career and will imperil his reputation. I may be in error and hope
that I am, but I prophesy trouble in Paris and worse than trouble
here. I believe the President's place is here in America."

Whether the decision of Mr. Wilson was wise and whether my prophecy was
unfulfilled, I leave to the judgment of others. His visit to Europe and
its consequences are facts of history. It should be understood that the
incident is not referred to here to justify my views or to prove that
the President was wrong in what he did. The reference is made solely
because it shows that at the very outset there was a decided divergence
of judgment between us in regard to the peace negotiations.

While this difference of opinion apparently in no way affected our
cordial relations, I cannot but feel, in reviewing this period of our
intercourse, that my open opposition to his attending the Conference was
considered by the President to be an unwarranted meddling with his
personal affairs and was none of my business. It was, I believe, the
beginning of his loss of confidence in my judgment and advice, which
became increasingly marked during the Paris negotiations. At the time,
however, I did not realize that my honest opinion affected the President
in the way which I now believe that it did. It had always been my
practice as Secretary of State to speak to him with candor and to
disagree with him whenever I thought he was reaching a wrong decision in
regard to any matter pertaining to foreign affairs. There was a general
belief that Mr. Wilson was not open-minded and that he was quick to
resent any opposition however well founded. I had not found him so
during the years we had been associated. Except in a few instances he
listened with consideration to arguments and apparently endeavored to
value them correctly. If, however, the matter related even remotely to
his personal conduct he seemed unwilling to debate the question. My