My Peacemaking Collection

This weekend I've decided to breathe new life into my ailing Peacemaking collection. It is a collection based on the book 'Peacemakers' by Margaret McMillan, dealing with the aftermath of World War One. I'm actually using her words to build up the collection, trying to find material to illustrate her text. Although mainly philatelic, I also include postcards, press photographs and anything else which might fit the subject, if I can't find anything philatelic to illustrate the text.

I've stop-started this collection so often, that I thought if I start showing it here, bit by bit, I have an extra incentive to go on with it. So I hope to show you a new item (almost) every day until I get to where I stopped last time and from then on start adding to the whole thing.

I can't of course quote the actual text here as that would probably send the copyright lawyers breathing down my neck, so you'll have to make do with my less witty words, I'm afraid. So here we go!

The story starts on 4 December 1918, with the George Washington sailing out of New York, on its way to Europe and the Peace Conference, carrying the delegation to that conference on board.



This is a British postcard of the George Washington (produced by Waterlow & Sons), sent from Tavistock, England to Chicago, USA. Unfortunately, the stamp has been removed so I can't date the card but it looks rather like from the period.

It's from the period, but the George Washington was not part of the United States Lines until 1921.

I believe this postcard would be more appropriate for your reference to 1919, when the George Washington was still part of North German Lloyd:

Haha, well that's a great start, isn't it?!
Thanks for pointing that out.
So now I'm torn between going for something postal (ie a postcard from the right period) or going for something more spectacular (ie a press photograph of the ship when it actually carried the delegation to Europe on that day).

As far as press photos, maybe this link would help:

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/...id3018-p.htm

>>>>>>>>>>>>>The story starts on 4 December 1918,

Looks to me like Margaret gave short shrift to the people who tried to prevent WW I in 1914.

wt1: thanks for the link. The photograph I found for sale is too big for my pages anyway so I opted for the postcard you showed and I found and bought it this morning.

CanadaStamp: well, any story got to start somewhere, and this book is more or less specifically about the events after the war, so the moment chosen by her ain't that bad, I don't think. And there'll be plenty of attention to events leading up to her main topic anyway.

But for now, the boat is sailing out of New York, watched by huge crowds cheering along the waterside.



Well, more than can be seen on this postcard. You'll just have to imagine them, and the guns firing salutes, the tugboats hooting and the sky full of army planes and dirigibles.

On board SS George Washington was the American secretary of state, Robert Lansing, seen here on a 1918 press photograph. I know it's a bit scruffy but I kinda like the old-fashioned cropping marks.



Lansing released carrier pigeons with messages of hope for a lasting peace.

Lansing's action was symbolic for the heavy expectations the ship carried to Europe, when it sailed away past the Statue of Liberty.



I had a bit of space left on my page so could add four stamps. I chose the four from the Liberty issue, which I think are both beautiful and iconic.

Besides Lansing, there were some more 'big shots' on board SS George Washington; the French ambassador to the United States, Jean-Jules Jusserand, was one of them.

The Italian ambassador to the United States, Count Macchi di Cellere, was also on board.



At the time I couldn't find a suitable picture of him to use, but I did find this letter which he wrote in June 1914. So at least I have his monogram and his signature, and that should suffice, because I don't actually remember him coming up again in the story.

And last, but most certainly not least, President Woodrow Wilson was on board.



He was actually the first US President to go to Europe while still in office!

His move was controversial: his opponents said he was breaking the constitution and even his supporters doubted the wisdom of his decision to go to Europe, afraid he might lose his moral authority.

But Wilson was adament that his decision was the right one. He felt that making peace was just as important as winning the war.

He felt he not only owed it to Europe but to the American servicemen as well.

I had to decide what to do with Woodrow Wilson for he comes up so often that I would never ever get enough items to keep illustrating him. So I decided to only feature him when he's directly quoted. Which is now.


(1925 flat plate printing)

"It is now my duty to play my full part in making good what they gave their life's blood to obtain", he told Congress before he left.

Before he left, Wilson wrote to his friend Colonel Edward House, who had gone to Europe before him, that he expected to stay for a short while only, just to arrange the broad outlines of the peace agreement.



Wilson was wrong, however, because the preliminary peace conference evolved into the final one and Wilson remained present for almost the full six months that the conference lasted.

Nowadays nobody looks up when hearing about American presidents making peace deals. After all, we've had Franklin Roosevelt at Yalta.