Ratification debate and defeat upright|thumb|Wilson returning from the Versailles Peace Conference on USS George Washington, as she steamed up New York Harbor on July 8, 1919; the Weimar National Assembly in Germany formally ratified the treaty the following day in a vote of 209 to 116. Ratification of the Treaty of Versailles required the support of two-thirds of the Senate, a difficult proposition given that Republicans held a narrow majority in the Senate after the 1918 U.S. elections.Clements (1992), pp. 190–191 Republicans were outraged by Wilson's failure to discuss the war or its aftermath with them, and an intensely partisan battle developed in the Senate. Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge supported a version of the treaty that required Wilson to compromise. Wilson refused. Some Republicans, including former President Taft and former Secretary of State Elihu Root, favored ratification of the treaty with some modifications, and their public support gave Wilson some chance of winning the treaty's ratification.
Ratification debate and defeat upright|thumb|Wilson returning from the Versailles Peace Conference on USS George Washington, as she steamed up New York Harbor on July 8, 1919; the Weimar National Assembly in Germany formally ratified the treaty the following day in a vote of 209 to 116. Ratification of the Treaty of Versailles required the support of two-thirds of the Senate, a difficult proposition given that Republicans held a narrow majority in the Senate after the 1918 US. elections.Clements (1992), pp. 190–191 Republicans were outraged by Wilson's failure to discuss the war or its aftermath with them, and an intensely partisan battle developed in the Senate. Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge supported a version of the treaty that required Wilson to compromise. Wilson refused. Some Republicans including former President Taft and former Secretary of State Elihu Root, favored ratification of the treaty with some modifications and their public support gave Wilson some chance of winning the treaty's ratification.