The first General Assembly of the League of Nations met in Geneva, at the Hotel National, on Nov. 15, 1920.

Fifty-one countries from all parts of the world were in attendance—but not the United States. The General Assembly had actually delayed that first meeting until after the U.S. elections. When Harding and the Republicans won in a landslide, it was clear that popular opinion in the U.S. was against the league.

Historian John Schmidt tells us about what happened before and after the league’s creation and how it led to the creation of the United Nations.