Henry Cabot Lodge Sr. (Imperial States of America)

&nbsp Henry Cabot Lodge Sr. ( May 12, 1850- March 9, 1925) was the 29th President of the United States of America. As President, and as senator from Massachusetts, he was a noted imperialist who helped to forge the American Empire, and laid the foundations for the Imperial States of America.

Early Life
Lodge, who was always known as "Cabot", was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of John Ellerton Lodge and Anna Cabot. His great-grandfather was former Senator George Cabot. Lodge grew up on Boston's Beacon Hill after spending part of his childhood in Nahant, Massachusetts. Coming from a wealthy, privileged background, Lodge was isolated from the working class, and came to support a conservative world view.

In 1872, he graduated from Harvard College. After traveling through Europe, Lodge returned to Harvard where he became the first student of Harvard University to graduate with a Ph.D. in Political Science. His teacher and mentor during his graduate studies was Henry Adams; Lodge would maintain a lifelong friendship with Adams. Lodge wrote his dissertation on the ancient Germanic origins of Anglo-Saxon government.

On 25 June 1871, he married Anna "Nannie" Cabot Mills Davis. Cabot and Nannie had three children, Constance Davis Lodge (b. 6 April 1872), the noted poet George Cabot Lodge (b. 10 October 1873) and John Ellerton Lodge(b. 1 August 1876), an art curator. He also graduated from Harvard Law School in 1874 and was admitted to the bar in 1875. In 1880-1881, Lodge served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Lodge represented his home state in the U.S House of Representatives from 1887 to 1893 and in the Senate from 1893 to 1917.

In the U.S senate, Lodge was a Republican who became the most prominent conservative senator. He backed the gold standard and vehemently opposed populists such as Williams Jennings Bryan. But Lodge was most well known as an early advocate of imperialism. He supported U.S intervention in Cuba, and voted for the Spanish- American war, saying that the people of Cuba could be liberated and the U.S could " stop the horrible state of things in Cuba". After the success of the Spanish-American war, Lodge supported the annexation of the Phillippines, and chaired a commitee that oversaw them. When Theodore Roosevelt came into power, the two men occasionaly came into conflict. Although Lodge opposed Roosevelt's progressive reforms, he was closely allied with him on matters of foreign policy. Lodge introduced bills to expand the U.S military. When Roosevelt asked Congress to annex Cuba in 1906, Lodge, who had wanted this for years, quickly passed a bill that permanently made Cuba part of the United States. Lodge effectively served as senate majority leader, and helped defeat the 17th amendment and various progressive legislation.

Lodge supported William Howard Taft for President, and was deeply disapointed when Woodrow Wilson was elected. He lead the opposition against Wilson. When World War I broke out in 1914, Lodge pressed for intervention on behalf of the Entente. The U.S entered the war in 1915, but fought in Central American against Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and German submarines. Lodge was disgusted with Wilson's management of the war, and decided to run for president. As the effective leader of the Republican party, he managed to overwhelm opposition within his party. He balanced the ticket by nominating William Borah as Vice President. Lodge ran against Wilson by accusing him of being weak and indecisive. Wilson could not claim that he kept the U.S out of war, or that he ran the war effectively. With Lodge well financed by business interests, Wilson was defeated with an electoral vote count of 306- 225.

Presidency
When Lodge was inauguarated in March 1917, Guatemala was under U.S occupation, Mexico City had fallen, but much of Mexico remained unpacified. Lodge kept a significant number of troops in Mexico to quell the resistance, lead by Pancho Villa. To permanently solidify American control, Lodge asked Congress to annex Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Haiti, though only Guatemala was annexed. Lodge decided to launch a full scale invasion of Colombia to permanently seize control of the nation. Starting from U.S held Panama, the U.S marched south, while a second expeditionary force also headed to Bogota from the recently captured ports of Cartegena and Santa Maria. Using trench warfare, and occasionally jungle warfare, the Colombian army slowed American progress. But, the Americans being more numerous and better equiped were able to push through their lines. The colombian army was decisively defeated at the Battle of Salgar, and crushed in the Siege of Bogota in August. The remnants of the Mexican army fell at Nayarit in September, where the U.S surrounded and massacured them.

Lodge could now focus on the war in Europe. Limited numbers of American troops had been sent to Europe in 1916, who fought under British command. Lodge doubled the number of American troops in Europe in April, who were under the command of Colonel Eaton. But with the war winding down in Central America, Lodge could afford to focus American efforts on Europe.