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When President Wilson left the peace conference
for business in America and House assumed responsibility of the American
negotiations at Versailles, intense negotiations developed on the issue
of the Franco-German border. The Americans wanted to stop any future German
threat to France but not punish Germany severely. The French wanted to
do everything possible to ensure that Germany never threatened France again.
House, having been told by Wilson what he could do, negotiated with the
French an agreement of only a limited occupation of the Rhineland with
a future withdrawal. Even though Wilson ordered House to halt any negotiations
on the borders, House ignored Wilson's instruction and proceeded, much
to Wilson's later distress.
When House made the decision to form a
committee to draw up the final borders of the Rhineland, he believed that
House's resolution of the border issue was the only one possible. House
knew from his previous experience in the negotiations over the border that
there was not much leeway in the French position. Wilson, absent from the
negotiations, did not know how House had fought the French for every concession
to the American position. The process of negotiation was an ongoing affair,
and Wilson's absence meant that Wilson did not have a complete grasp of
the details, as House did on the scene.
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