Swaminathan 1

Shruti Swaminathan

Mrs. Sauer

American Literature

8 November 2018

WPA 2: The Search for Justice After World War I

World War I signifies a time of utter chaos in our nation’s history. Many lives were lost

and achieving peace with all nations seemed impossible. The US adopted a policy of neutrality

and attempted to stay out of World War I. World leaders at the time of World War I had to

determine how they wanted to conduct their foreign affairs. During World War I, the US tried to

maintain a diplomatic face and strove to maintain justice among the top world powers. Woodrow

Wilson proposed the Fourteen Points in order to end World War I. The Fourteen Points laid the

foundation for the eventual achievement of world peace after World War I. He was under the

pressure of having to satisfy multiple countries and meet their demands. Burt Randolph Thomas,

artist of ​He Was Bound to Get it Wrong,​ reflects the difficulty that Wilson had with proposing

the Fourteen Points due to the number of various demands and requests he had the responsibility

of satisfying on his quest to maintain justice among the top world powers. In his cartoon,

Thomas depicts the European world powers as babies that are crying at a baby show, and, he

depicts Wilson as the judge. Thomas ​highlights the desire of Wilson to stay in the good graces

of all the European powers, including the enemy, and the American cultural characteristic

of justice. Thomas does this by signifying how badly Wilson wanted justice to prevail as a

result of the Fourteen Points.

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Justice is a core value for many Americans, and examples of it are plentiful in

American literature, but Thomas’ political cartoon precisely portrays the view of many

Americans living in the Modernism time period because he divulges the critical mindset of

Americans at the time who disagreed with Wilson’s approach to foreign policy. ​Thomas

states at the bottom of the illustration, “He was bound to get in wrong.” Thomas depicts the

seemingly impossible achievement of the goal Wilson was trying to achieve. I believe that

Wilson’s motive was to simply ensure the just treatment of all countries and that the countries at

fault for the war did their part in paying reparations. Many political leaders believed that

Wilson’s plan would fail because he was being too idealistic and was aiming to please too many

people. After he had proposed the Fourteen Points, Wilson faced a lot of opposition and he

refused to compromise any of the articles of his plan because he didn’t want to obstruct justice.

Thomas’ cartoon is not reflective of the intertextuality characteristic of the

Modernism period of American literature but it is reflective of the perception that the

current worldview wasn’t working, the cartoon depicts the seemingly impossible nature of

reaching consensus with the European nations using Wilson’s method. ​According to Audrey

Farley in “Elements of Modernism in American Literature,” a defining aspect of Modernist

literature is “The introduction of the perception that the current worldview wasn’t working.” This

is evident in Thomas’ illustration because he implies that Wilson was bound to fail with the

proposal of his Fourteen Points. This aspect is especially evident in his portrayal of the babies,

who symbolize the European powers, crying. This shows their unhappiness with the ruling, the

Fourteen Points, of the judge, Woodrow Wilson. Thomas shows that the European powers are
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hard to please and would be unhappy with Wilson even if his sole motive was trying to achieve

justice because the European powers only had the interests of their countries in mind.

Although the American cultural characteristic of justice plays varying roles in the

lives of Americans, it plays an important role in shaping the American culture. Thomas

portrays justice as the key motive of Wilson’s proposal of the Fourteen Points, he believes,

however, that the reception of it was ill-conceived. ​The Fourteen Points serve as the blueprint

for the search for peace and justice among the nations toward the end of World War I. ​He Was

Bound to Get it Wrong ​provides a common view of Americans from the Modernist time period

and their reflection on how justice should be attained in a chaotic time. Although, it does not

villainize the European powers, it shows the inability of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points to

appease them and essentially achieve peace. This is shown by the angry babies.

He Was Bound to Get it Wrong, ​Burt Randolph Thomas’ cartoon, exemplifies the

extent to which we, Americans prioritize justice. ​Woodrow Wilson is so keen on treating all

the countries justly, that he forgets that many are unhappy with the common enemy at the time,

Germany. This cartoon not only explores the prospect of justice in the times of World War I, but

it also relays the impact of justice on American culture and the American society during the

Modernist time period.

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Works Cited

Thomas, Burt R. "He Was Bound to Get it Wrong." Cartoon. ​The Detroit News in Review

of Reviews,​ June 1919,

hti.osu.edu/opper/lesson-plans/wilsons-14-points/images/he-was-bound-to-get-it-wrong.

Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.

Farley, Aubrey. “Elements of Modernism in American Literature.” ​The Classroom

https://www.theclassroom.com/elements-modernism-american-literature-2872.html

Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.