The meeting in Mexico City began without the United States. That fact alone weighed heavier than any opening statement could have.
The hall had been prepared for an American delegation that never arrived. A placard bearing the stars and stripes remained set at the central table, untouched, its chair conspicuously empty.
No apology had been delivered. No explanation offered beyond vague assurances that "domestic circumstances" made attendance impossible.
No one in the room believed that.
Delegations from across the Americas and the remnants of the Allied Powers gathered instead, seated in uneven clusters rather than formal ranks.
Some arrived flanked by military officers. Others came with economists, or legal advisers, or no aides at all. The war had begun to strip nations down to what they truly valued.
Mexico hosted, but did not preside.
There was no presiding authority.
The absence of Washington had dissolved that role entirely.
