SENATOR OWEN CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF ORIGIN & CAUSES OF WORLD WAR
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 20, 1924, The Evening Star reports that a resolution was introduced yesterday by Senator Robert L. Owen* (D-Oklahoma) calling for an investigation by the Foreign Relations Committee of "the origin and causes of the world war."
This resolution specifies a "commission of inquiry" be created composed of 7 to 9 senators who would be tasked with assembling and analyzing "all the evidence."
Senator Owen insists that the war resulted because of "a system of secret diplomacy" and that this system "still continues to flourish."
JFK+50 NOTE
According to the editors at History.com, European alliances did contribute to the outbreak of WWI, "but political instability in the Balkans (Bosnia, Serbia & Herzegovina) threatened to destroy those agreements."
The assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 was the "spark" that touched of the world war in which 16 million people would die.
President Kennedy spoke about Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August" (1962) which covers the first month of WWI. JFK quoted a statesman of the time answering the question "How did it all begin?" with the words "Ah, if we only knew."
*Robert Latham Owen, Jr. (1856-1947) was born in Lynchburg, Virginia & graduated from Washington & Lee University in 1877. He was a U.S. Indian agent 1885-1889 & was a member of the Cherokee Nation. RLO served in the U.S. Senate 1907-1925.
SOURCES
"Now It's the War Senate Is Asked To 'Investigate'." The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., February 20, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"World War I," by History.com editors, 2009/2023, www.history.com/
.jpg)
