Calvin Coolidge writing his father: February 2, 1926.

This letter was among the final between father and son. Col. Coolidge would pass away on March 18, 1926. In the letter, Coolidge is proud of the Senate’s ratification of a proposal for the United States to join the World Court, which had existed since 1922. Although Harding and Coolidge campaigned in opposition to the League of Nations, both were receptive to the World Court. The protocol that was adopted by the Senate was filled with “reservations.” The “Swanson reservations”—named after Senator Claude Swanson of Virginia—provided that the United States assume no obligations under the League of Nations and that the United States could withdraw from the Court at any time.

The reservations were passed by overwhelming majorities. Another portion of the Swanson reservations provided that no question shall ever be submitted by the United States to the court excepting in the form of treaties requiring a two-thirds vote of the Senate. This passed by a viva voce vote. In the end, these reservations were intended to ensure that the United States could not get caught up in European affairs and that Europe would have no jurisdiction over American domestic affairs.

In the end, although the Senate adopted the proposal with reservations, the United States did not join the Court. The Washington Post reported that “the refusal of a single state [i.e. a member state of the World Court] to accept those conditions would operate to prevent the signature of the United States to the protocol and statute now deposited in the headquarters of the League of Nations at Geneva.”