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====Why Wilson did send a clandestine mission to Russia led by William Christian Bullitt?====
[[File:Maxim Litvinov 1932.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|Maxim Litvinov in 1932]]
In March 6, 1919, the Bullitt Mission (comprised of Bullitt, journalist Lincoln Steffens, and a U.S. Army intelligence officer) crossed the Russian border. Following a meeting with Deputy Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov in Petrograd, Bullitt and Steffens left for Moscow, where they met with Bolshevik leader [[How did Vladimir Lenin Rise To Power?|Vladimir Lenin]] and his Foreign Minister, Georgi Chicherin. Although there was opposition to negotiations with the United States within the Bolshevik leadership, on March 14, Bullitt received a Russian proposal that demanded that the Allies call for a ceasefire within the former Russian Empire and agree to a peace conference in a neutral nation.
The proposed terms for discussion at the conference included allowing all de facto governments within the borders of Russia to retain the territory they held prior to the armistice, the lifting of the Allied blockade, the withdrawal of Allied troops from Russia, disarmament of the warring Russian factions, and a commitment by the Bolshevik government to honor Russia’s financial obligations to the Allies.
