Purchased by the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College on August 12, 2020 from Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York.

The American Peace Delegates in Paris! The American Peace Mission in session in the Hotel Crillon, Paris, to discuss America’s terms of peace. From left to right are Colonel Edward M. House, Robert Lansing, President Woodrow Wilson, Henry White and General Tasker H. Bliss.

On January 18, 1919, in Paris, France, some of the most powerful people in the world met to begin the long, complicated negotiations that would officially mark the end of the First World War. Leaders of the victorious Allied powers–France, Great Britain, the United States and Italy– would make most of the crucial decisions in Paris over the next six months. For most of the conference, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson struggled to support his idea of a “peace without victory” and make sure that Germany, the leader of the Central Powers and the major loser of the war, was not treated too harshly. On the other hand, Prime Ministers Georges Clemenceau of France and David Lloyd George of Britain argued that punishing Germany adequately and ensuring its weakness was the only way to justify the immense costs of the war. In the end, Wilson compromised on the treatment of Germany in order to push through the creation of his pet project, an international peacekeeping organization called the League of Nations. Representatives from Germany were excluded from the peace conference until May, when they arrived in Paris and were presented with a draft of the Versailles Treaty.

Credited in plate with typeset credit and title on label affixed to verso.

Ferrotyped prints are processed in such a way that they are shiny. The print has a sensitive surface, usually thinner, because it was put through a press while still wet.

Ferrotyped prints have a sensitive surface, usually shiny and thinner, because they are put through a press while still wet. Ferrotyping makes the surface of the photograph smoother. Light does not scatter as much on a smoother surface, so this increases contrast. That makes ferrotyped images better for press photography.

This object has the following keywords:

• Allied Powers
• Col. Edward House
• Delegates
• Edward House
• Henry White
• Henry White
• Hotel Crillon
• Paris
• Paris Peace Conference
• Robert Lansing
• Robert Lansing
• Tasker H. Bliss
• Tasker H. Bliss
• Treaty of Versailles
• Woodrow Wilson
• Woodrow Wilson
• World War I

This object is a member of the following portfolios: