The League of Nations is an international confederation of countries, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, that existed from 1920 to 1946, its creation following WORLD WAR I and its dissolution following WORLD WAR II. Though the League of Nations was a flawed and generally ineffective organization, many of its functions and offices were transferred to the UNITED NATIONS, which has benefited from the hard lessons the league learned.

President WOODROW WILSON, of the United States, was the architect of the League of Nations. When the United States entered World War I on April 6, 1917, Wilson sought to end a war that had raged for three years and to begin constructing a new framework for international cooperation. On...