On July 10, 1919, the president of the United States, for the first time since 1789, personally delivered a treaty to the Senate. This was no ordinary treaty; it was the Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I and establishing the League of Nations. As Secret Service agents and Capitol Police officers sealed off the Senate wing to everyone without a special pass, President Woodrow Wilson walked into the chamber lugging the oversized document under his right arm. Recently returned from Paris and his unprecedented self-assigned role as leader of the American negotiating team, Wilson hoped for prompt Senate approval but feared trouble from Republicans, newly restored as the chamber's majority party.
