n, therefore, when Secretary of
State Lansing resigned, and the published correspondence showed that
the President had regarded his action in calling Cabinet meetings as a
usurpation of Presidential authority. It was evident from the
correspondence that another and perhaps stronger reason for the
President's disapproval had been the action of the Secretary in
conducting a Mexican Policy on his own initiative, during the
President's illness, which showed considerable divergence from the
President's own. Nevertheless, the manner of the action caused some
uneasiness and there was much surprise when Mr. Lansing was replaced by
Bainbridge Colby, a comparatively recent proselyte from the Progressive
Party.

There was still further uncertainty as to the condition of the
President when he re-entered with a series of rather sharp notes into
the Adriatic controversy, which England, France and Italy had been
trying to settle, without consulting the Jugoslavs, during his illness;
and a letter to Senator Hitchcock on March 8, asserting that the
militarist party was at that time in control of France, aroused grave
misgivings on both sides of the Atlantic. These, however, were
unjustified; the President's improvement, though gradual, continued.
But the work of the Executive during 1920 was far less important than
in previous years, for the interest of the country was concentrated on
the Presidential election.

On January 8 a letter from the President had been read at the Jackson
Day dinner in Washington, in which he refused to accept the Senate's
decision on the treaty as the decision of the nation. "If there is any
doubt as to what the people of the country think about the matter," he
added, "the clear and single way out is ... to give the next election
the form of a great and solemn referendum." Once more, as in 1918, the
President had asked for a verdict on his leadership. There was some
perturbation among the Democratic leaders, for into a Presidential
election so many issues enter that it would be difficult to regard it
as a referendum on any particular issue. It might have been so accepted
if the President himself had come forward as a candidate for a third
term, but there was no sign from the White House as to his attitude on
this issue, and there was no spontaneous demand for him outside. The
leading candidate during the pre-convention campaign was William G.
McAdoo, the President's son-in-law, who had resigned as Secretary