The Inquiry

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1917 study group to prepare for the Paris Peace Conference

title: "The Inquiry" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["organizations-established-in-1917"] description: "1917 study group to prepare for the Paris Peace Conference" topic_path: "general/organizations-established-in-1917" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inquiry" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1917 study group to prepare for the Paris Peace Conference ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Inquiry_members_at_the_Paris_Peace_Conference_1919.jpg" caption="W. E. Lunt]], Italy; [[James T. Shotwell]], History; [[Allyn Abbott Young]], Economics"] ::

The Inquiry was a study group established in September 1917 by Woodrow Wilson to prepare materials for the peace negotiations following World War I. The group, composed of around 150 academics, was directed by the presidential adviser Edward House and supervised directly by the philosopher Sidney Mezes. The Heads of Research were Walter Lippmann and his successor Isaiah Bowman. The group first worked out of the New York Public Library but later worked from the offices of the American Geographical Society of New York once Bowman had joined the group.{{cite journal |title=The Inquiry: American Preparations for Peace, 1917-1919 by Lawrence E. Gelfand |author=Lindsay Rogers |author-link=Lindsay Rogers (author) |date=July 1964 |volume=54 |issue=3 |journal=Geographical Review |pages=260–462 |doi=10.2307/212676|jstor=212676 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015003510636 |hdl-access=free

Mezes's senior colleagues were the geographer Isaiah Bowman, the historian and librarian Archibald Cary Coolidge, the historian James Shotwell, and the lawyer David Hunter Miller. Progressive confidants who were consulted on staffing but did not contribute directly to the administration or reports of the group included James Truslow Adams, Louis Brandeis, Abbott Lawrence Lowell, and Walter Weyl.

Twenty-one members of The Inquiry, later integrated into the larger American Commission to Negotiate Peace, traveled to the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919{{cite web |url=http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/foreword.html |title=The Inquiry |work=The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996 |author=Peter Grose |year=1996 |publisher=The Council on Foreign Relations}} and accompanied Wilson aboard USS George Washington to France.

Also included in the group were such academics as Paul Monroe, a professor of history at Columbia University and a key member of the Research Division who drew on his experience in the Philippines to assess the educational needs of developing areas such as Albania, Turkey, and Central Africa, and Frank A. Golder, a history professor from Washington State University, who specialized in the diplomatic history of Russia and wrote papers on Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia.

Recommendations

The Inquiry provided various recommendations for the countries which it surveyed. Specifically, the recommendations discussed the ideal borders for various countries as well as various other conditions that were felt necessary to achieve a lasting peace free of tensions.

France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Denmark

The Inquiry recommended that Alsace–Lorraine be returned to France, that parts of Saarland that France had controlled before 1815 be returned to that country, and that the Rhineland be demilitarized.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 212–214 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 215–216 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 217 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 217–218 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

Russia, Poland, and the former Russian Empire

The Inquiry suggested that if it was possible for Russia to become a genuine federal and democratic state, the Baltic states (with the possible exception of Lithuania) and Ukraine should be encouraged to reunify with Russia because of the belief that it would best serve the economic interests of everyone involved.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 219–220 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 223, 227–228 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

The Inquiry expressed support for Finnish independence and also expressed a desire, never realized, that Åland be transferred from Finland to Sweden.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 221–222 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 224–226 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

In the Caucasus, the Inquiry suggested an independent Armenia in the borders contemplated for Wilsonian Armenia, and provisional independence for both Georgia and Azerbaijan.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 229–230 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Italy

It was suggested that Czechoslovakia be created out of the Czech-majority and Slovak-majority areas of the former Austria-Hungary.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 230–232 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

The Inquiry advised that Romania be allowed to annex all of Bessarabia, the Romanian-majority part of Bukovina, all of Transylvania, the Romanian-majority areas in Hungary proper, and about two thirds of the Banat.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 233–235 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 235–239 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

The Inquiry acknowledged that the Brenner Pass, which had been promised to Italy in the 1915 Treaty of London, would give Italy the best strategic frontier, but it recommended a line somewhat further south, to reduce the number of ethnic Germans in Italy while still giving Italy a frontier more defensible than the prewar border.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 239–241 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 239–242 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

German Austria and Hungary

It was recommended that German Austria, later renamed the Republic of Austria, be established as an independent state and be given an outlet for trade at Trieste, Fiume, or both cities.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 243–245 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 245–246 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 243 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

Albania, Constantinople, the Straits, and the Middle East

No specific recommendations were given for Albania, given the extremely complex nature of the situation there.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 247–248 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

The Inquiry suggested that Constantinople become an internationalized state and that the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles be permanently open to ships and commercial vessels of all countries, with international guarantees to uphold that status.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 254–256 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4 | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 257–258 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

Also, the Inquiry suggested that independent Mesopotamian and Syrian states be created under a League of Nations mandate, with the mandates awarded to powers to be named later.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 260–262 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

As for Palestine, it was advised that an independent state under a British mandate be created.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 263–264 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

As for Arabia, it was suggested that the King of Hejaz not be given assistance to impose his rule over unwilling Arab tribes.{{cite book | last = Miller | first = David Hunter | title = My Diary. At the Conference of Paris. With Documents. | publisher = Appeal Printing Company | volume = IV | date = 1924 | location = New York | pages = 265–267 | language = en | url = https://archive.org/details/MyDiaryAtConferenceOfParis-Vol4

Legacy

Some of the members later established the Council on Foreign Relations, which is independent of the government.

The Inquiry's papers are currently stored at the National Archives, though some of their papers (in many cases, duplicates) are stored at the Yale Archives.

References

(2005). "Education, nation-building and modernization after World War I: American ideas for the Peace Conference". Paedagogica Historica.
Terence Emmons and Bertrand M. Patenaude (eds.), "Introduction" to ''War, Revolution, and Peace in Russia: The Passages of Frank Golder, 1914-1927.'' Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1992; p. xvii.
"History of CFR".
"Collection: The Inquiry Papers | Archives at Yale". Archives.yale.edu.

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