ABSTRACT
Lloyd George had evidently resolved to seek an Anglo-American promise to aid France against unprovoked German aggression, as a substitute for the French Rhineland proposals which, as Kerr had indicated, the British Prime Minister believed would perpetuate tensions. The British effort to secure a guarantee began in the secret Committee of Three on the frontiers of Germany, without, however, closing the door upon alternative solutions. Beset by perplexing and sometimes conflicting considerations, Clemenceau and his colleagues decided to accept the Lloyd George-Wilson proposal while demanding additional physical guarantees of security. Undaunted by the first manifestations of hostility within the American delegation towards a treaty of guarantee, House prepared on March 20 a formula for a pledge of mutual Anglo-American-French assistance. Clemenceau emphasized the unacceptability of a temporary guarantee. He suggested that the Anglo-American guarantee be inserted in the Covenant of the League.
