ed on the “right” to travel on the armed ships of belhgerentsrnshould proceed at their own risk; and yet, the rights of neutralsrnmust be protected. Although Robert LaFollette, Sr., his fellowrnprogressive, fought against Wilson’s request for a declaration ofrnwar and delivered a four-hour peroration against the Presidentrnon the Senate floor, Borah voted a reluctant yes, filled with foreboding:rn”I join no crusade; I seek or accept no alliance; I obligaternthis Government to no other power.” He often said that ofrnall the votes he ever cast in the Senate, this is the one he regrettedrnmost. He fought Wilson’s war-time suspension of civil liberties,rnthe anti-German witch hunt, the infamous EspionagernAct, the closing down of newspapers, police raids against suspectedrn”subversives,” and vocally abhorred conscription: “I amrnunwilling to Prussianize this country in order to de-PrussianizernGermany.”rnThe war transformed Borah—or completed a metamorphosisrnalready in progress—just as it transfigured an entire generationrnof American liberals from witless internationalists to embitteredrncritics of the “merchants of death.” Borah denouncedrnthe Treaty of Versailles because it meant that the United Statesrnwould be pledged to defend the status quo in Europe andrnaround the world. The secret treaties of the victorious Alliesrnturned what had been sold as the emancipation of Europe intorna reenactment of the Gongress of Vienna. Once again, thernmap was carved up by the imperial powers. The dream of ourrnyouth had been sacrificed on the altar of European intrigues.rnTo Borah, American imperialism was the policy of variousrn”interests.” He exposed the role of these “interests” inrnplanning gunboat diplomacy in Latin America, fought to endrnAmerica’s intervention in Russia, and excoriated our Europeanrnallies for defaulting on their war debts. Franco-Americanrnfriendship would endure, he thought, but the French “hadrnspent too much time in contemplating that part of the Lord’srnprayer which read forgive us our debts.” This did not endearrnhim to the French, whose sobriquet for the Idaho isolationistrnwas “Dog Borah,” When Clemenceau visited America inrnNovember 1922, Borah refused to serve on the greeting committee;rnin a Senate speech, he charged that the sole theme ofrnClemenceau’s speech to his American hosts was one of “punishment,rnof vengeance, of anticipated war. We are invited backrnto the Old Europe, with its secret treaties, its secret diplomacy,rnits militarism, its imperialism, and it is that policy the Americanrnpeople are asked to furnish their money, their means, and theirrnmen to enforce.”rnAs the European vultures feasted amid the ruins of a continent,rnBorah gave eloquent expression to the disillusion and revulsionrnof the American people. He was in fine form on thernSenate floor, leading the so-called Irreconcilables in their unyieldingrnopposition to Wilson’s League of Nations: “If the Saviorrnof mankind would revisit the earth and declare for a League,rnI would be opposed to it.” Borah’s great fear was that the “interests,”rnfinancially and socially linked to British banks andrnFrench financiers, sought to yoke us to our faithless Allies byrnmeans of a transnational power that would enforce “peace” atrngunpoint. These European ingrates would “plunge us into thernstorm center” of European politics. In Borah’s view, thernCovenant represented the triumph of British imperial diplomacy:rnwithout having to fire a shot, the British would maintainrncontrol of their vast empire. Not only that, but the Leaguernwould in effect reverse the results of the American Revolution:rnwhat the colonists had taken from George III, they would relinquishrnto George V.rnAs Wilson toured the country in support of the League, Borahrndogged his every step, rallying the country against the selloutrnof American sovereignty. At the Chicago Coliseum, hernstrode up and down the stage, thumbs hitched in his armpits,rnand engaged in a spirited dialogue with the audience: “Do yournwant a League you can’t get out of?”rn”No, no,” shouted the crowd.rn”Is there an American who wants a foreign nation to sayrnwhen and where the Monroe Doctrine should apply?” Borahrnasked.rnThe audience yelled: “Never!”rn”England has suggested (all England has to do now is to suggest)rnthat we send 100,000 men to Constantinople,” he toldrnthem.rn”Don’t let them go,” they yelled.rn”Yes, they will go,” Borah said, “but without the consent ofrnthe American people.”rnBarely two years after the armistice, a three-sided arms racernhad begun involving Japan, Great Britain, and the UnitedrnStates. The stern nationalist who had once gone along withrnWilson’s “preparedness” campaign was now the Senate’s mostrnactive disarmament advocate; the arms race was “a crimernagainst humanity,” said Borah. War with Japan within a quarter-rncentury was inevitable unless the military build-up wasrnshelved and reversed. We must focus, he insisted, on the defensernof the continental United States.rnAs Europe trembled with the seizures of the coming madness,rnBorah feared the political and economic impact of a floodrnof refugees, which would only draw us into the maelstrom ofrnforeign intrigues. At the height of the Depression, with 12 millionrnunemployed, the idea of admitting more immigrantsrnaroused Borah’s indignation; it could not be justified “by anyrntheor}’ of patriotism or humanity.”rnThe Crash of 1929 saw Borah arguing fiercely for unemploymentrnrelief Hoover and the Old Guard were appalled:rnSenator Simeon B. Fess, Republican of Ohio, was so emphaticrnin his attack on the federal relief bill that his knuckles bled as hernpounded home his point that relief would make its recipientsrndependent on the dole forever. Borah replied that Fess and thernOld Guard did not hesitate to vote for the Reconstruction FinancernCorporation, which put big business on the dole, and yetrnnone worried about the effect that this might have on the moralrncharacter of millionaires.rnBorah and his fellow progressives had fought for many “leftwing”rncauses: unemployment insurance, better working conditions,rnthe income tax, antitrust laws, and public ownership ofrnutilities. Yet they reacted to the New Deal with varying degreesrnof outraged horror, instinctively alerted to its revolutionary intent.rnBorah held his tongue until the threat was acute, then attackedrnthe National Recovery Act as the dictatorship of therntrusts, the death knell of the independent businessman, and thernend of constitutional government in America. The badly shakenrnGOP, mesmerized by FDR, was galvanized, and ralliedrnaround the first Republican to challenge That Man in thernWliite House.rnWhen FDR openly bid for dictatorship and proposed to packrnthe Supreme Court, and the New Dealers went around exclaimingrnthat the Constitution represented “the ox-cart system,”rnBorah disdainfully replied that “the ox-cart should andrnwill have a high place at the bar of history.” Working with dissidentrnDemocrat Burton K. Wheeler, Borah mobilized con-rn24/CHRONICLESrnrnrn