Henry Lamb - March 12, 2009

For more than a century, the idea of a world government has persisted. From Cecil Rhodes’ vision of a global British Empire, to Woodrow Wilson’s vision of a League of Nations, to Franklin Roosevelt’s creation of the United Nations, this dream of a world government has advanced. In Berlin, Barack Obama announced that he is a “citizen of the world.” He and his administration are about to pay homage to that global citizenship.

The people who created the League of Nations for Woodrow Wilson were behind-the-scenes advisers. In the United States, Wilson’s advisers were known as Edward Mandell House’s “Inquiry.” In England, the government was advised by Alfred Milner’s group called the “Chatham House Gang,” created by Cecil Rhodes in 1891. These two groups drafted the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the First World War and created the League of Nations.

During the final days of treaty negotiations, these two groups met at the Majestic Hotel in Paris and decided to formalize their organizations. The European group became the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and House’s group became the Council on Foreign Relations. These two groups have been the sustaining power behind the idea of world government throughout the 20th century.

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