President Woodrow Wilson

President Woodrow Wilson
Name	Woodrow Wilson
Caption	Wilson c. 1919
Order	28th
Office	President of the United States
Term start	March 4, 1913
Term end	March 4, 1921
Vicepresident	Thomas R. Marshall
Predecessor	William Howard Taft
Successor	Warren G. Harding
Office2	34th Governor of New Jersey
Term start2	January 17, 1911
Term end2	March 1, 1913
Predecessor2	John Franklin Fort
Successor2	James Fairman Fielder
Office3	13th President of Princeton University
Term start3	1902
Term end3	1910
Predecessor3	Francis Landey Patton
Successor3	John Aikman Stewart (acting)
Birth name	Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Birth date	December 28, 1856
Birth place	Staunton, Virginia, U.S.
Death date	February 3, 1924 (aged 67)
Death place	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Ellen Axson (1885–1914; her death), Edith Bolling (1915–1924; his death)
Children	Margaret, Jessie, Eleanor
Education	Davidson College, Princeton University (AB), University of Virginia (studied law), Johns Hopkins University (MA, PhD)
Profession	Academic, politician

President Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Era, he implemented major domestic reforms known as the New Freedom agenda and led the nation through World War I. His postwar vision for international peace, centered on the Fourteen Points and the creation of the League of Nations, profoundly shaped 20th-century global diplomacy, though the United States Senate ultimately rejected American membership in the league.

Early life and education

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in 1856 in Staunton, Virginia, to a devout Presbyterian family; his father, Joseph Ruggles Wilson, was a prominent minister. He spent his youth in Augusta, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina, during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. Wilson attended Davidson College briefly before transferring to the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he graduated in 1879. He subsequently studied law at the University of Virginia and practiced briefly in Atlanta before pursuing graduate studies in political science and history at Johns Hopkins University, earning a PhD in 1886.

Academic career

Wilson began his academic career teaching at Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan University before joining the faculty of his alma mater, Princeton University, in 1890. As a professor of jurisprudence and political economy, he gained national recognition as a scholar and author of works like Congressional Government. In 1902, he was unanimously elected president of Princeton University, where he initiated significant curricular reforms and attempted to democratize the social system by abolishing the elite eating clubs, efforts that met with fierce opposition from alumni and trustees.

Governor of New Jersey

Wilson's reformist reputation at Princeton University attracted the attention of state Democratic bosses, who recruited him to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. Winning the election, he swiftly broke with the political machine that had supported him, establishing himself as a progressive force. As governor, he championed and signed a series of landmark laws, including the gerrymander-busting Gerrymander Act, a corrupt practices act, and the establishment of a public utility commission, which propelled him onto the national stage as a presidential contender.

Presidency (1913–1921)

Elected in the 1912 election against William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson’s first term was dominated by his New Freedom domestic program. This included the passage of the Underwood Tariff, which lowered rates and instituted a federal income tax following the Sixteenth Amendment, and the creation of the Federal Reserve System. He also signed the Clayton Antitrust Act and established the Federal Trade Commission. Initially proclaiming neutrality after the outbreak of World War I, Wilson won re-election in 1916 using the slogan "He kept us out of war." Following events like the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and the Zimmermann Telegram, he asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany in April 1917, leading the nation through the American Expeditionary Forces and mobilizing the home front under agencies like the Committee on Public Information.

Post-presidency and death

After leaving the White House in 1921, Wilson retired to a private home on S Street in Washington, D.C.. He remained politically active, making occasional public statements and harboring faint hopes of a third presidential nomination in 1924. His health, severely compromised by a massive stroke he suffered in October 1919 during his fight for the Treaty of Versailles, continued to decline. He died at his home on February 3, 1924, and was interred in the Washington National Cathedral, the only president buried in Washington, D.C.

Legacy and historical view

Wilson's legacy is complex and contested. He is celebrated for his progressive domestic leadership, his idealistic foreign policy vision articulated in the Fourteen Points, and his foundational role in the creation of the League of Nations, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919. Conversely, historians heavily criticize his administration for the suppression of civil liberties under the Espionage and Sedition Acts, the First Red Scare, and most prominently, his regressive racial policies, including the resegregation of multiple federal agencies and his screening of the racist film The Birth of a Nation at the White House. His influence on modern American liberalism and internationalism remains deeply influential, even as his personal and policy failures are rigorously re-evaluated.

Category:Presidents of the United States Category:Woodrow Wilson Category:1910s in the United States Category:1920s in the United States