Lake Geneva

Even the war had not stopped all dialogue going on between the Allies and the Entente. There were always issues that needed to be discussed and could be worked out, peacefully enough, and for this reason there was a good bit of unofficial chatter between the belligerents. The majority of this conversation was happening in the most convenient place for most of the warring nations, Switzerland. The resort town of Lake Geneva had been a diplomatic favorite before the war and continued on, after the onset of hostilities, as if there were no war at all.

It was quite common to see prominent citizens of antagonist nations, sharing dinner and social activities at Geneva so, very little attention was paid to one more. Many of the men who met here were actually personal friends no matter what their politics and nationalities were. This had been the sight of the negotiations for the sale of the island of Cuba, which directly led to the war, and some of the delegations were still around in 1901.

One of these men was an unofficial representative of the United States Government, who had decided to wait out the war in Europe. He was a business magnate and, in adjusted dollars, quite possibly the richest man that America had ever produced. He was responsible for the Standard Oil Monopoly that would, in years to come, put him squarely at odds with the sitting US President but, at this time, Roosevelt was asking John Davidson Rockefeller for a favor. This was in late March.

At the time that Rockefeller had left for Europe, he had considered himself officially retired from business. He had been spending his time playing philanthropist and when his personal friend and a political benefactor, Elihu Root, had asked him to head up the Cuban delegation it seemed to Rockefeller as a patriotic duty. The problem now was that Root was dead and Rockefeller had about as much use for Roosevelt as did John Hay. Still, given the nature of the meeting, Rockefeller agreed.

The man he met with was the 4^th Earl of Grey, Albert Henry George Grey, who had recently recovered from a shrapnel wound he received in Rhodesia the previous year. Grey was on his way back to South Africa where, he would eventually take command of a reorganized army. He had been asked by the ailing Salisbury, personally, to take on this unofficial mission. The truth was that even if the real Prime Minister did the asking, the choice of Grey had been a compromise of the entire cabinet and the final straw in the matter was the simple fact that diverting Grey’s travel through Switzerland would be very inconspicuous. The choice would prove to be a mistake.

Grey and Rockefeller did not hit it off very well. Grey was born into the aristocracy and his counterpart was the kind of man that he was taught to look down on. Grey made no effort to hide his disdain. Grey was also a radical liberal and he enjoyed both a good brandy and cigar. Rockefeller, on the other hand, was very religious, did not partake of alcohol or tobacco, and found Grey equally offensive. Their one and only discussion, over evening dinner, went nowhere. One would think that these two men could have set aside their differences considering the general subject of their discussion, that of world peace. They did not and any more communications on the matter was laid to rest until early summer.

The only reason any dialogue, on this matter, was revived at all was simply because Roosevelt would not give up on it. There were many in Roosevelt’s cabinet that thought the idea treasonous. Again, even some of his own supporters were uncomfortable with the idea of talking this deeply with an enemy that was still not defeated. Theodore argued back that unless they knew what concerned the enemy they had no real idea where to strike at him. This gave the President’s plan some merit but, it took the capitulation of Canada before Roosevelt felt confident enough to make another move. He was already prepared to do so when the time came because Theodore had already dispatched his personal friend, William Howard Taft, to Switzerland, not long after the Rockefeller dinner fell through.

Roosevelt was confident that the British would come to him after the loss of Canada and he was not completely wrong, although, the first contact did not exactly come from London. There was another man in Geneva, who had been sent there, specifically, to open a dialogue with the Entente, and his name was Woodrow Wilson. He would be the first man who came calling on Taft and, while Taft had no instructions to talk with the Confederate States on this matter, he did not see where there was any disadvantage in doing so. Taft had spent a good many years being the unofficial ambassador to the CSA, he understood how to talk with them, and he knew Wilson personally.

Even more important, and the ultimate reason why Wilson was in Switzerland, was that he knew both Taft and Roosevelt. Wilson had dealt with both men, extensively, during the Langley Mission just prior to the war. Taft had to recognize that if Wheeler had sent Wilson here then, whatever the man had say, must be serious. What Taft did not know was that Wilson’s presence here was far less than it seemed. Wilson had not been Wheeler’s choice to head up this unofficial mission. Wheeler had asked, none other than, the former President of the Confederate States, James Longstreet to travel to Geneva and open a dialogue with the United States.

Since March, Wheeler had become aware of the Rockefeller dinner and, while he had no idea what had been discussed there, just the fact that Britain and the United States were talking was disturbing enough. The fact that Balfour had not bothered to inform Richmond of this communications was even more so. That was why Joe Wheeler put so much importance on this mission and wanted to send the one man he saw capable of handling the situation and that man was not Woodrow Wilson.

At the time, Longstreet was in ill health and living in an Atlanta hotel. His longtime family home, a hotel in the small mountain town of Gainesville, had recently burned down and a new structure had yet to be built. While living in Atlanta, Longstreet was often visited by the junior Confederate Congressman, and former aide, Woodrow Wilson. The two men had long conversations about the future of their nation and Wilson expressed many concerns that he could not do so in public. As it turned out, these were some of the exact same concerns shared by Longstreet. While the former president was in a position to speak out on them, he was simply weary of politics at this point and had no desire to become embroiled in another controversy.

That is perhaps the reason why, when Longstreet rejected Wheeler’s request, he suggested Wilson should be the man. Of course, naturally, Wheeler knew Wilson very well since Woodrow had also severed him as an aid. Wilson also had extensive diplomatic experience, knew Roosevelt personally, and had much experience as a litigator. This last reason is why, most likely, Wilson and Taft could talk to each other so well. They were both lawyers and understood each other’s language. What neither man could get past at this point was that there was really not much to say. The war had reopened a good many wounds and made some new ones. It had yet to settle the real issues between the two American nations and, at this point, there seemed to be little that could be compromised.

The simple fact was that the concerns of the two warring nations were quite valid. Each nation was a threat to the other and both sides felt they still had the upper hand in the war. Despite a pleasant series of talks between the two unofficial representatives, and a very earnest desire for peace, they simply found that it could not happen as of yet. It was only after the British representative showed up that the Roosevelt Administration began to pay attention to the talks. The main reason for this was because no one in Washington knew who this man was and it concerned them that Balfour would send such a fellow in the first place. This man’s name was David Lloyd George.

If Canada had convinced the American administration of a need for some kind of dialogue, it had made such a move, for the Salisbury Cabinet, absolutely essential. The fall out from the loss of Canada was still being felt in London and there were even calls, in the House of Commons, to disband the current wartime cabinet. Balfour was able to hold off a vote but, he realized that the dove faction was gaining steam and he had to do something to head this off. He never really thought that the Geneva talks would go anywhere but, what better way to disarm the opposition than to bring one of their emerging leaders into the fold, give him a seemingly important but, do nothing job, and get him out of the country. The Geneva mission seemed perfect. A recommendation from Chamberlin was all that was required, at that point, and George was on his way to Switzerland.

George, also an attorney, found his talks with Taft to be somewhat frustrating. Both men tolerated each other even if they did not hit it off as did Wilson and Taft. Their conversations took on more the tone of what they were, that being, litigators who were arguing a case. George also found that steering a ship was very different from advising the helmsmen. He was smart enough to understand that, despite his desire to end the war tomorrow, this could not happen if Great Britain found itself with a peacefully sinking ship.

That was why, not longer after their talks began, both men realized exactly what Taft and Wilson had, there could be no peace until something else happened on the battlefields of the world. Only when someone had a strong enough hand could they negotiate and, currently, despite the reverses and successes of both sides, nobody had this. What they did not know was that what they were looking for was coming and quicker than any of them thought possible.