Henry Cabot Lodge was the man who led the successful fight against President Woodrow Wilson's plan for American involvement in the League of Nations. Lodge was born May 12, 1850, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, John Ellerton Lodge, was a prosperous merchant who added to his fortune when U.S. trade with China was expanded. Lodge's mother, Anna Cabot, was granddaughter of George Cabot (1752-1823), a leading Federalist (proponent for a strong federal government) during the early years of the nation. Lodge graduated with a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, then married his cousin, Anna Cabot Davis, daughter of Rear Admiral Charles H. Davis (1807-1877).

From 1873 to 1876, Lodge was assistant editor of the North American Review, which published his doctoral thesis (a scholarly paper), "The Anglo-Saxon Land Law." Graduated from Harvard Law School in 1874, Lodge was admitted to the Boston bar (certified to practice law) in...