Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General introduction
- Note to the reader
- Part I Reactions to ‘The Economic Consequences of the Peace’ (1919–1924)
- 1 Reaction in England
- 2 Reaction in the United States
- 3 Second Thoughts on President Wilson
- 4 More American Reactions
- 5 What Really Happened at Paris
- Part II Keynes and ‘Inside’ and ‘Outside’ Opinion (1919–1920)
- Part III Towards ‘A Revision of the Treaty’ (1921)
- Part IV ‘A Revision’ Reviewed (1922–1924)
- Part V ‘Reconstruction in Europe’ (1921–1923)
- List of Documents Reproduced
- Index
5 - What Really Happened at Paris
from Part I - Reactions to ‘The Economic Consequences of the Peace’ (1919–1924)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- General introduction
- Note to the reader
- Part I Reactions to ‘The Economic Consequences of the Peace’ (1919–1924)
- 1 Reaction in England
- 2 Reaction in the United States
- 3 Second Thoughts on President Wilson
- 4 More American Reactions
- 5 What Really Happened at Paris
- Part II Keynes and ‘Inside’ and ‘Outside’ Opinion (1919–1920)
- Part III Towards ‘A Revision of the Treaty’ (1921)
- Part IV ‘A Revision’ Reviewed (1922–1924)
- Part V ‘Reconstruction in Europe’ (1921–1923)
- List of Documents Reproduced
- Index
Summary
With the new year Keynes turned to a new phase in his writing about reparations. He was compelled to return to the subject of the conference once more, however, to prove that he had actually been in a position to observe the scenes that he had described. In What Really Happened at Paris, a collection of public lectures given by some of the American delegates, an article by C. H. Haskins carried the following footnote on the ‘tone of mutual respect and good-will’ in the meetings of the Council of Four:
This point deserves emphasis, because the nature of the Council's sessions has been grossly misrepresented by a popular writer, Mr J. M. Keynes, in an effort to discredit the Conference and its work (The Economic Consequences of the Peace, pp. 30–32 [JMK, vol. 11, pp. 18–20]). It is stated by the official interpreter, Captain [Paul] Mantoux, that Mr Keynes never attended a regular session of the Council of Four; the confused and furious gathering which Keynes describes in the large drawing-room of the President's house would appear to have been so rendered by the presence of a large number of economic advisers like himself, specially called in for the occasion. The real work of the Council was done quietly and efficiently in President Wilson's downstairs study, and it is no service to the cause of truth or of peace to assert the contrary.
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- Information
- The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes , pp. 101 - 110Publisher: Royal Economic SocietyPrint publication year: 1978