"SENATOR BORAH CERTAIN TO BE CHAIRMAN"

SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARINGS ON U.S. RECOGNITION OF U.S.S.R.

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On January 10, 1924, a subcommittee of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee was named "to hold public hearings...urging the recognition of the Soviet government of Russia."

A proposal to hold public hearings was made by Senator Borah (R-Idaho).  The vote on the proposal was 11-2 in favor.  The Evening Star reports Senator William E. Borah* is certain to be chairman of the subcommittee.

JFK+50 NOTE

The U.S. did not officially recognize the government of the U.S.S.R. from December 1917 to November 1933.  During the administration of FDR, on November 16, 1933, the United States officially recognized the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

*William Edgar Borah (1865-1940) was born in Fairfield, Illinois & served in the US Senate 1907-1940.  WEB opposed the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI & served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 1924-1933.

SOURCES

"Recognition of the Soviet Union, 1933," Office of the Historian, Department of State, www.history.state.gov/

"Senate Will Hold Public Hearings on Soviet Recognition," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., January 10, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

W.E. Borah

c. 1919-1925

Bain News Service Photo

Library of Congress

SENATE MAY BALK AT DECLARING STATE OF WAR

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2261

WILSON MAY STILL BE OPEN TO STAYING OUT OF WAR

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) 100 years ago today, March 27, 1917, Senator Gilbert M. Hitchcock* of Nebraska, after speaking with Woodrow Wilson, said the President remained open-minded on the issue of war with Germany. 

Senator Hitchcock said...

"I do not think (the President) has reached the final conclusion that we cannot keep out of war and preserve our honor."

In a headline story in The Chicago Daily Tribune of March 28th, Arthur Sears Henning reported that President Wilson's cabinet continued discussions during the day on the possibility of war with Germany.  Mr. Henning said that the decision was made that "a reckoning with the representatives of the people assembled in congress" would be necessary to pursue that course.

President Wilson, Henning wrote, "saw the possibility of a stubborn fight against a resolution declaring a state of war with Germany."  Senator Hitchcock advised the President to "invoke an affirmation of armed neutrality by congress instead of a declaration of war."

*Gilbert Monell Hitchcock (1859-1934) was born in Omaha, NE & earned his law degree at the University of Michigan in 1881.  GMH was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1902 & the US Senate in 1911.  He became Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1918, but was defeated for re-election in 1922 & 1930.

SOURCES

"Gilbert Monell Hitchcock," Encyclopedia.com, www.encyclopedia.com/

"Senate May Balk At War," by Arthur Sears Henning, The Chicago Daily Tribune, March 28, 1917, www.archives.chicagotribune.com/

Portrait of Gilbert Hitchcock

The World's Work