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The work done by the Inquiry led to a speech given by Wilson to Congress on January 8, 1918, in which he set out America's long term war objectives. The speech was known as the Fourteen Points. The first six of these dealt with diplomacy, freedom of the seas and settlement of colonial claims. Then territorial issues were addressed and the final point, the establishment of an association of nations to guarantee the independence and territorial integrity of all nations, a League of Nations.
At the end of the war, Wilson decided to attend the Paris Peace Conference, which opened on January 18, 1919. Wilson spent six months in Paris for the Peace Conference, making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office. He disembarked from the George Washington in Brest on December 13, 1918 and made a number of other stops in Europe. He visited Italy from January 1–6, 1919 for meetings with King Victor Emmanuel III and Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando. He also became the first incumbent U.S. president to have an audience with a reigning pope, when he visited Pope Benedict XV at the Apostolic Palace. When the peace conference began, he remained there until February 14, 1919 before returning home. During the first four weeks of the Conference as, Wilson played a commanding role, setting out his vision for post-war Europe. This vision included a League of Nations and he was able to achieve agreement on a number of major issues, including on the League.
When Wilson returned home in February, he stressed the need for the League of Nations. A number of editorial writers, churches and peace groups favored the League, but the Republicans in the Senate did not. Led by Henry Cabot Lodge, they vowed to defeat the League and discredit Wilson in the process. Wilson notably did not address the Congress about the ongoing deliberations at the peace conference, and was unwilling to negotiate or compromise. Some biographers have speculated that Wilson's judgement was adversely affected by a stroke that he suffered when he returned to France after being home for just three weeks. The ensuing months brought a decline in health.
When Wilson returned to France, the conference had struggled in his absence. Much to Wilson's consternation, Colonel House had compromised most of Wilson's prior gains. Wilson tried to regain the lost ground. On April 3, Wilson fell violently ill during a conference meeting, suffering from influenza. His symptoms receded within a couple of days, but those around him noted a lasting deterioration in his vigor and energy as well as in his temperament. John Maynard Keynes later wrote of Wilson, "he was in many respects ill-informed as to European conditions. His mind was slow and unadaptable."
The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles, the document that reflected the agreement reached at the conference. After the conference, Wilson proclaimed: "at last the world knows America as the savior of the world!" For his peace-making efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.
Wilson returned home and attempted to push the Treaty through the Senate by using public opinion to pressure the Senators to pass the treaty. He embarked on a speaking tour to promote the treaty. In Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919, he collapsed was forced to end his tour and return home. On October 2, 1919, he suffered a serious stroke, leaving him paralyzed on his left side, along with blindness in his left eye and with only partial vision in the right eye. He was confined to bed for several weeks and sequestered from everyone except his wife and physician, Dr. Cary Grayson. For some months, Wilson used a wheelchair and later he required use of a cane. His wife and aide Joe Tumulty were said to have helped a journalist, Louis Seibold, present a false account of an interview with the President. He was insulated from the rest of the world by his wife, who selected matters for his attention and delegated others to his cabinet. Wilson later temporarily resumed a perfunctory attendance at cabinet meetings. By February 1920, his true condition was publicly known. He completed his term in office without being able to perform the duties of his office and without getting his League of Nations. Because of what happened with Woodrow Wilson, in 1967 the nation ratified the 25th Amendment, creating the power to force the replacement of a president who is unable or unwilling to serve in office.