Beginning with Wilson's tour of Belgium, this volume then moves to the last days of the peace conference. A great wave of relief sweeps over council chambers in Paris when a new German government sends word that it will accept the peace treaty unconditionally: restoration of peace occurs with the signing of the treaty in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles on June 28. That same night Wilson boards his train for Brest to return to the United States on the George Washington. The voyage provides a period of leisure for Wilson, but there are signs that his strength has been strained beyond endurance. On board ship he tries and fails to compose one of the most important speeches of his life--an address to the Senate to accompany his presentation of the treaty to that body. On his return he manages to complete it only hours before delivering it on July 10. And he responds equivocally to the challenge--the greatest in his career as a legislative leader--to create a solid pro-League coalition and outmaneuver his opponent, Henry Cabot Lodge, who seems bent on blocking American membership in the League of Nations. Then, on July 19, Wilson suffers what is most likely a small stroke. It disorients and disables him, and, as this volume ends, he is still without any strategy to assure ratification of the treaty. Publication of Volume 61 ends the Peace Conference Volumes, which began with Volume 53.

The opening of this volume finds the Big Four in the midst of the gravest crisis of the peace conference set off by the British cabinet's demand for drastic softening of the terms of the peace treaty to be concluded with Germany. In response to a wave of appeasement sweeping through the British Isles, Lloyd George says that he cannot and will not sign the peace treaty unless his colleagues agree to negotiate sympathetically with the Germans on their reparations obligations, their early admission to the League of Nations, and other matters.

For the entire period covered by this volume, the atmosphere of the Council of Four is supercharged by bitter debates and recriminations. Wilson and Clemenceau try to hold to the terms of the preliminary treaty. As the bitterness of the debates in the Council of Four grows in intensity, Wilson, weakened by a small stroke just before the eruption of the crisis, gradually loses the will and strength to oppose Lloyd George. Throughout, Wilson tries to play the role of peacemaker between Lloyd George and Clemenceau but ends by capitulating to Lloyd George's demands. The result is that the final peace treaty taking shape constitutes the first step in the appeasement of Germany.