United States. [[Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson]], a British political scientist, coined the term "League of Nations" in 1914 and drafted a scheme for its organisation. Together with [[James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce|Lord Bryce]], he played a leading role in the founding of the group of internationalist pacifists known as the [[Bryce Group]], later the [[League of Nations Union]].<ref name="northedge">{{cite book|last = Northedge|first = F. S.|title = The League of Nations: Its life and times, 1920–1946| publisher = [[Leicester University]] Press|year = 1986|isbn=978-0-7185-1194-4|ref=none}}</ref> The group became steadily more influential among the public and as a pressure group within the then-governing [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]]. In Dickinson's 1915 pamphlet ''After the War'' he wrote of his "League of Peace" as being essentially an organisation for arbitration and conciliation. He felt that the secret diplomacy of the early twentieth century had brought about war, and thus, could write that, "the impossibility of war, I believe, would be increased in proportion as the issues of foreign policy should be known to and controlled by public opinion." The 'Proposals' of the Bryce Group were circulated widely, both in England and the US, where they had a profound influence on the nascent international movement.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbFznQEACAAJ|title=The League of Nations and the Rule of Law, 1918–1935|author=Sir Alfred Eckhard Zimmern|year=1969|publisher=Russell & Russell|pages=13–22}}</ref>
In January 1915, a peace conference directed by [[Jane Addams]] was held in the neutral United States. The delegates adopted a platform calling for creation of international bodies with administrative and legislative powers to develop a "permanent league of neutral nations" to work for peace and disarmament.<ref>{{cite journal|title=A Woman's Peace Party Full Fledged for Action|journal=The Survey|date=23 January 1915|volume=XXXIII|issue=17|pages=433–434|url=https://archive.org/stream/surveycharityorg33survrich#page/433/mode/1up|access-date=31 August 2017}}</ref> Within months, a call was made for an international women's conference to be held in [[The Hague]]. Coordinated by [[Mia Boissevain]], [[Aletta Jacobs]] and [[Rosa Manus]], the congress, which opened on 28 April 1915{{sfn|Everard|de Haan|2016|pp=64–65}} was attended by 1,136 participants from neutral nations,<ref>{{cite web|last1=van der Veen|first1=Sietske|title=Hirschmann, Susanna Theodora Cornelia (1871–1957)|url=http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/bwn1780-1830/DVN/lemmata/data/Hirschmann|website=Huygens ING|publisher=Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands|access-date=30 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830163944/http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/bwn1780-1830/DVN/lemmata/data/Hirschmann|archive-date=30 August 2017|language=nl|date=22 June 2017}}</ref> and resulted in the establishment of an organisation which would become the [[Women's International League for Peace and Freedom]] (WILPF).{{sfn|Jacobs|1996|p=94}} At the close of the conference, two delegations of women were dispatched to meet European heads of state over the next several months. They secured agreement from reluctant foreign ministers, who overall felt that such a body would be ineffective, but agreed to participate in or not impede creation of a neutral mediating body, if other nations agreed and if President [[Woodrow Wilson]] would initiate a body. In the midst of the War, Wilson refused.{{sfn|Caravantes|2004|pp=101–103}}{{sfn|Wiltsher|1985|pp=110–125}}

[[File:19181225 League of Nations - promotion - The New York Times.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5| The [[League to Enforce Peace]] published this full-page promotion in ''The New York Times'' on Christmas Day 1918.<ref name=NYTimes_19181225/> It resolved that the League "should ensure peace by eliminating causes of dissension, by deciding controversies by peaceable means, and by uniting the potential force of all the members as a standing menace against any nation that seeks to upset the peace of the world".<ref name=NYTimes_19181225>{{cite news |title=Victory / Democracy / Peace / Make them secure by a League of Nations |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-times-dec-25-1918-p-11/ |work=The New York Times |date=25 December 1918 |page=11}}</ref>]]
In 1915, a body similar to the Bryce Group was set up in the United States, led by former president [[William Howard Taft]]. It was called the [[League to Enforce Peace]].<ref>{{Cite journal|jstor= 2705943 |title=Toward the Concept of Collective Security: The Bryce Group's "Proposals for the Avoidance of War," 1914–1917|journal= International Organization |volume= 24 |issue= 2 |pages= 288–318 |last1= Dubin |first1= Martin David |year= 1970 |doi= 10.1017/S0020818300025911|s2cid=144909907 }}</ref> It advocated the use of arbitration in conflict resolution and the imposition of sanctions on aggressive countries. None of these early organisations envisioned a continuously functioning body; with the exception of the [[Fabian Society]] in England, they maintained a legalistic approach that would limit the international body to a court of justice. The Fabians were the first to argue for a "council" of states, necessarily the [[Great Power]]s, who would adjudicate world affairs, and for the creation of a permanent secretariat to enhance international co-operation across a range of activities.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjVlcgAACAAJ|title=International Government|author=Leonard Woolf|year=2010|publisher=BiblioBazaar|isbn=978-1-177-95293-4}}</ref>

In the course of the [[Diplomatic history of World War I|diplomatic efforts surrounding World War I]], both sides had to clarify their long-term war aims. By 1916 in Britain, fighting on the side of the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]], and in the neutral United States, long-range thinkers had begun to design a unified international organisation to prevent future wars. Historian Peter Yearwood argues that when the new coalition government of [[Lloyd George ministry|David Lloyd George]] took power in December 1916, there was widespread discussion among intellectuals and diplomats of the desirability of establishing such an organisation. When Lloyd George was challenged by Wilson to state his position with an eye on the postwar situation, he endorsed such an organisation. Wilson himself included in his [[Fourteen Points]] in January 1918 a "league of nations to ensure peace and justice." British foreign secretary, [[Arthur Balfour]], argued that, as a condition of durable peace, "behind international law, and behind all treaty arrangements for preventing or limiting hostilities, some form of international sanction should be devised which would give pause to the hardiest aggressor."<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1017/s0018246x00015338|title='On the Safe and Right Lines': The Lloyd George Government and the Origins of the League of Nations, 1916–1918 |year=1989 |last1=Yearwood |first1=Peter |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=32 |pages=131–155 |s2cid=159466156 }}</ref>

The war had had a profound impact, affecting the social, political and economic systems of Europe and inflicting psychological and physical damage.{{sfn|Bell|2007|p=16}} Several empires collapsed: first the [[Russian Empire]] in February 1917, followed by the [[German Empire]], [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] and [[Ottoman Empire]]. Anti-war sentiment rose across the world; the First World War was described as "[[The war to end war|the war to end all wars]]",{{sfn|Archer|2001|p=14}} and its possible causes were vigorously investigated. The causes identified included arms races, alliances, militaristic nationalism, secret diplomacy, and the freedom of sovereign states to enter into war for their own benefit. One proposed remedy was the creation of an international organisation whose aim was to prevent future war through disarmament, open diplomacy, international co-operation, restrictions on the right to wage war, and penalties that made war unattractive.{{sfn|Bell|2007|p=8}}

In London Balfour commissioned the first official report into the matter in early 1918, under the initiative of Lord [[Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood|Robert Cecil]]. The British committee was finally appointed in February 1918. It was led by [[Walter Phillimore]] (and became known as the Phillimore Committee), but also included [[Eyre Crowe]], [[William Tyrrell, 1st Baron Tyrrell|William Tyrrell]], and [[Cecil Hurst]].<ref name="northedge"/> The recommendations of the so-called [[Walter Phillimore|Phillimore Commission]] included the establishment of a "Conference of Allied States" that would arbitrate disputes and impose sanctions on offending states. The proposals were approved by the British government, and much of the commission's results were later incorporated into the [[Covenant of the League of Nations]].<ref name="jclare">{{cite web|publisher=American History|access-date=10 December 2013|url=http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/essays/1901-/the-league-of-nations-karl-j-schmidt.php|title=The League of Nations – Karl J. Schmidt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219081141/http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/essays/1901-/the-league-of-nations-karl-j-schmidt.php|archive-date=19 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

The French authorities also drafted a much more far-reaching proposal in June 1918; they advocated annual meetings of a council to settle all disputes, as well as an "international army" to enforce its decisions.<ref name="jclare"/>

[[File:19181215 Woodrow Wilson Sees Enduring Peace Only In A League of Nations - The New York Times.jpg|thumb|upright=2.0| On his December 1918 trip to Europe, Woodrow Wilson gave speeches that "reaffirmed that the making of peace and the creation of a League of Nations must be accomplished as one single objective".<ref name=NYTimes_19181215>{{cite news |title=Text of the President's Two Speeches in Paris, Stating His Views of the Bases of a Lasting Peace |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-times-dec-15-1918-p-1/ |work=The New York Times |date=15 December 1918 |page=1 }}</ref>]]

American President Woodrow Wilson instructed [[Edward M. House]] to draft a US plan which reflected Wilson's own idealistic views (first articulated in the [[Fourteen Points]] of January 1918), as well as the work of the Phillimore Commission. The outcome of House's work and Wilson's own first draft proposed the termination of "unethical" state behaviour, including forms of espionage and dishonesty. Methods of compulsion against recalcitrant states would include severe measures, such as "blockading and closing the frontiers of that power to commerce or intercourse with any part of the world and to use any force that may be necessary..."<ref name="jclare"/>

The two principal drafters and architects of the [[covenant of the League of Nations]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/~saw2156/TheLeagueAsARetreat.pdf|title=The League of Nations: a retreat from international law?|publisher=Journal of Global History|access-date=10 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214064233/http://www.columbia.edu/~saw2156/TheLeagueAsARetreat.pdf|archive-date=14 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> were the British politician Lord [[Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood|Robert Cecil]] and the South African statesman [[Jan Smuts]]. Smuts's proposals included the creation of a council of the great powers as permanent members and a non-permanent selection of the minor states. He also proposed the creation of a [[League of Nations Mandate|mandate]] system for captured colonies of the [[Central Powers]] during the war. Cecil focused on the administrative side and proposed annual council meetings and quadrennial meetings for the Assembly of all members. He also argued for a large and permanent secretariat to carry out the League's administrative duties.<ref name="jclare"/><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1017/s0018246x00011481|title=Lord Cecil and the Pacifists in the League of Nations Union |year=1977 |last1=Thompson |first1=J. A. |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=949–959 |s2cid=154899222 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |first1= Christof |last1=Heyns |year=1995 |title=The Preamble of the United Nations Charter: The Contribution of Jan Smuts |journal=African Journal of International and Comparative Law |url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/afjincol7&div=23&id=&page= |volume=7 |pages=329+ }}</ref>

According to historian Patricia Clavin, Cecil and the British continued their leadership of the development of a rules-based global order into the 1920s and 1930s, with a primary focus on the League of Nations. The British goal was to systematise and normalise the economic and social relations between states, markets, and civil society. They gave priority to business and banking issues,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clavin |first=Patricia |year=2020 |title=Britain and the Making of Global Order after 1919 |journal=Twentieth Century British History |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=340–359 |doi=10.1093/tcbh/hwaa007 |pmid=39478266 }}</ref> but also considered the needs of ordinary women, children and the family as well.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1080/01916599.2020.1746085|title='Families of mankind': British liberty, League internationalism, and the traffic in women and children |year=2020 |last1=Morefield |first1=Jeanne |journal=History of European Ideas |volume=46 |issue=5 |pages=681–696 |s2cid=216501883 |url=https://birmingham.elsevierpure.com/en/publications/b1c7cfdf-dd62-49bc-9c43-adbb835287bd }}</ref> They moved beyond high-level intellectual discussions, and set up local organisations to support the League. The British were particularly active in setting up junior branches for secondary students.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1080/00309230.2018.1538252|title=Creating liberal-internationalist world citizens: League of Nations Union junior branches in English secondary schools, 1919–1939 |year=2020 |last1=Wright |first1=Susannah |journal=Paedagogica Historica |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=321–340 |s2cid=149886714 |url=https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/a0b8cedf-1be1-4030-9789-dcb3c6aa8063/1/ }}</ref>

The League of Nations was relatively more universal and inclusive in its membership and structure than previous international organisations, but the organisation enshrined racial hierarchy by curtailing the right to self-determination and prevented decolonisation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Getachew|first=Adom|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv3znwvg|title=Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination|date=2019|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-17915-5|pages=37–52|doi=10.2307/j.ctv3znwvg |jstor=j.ctv3znwvg|s2cid=242525007 }}</ref>

===Establishment===
{{multiple image| align=right| total_width=300
| image1=117-119 Piccadilly, October 2022.jpg
| image2=Lombard House, Mayfair, October 2022 03.jpg
| footer = During the creation phase in 1919–1920, the League's staff was temporarily established  in [[London]], at 117 Piccadilly (left) and Sunderland House (later known as Lombard House, on [[Curzon Street]]; right)<ref>{{citation|title=The Library of the League of Nations at Geneva |author=Muriel Hoppes |journal=The Library Quarterly |volume=31 |date=July 1961 |issue=3 |pages=257–268 |doi=10.1086/618894 |s2cid=147989167 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/618894 }}</ref>}}
[[File:Inter-Allied Women's Conference end.png|thumb|Participants of the Inter-Allied Women's Conference, 1919, "They got Equality for Women in the League of Nations"]]
{{multiple image
 | width = 200
 | image1 = Salle de l'Horloge during the Paris Peace Conference.jpg
 | caption1 = The first meeting of the Council took place on 16 January 1920 in the Salle de l'Horloge at the seat of the [[French Ministry of Foreign Affairs]] at [[Quai d'Orsay]] in Paris.
 | image2 = No-nb bldsa 5c013.jpg
 | caption2 = The first meeting of the Assembly took place on 15 November 1920 at the [[Calvinium|Reformation Hall]] in Geneva.
}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-00678, Genf.- Haus des Völkerbundrates.jpg|thumb|In 1924, the headquarters of the League in Geneva (formerly {{lang|fr|Hôtel National}}) was named "[[Palais Wilson]]" after Woodrow Wilson, credited as the "Founder of the League of Nations"]]

At the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919, Wilson, Cecil and Smuts all put forward their draft proposals. After lengthy negotiations between the delegates, the [[Cecil Hurst|Hurst]]–[[David Hunter Miller|Miller]] draft was finally produced as a basis for the [[Covenant of the League of Nations|Covenant]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/draftingofcovena0000mill|url-access=registration|title=The drafting of the Covenant|author=David Hunter Miller|year=1969|publisher=Johnson Reprint Corp.}}</ref> After more negotiation and compromise, the delegates finally approved of the proposal to create the League of Nations ({{langx|fr|Société des Nations}}, {{langx|de|Völkerbund}}) on 25 January 1919.{{sfn|Magliveras|1999|p=8}} The final [[Covenant of the League of Nations]] was drafted by a special commission, and the League was established by Part I of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], signed on 28 June 1919.{{sfn|Magliveras|1999|pp=8–12}}{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=35–36}}

French women's rights advocates invited international feminists to participate in a parallel conference to the Paris Conference in hopes that they could gain permission to participate in the official conference.<ref name="Sydney Herald">{{cite news |title=Inter-Allied Women's Conference in Paris |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13469530/the_sydney_morning_herald/ |access-date=31 August 2017 |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=23 May 1919 |page=5 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170901030613/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13469530/the_sydney_morning_herald/ |archive-date=1 September 2017|url-status=live}} {{open access}}</ref> The [[Inter-Allied Women's Conference]] asked to be allowed to submit suggestions to the peace negotiations and commissions and were granted the right to sit on commissions dealing specifically with women and children.<ref>{{cite news |title=Women and the Peace Conference |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13469815/women_and_the_peace_conference_the/ |access-date=31 August 2017 |newspaper=The Manchester Guardian |date=18 February 1919 |page=5 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170901031301/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13469815/women_and_the_peace_conference_the/|archive-date=1 September 2017|url-status=live}} {{open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Drexel |first1=Constance |title=Women Gain Victory at Paris Conference |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13469357/the_los_angeles_times/ |access-date=31 August 2017 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=15 March 1919 |page=2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170901031443/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13469357/the_los_angeles_times/|archive-date=1 September 2017 |url-status=live}} {{open access}}</ref> Though they asked for enfranchisement and full legal protection under the law equal with men,<ref name="Sydney Herald"/> those rights were ignored.{{sfn|Wiltsher|1985|pp=200–202}} Women won the right to serve in all capacities, including as staff or delegates in the League of Nations organisation.{{sfn|Meyer|Prügl|1999|p=20}} They also won a declaration that member nations should prevent [[Human trafficking|trafficking]] of women and children and should equally support humane conditions for children, women and men labourers.{{sfn|Pietilä|1999|p=2}} At the [[Zürich]] Peace Conference held between 17 and 19 May 1919, the women of the WILPF condemned the terms of the [[Treaty of Versailles]] for both its punitive measures, as well as its failure to provide for condemnation of violence and exclusion of women from civil and political participation.{{sfn|Wiltsher|1985|pp=200–202}} Upon reading the Rules of Procedure for the League of Nations, [[Catherine Marshall (suffragette)|Catherine Marshall]], a British suffragist, discovered that the guidelines were completely undemocratic and they were modified based on her suggestion.{{sfn|Wiltsher|1985|p=212}}

The League would be made up of a Assembly (representing all member states), a Council (with membership limited to major powers), and a permanent Secretariat. Member states were expected to "respect and preserve as against external aggression" the territorial integrity of other members and to [[Disarmament|disarm]] "to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety." All states were required to submit complaints for [[arbitration]] or [[judicial inquiry]] before going to war.<ref name="northedge"/> The Council would create a [[Permanent Court of International Justice]] to make judgements on the disputes.

Despite Wilson's efforts to establish and promote the League, for which he was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in October 1919,{{sfn|Levinovitz|Ringertz|2001|p=170}} the United States never joined. Senate Republicans led by [[Henry Cabot Lodge]] wanted a League with the reservation that only Congress could take the U.S. into war. Lodge gained a majority of Senators and Wilson refused to allow a compromise. The Senate voted on the ratification on 19 March 1920, and the 49–35 vote fell short of the [[Treaty Clause|needed 2/3 majority]].<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 985951|title = Henry Cabot Lodge and the League of Nations|journal = Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume = 114|issue = 4|pages = 245–255|last1 = Hewes|first1 = James E.|year = 1970}}</ref>

The League held its first council meeting in Paris on 16 January 1920, six days after the Versailles Treaty and the Covenant of the League of Nations came into force.{{sfn|Scott|1973|p=51}} On 1 November 1920, the headquarters of the League was moved from London to [[Geneva]], where the first General Assembly was held on 15 November 1920.{{sfn|Scott|1973|p=67}}<ref>[http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/3DA94AAFEB9E8E76C1256F340047BB52/$file/sdn_chronology.pdf League of Nations Chronology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404121418/http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/3DA94AAFEB9E8E76C1256F340047BB52/$file/sdn_chronology.pdf |date=4 April 2015 }}, The United Nations Office at Geneva</ref> Geneva made sense as an ideal city for the League, since Switzerland had been a neutral country for centuries and was already the headquarters for the International Red Cross. Its strong democracy and location in central Europe made it a good choice for the nations of the world. Support for Geneva as the selection came from Swiss Federal Councillor Gustave Ador and economist William Rappard.<ref>Marabello, Thomas Quinn (2023) "Challenges to Swiss Democracy: Neutrality, Napoleon, & Nationalism," ''Swiss American Historical Society Review'': Vol. 59, No. 2. Page 54–56. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol59/iss2/5</ref> The [[Palais Wilson]] on Geneva's western lakeshore, named after Woodrow Wilson, was the League's first permanent home.

====Mission====
The covenant had ambiguities, as Carole Fink points out. There was not a good fit between Wilson's "revolutionary conception of the League as a solid replacement for a corrupt alliance system, a guardian of international order, and protector of small states," versus Lloyd George's desire for a "cheap, self-enforcing, peace, such as had been maintained by the old and more fluid Concert of Europe."<ref>Carole Fink, "The great powers in the new international system, 1919–1923," in Paul Kennedy and William I. Hitchcock, eds, ''From War to Peace'' (Yale University Press, 2000) pp  17 – 35 at page 24</ref>
Furthermore, the League, according to Carole Fink, was, "deliberately excluded from such great-power prerogatives as freedom of the seas and naval disarmament, the [[Monroe Doctrine]] and the internal affairs of the French and British empires, and inter-Allied debts and German reparations, not to mention the Allied intervention and the settlement of borders with Soviet Russia."<ref>Fink, p. 24</ref>

Although the United States never joined, unofficial observers became more and more involved, especially in the 1930s. American philanthropies became heavily involved, especially the [[Rockefeller Foundation]]. It made major grants designed to build up the technical expertise of the League staff. Ludovic Tournès argues that by the 1930s the foundations had changed the League from a "Parliament of Nations" to a modern think tank that used specialised expertise to provide an in-depth impartial analysis of international issues.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1057/s41311-017-0110-4|title=American membership of the League of Nations: US philanthropy and the transformation of an intergovernmental organisation into a think tank |year=2018 |last1=Tournès |first1=Ludovic |journal=International Politics |volume=55 |issue=6 |pages=852–869 |s2cid=149155486 }}</ref>