Context
Early Life
Arthur Vandenberg was born on March 22, 1884. After the Panic of 1893 ruined his father’s business, nine year old Vandenberg was forced to work. He graduated high school when he was sixteen years old, and, four years later, began working for The Grand Rapids Herald, a local Republican newspaper.
|
I had no youth, I had one passion -- to be certain that when I grew up I would not be in the position my father was. |
Hover over images to see transcription and citation.
The Herald and the First World War
Vandenberg was soon promoted to editor-in-chief of the Herald and used his influential position as a public platform to promote his Republican views. Like many Americans, he believed it was possible to prepare for war while never intending American involvement. He believed “that sane, legitimate ‘preparedness’ is a peace movement. [2]”
|
However, after war was declared, Vandenberg supported it. He wrote of a “glorious and honorable crusade to spread even further into Europe the freedom which now dominates the governments of these countries, Russia, France, and Great Britain, whose battle is also now ours. [3]” In 1918, he gave 82 speeches in seventeen days in support of the war. After the war, however, Vandenberg could not support President Wilson's campaign for the League of Nations.
|
Any man who says this was a war for money, lies. He slanders not only the president, but the country and the flag. |
The great danger… is that persistent refusal on the part of President Wilson… to agree to any reservations is so irritating to popular opinion that the first thing we know the pendulum will swing to the other extreme and we shall confront a situation which will produce complete rejection of the entire undertaking. |
This came to pass, with Vandenberg stating “uncompromising extremists at both ends of the line... defeated a common-sense, middle-of-the-road composition which a majority of the country wanted. [6]”
Senate
Vandenberg’s growing political standing led to his appointment to the Senate in 1928, and he was quickly appointed to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He engineered compromises within the polarized Republican party and in the Foreign Relations Committee, soon gaining prominence among the senators.
|