Julia Grace Wales suggests an influential proposal to end the war, 1915

Mediation Without Armistice: the Wisconsin Plan

Canadian-born Wisconsin resident Julia Grace Wales was an English professor at the University of Wisconsin during World War I. Deeply troubled by reports of the brutal conflict, Wales formulated a plan to stop the fighting through peaceful means. Originally entitled Continuous Mediation Without Armistice, the plan proposed that the United States organize a conference of intellectuals from neutral nations who would act as mediators for the warring nations and who would devise a solution to the conflict without humiliation to any nation. In 1915, the recently formed Wisconsin Peace Party endorsed the plan and began distributing copies in pamphlet form. Wales' proposal became known as the Wisconsin Plan and within months, Wales was in the Netherlands, where the International Congress of Women unanimously selected the Wisconsin Plan as the solution to the war. Although President Wilson appeared initially interested in Wales' proposal, the sinking of the British liner Lusitania in March of 1915 led administration officials to back away from mediation.

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