Woodrow Wilson

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
Order2	34th
Office2	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
Birth name	Thomas Woodrow Wilson
Birth date	28 December 1856
Birth place	Staunton, Virginia, U.S.
Death date	3 February 1924
Death place	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Ellen Axson Wilson, (m. 1885; died 1914), Edith Bolling Wilson, (m. 1915)
Children	3, including Margaret, Jessie, and Eleanor
Education	Davidson College, Princeton University (AB), University of Virginia (LLB), Johns Hopkins University (MA, PhD)
Signature alt	Cursive signature in ink

Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Era, he championed major domestic reforms before leading the nation through World War I. His post-war vision for international peace, articulated in the Fourteen Points, led to the creation of the League of Nations, though the United States Senate ultimately rejected membership.

Early life and education

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, to Joseph Ruggles Wilson, a prominent Presbyterian minister, and Janet Woodrow Wilson. He spent his youth in Augusta, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina, during the Civil War and Reconstruction era. Wilson attended Davidson College for one year 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 Ph.D. in 1886.

Academic career

Wilson began his academic career as a professor at Bryn Mawr College and later taught at Wesleyan University. In 1890, he returned to Princeton University as a professor of jurisprudence and political economy, gaining renown as a compelling lecturer and scholar. His published works, including Congressional Government, established his reputation in the field of political science. In 1902, he was unanimously elected president of Princeton University, where he initiated significant curricular reforms and attempted, with mixed success, to restructure the university's social system by abolishing elite eating clubs.

Governor of New Jersey

In 1910, Wilson was recruited by the state Democratic Party bosses to run for Governor of New Jersey. Winning the election, he swiftly broke with the political machine that had backed him, establishing a record as a progressive reformer. His tenure saw the passage of the Gerry Act, a direct primary law, along with groundbreaking anti-corruption legislation and pioneering workers' compensation laws. This successful governorship made him a leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1912.

Presidency (1913–1921)

Wilson won the 1912 election in a landslide due to a split in the Republican Party between William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. His first term, known as the New Freedom, featured a sweeping legislative agenda including the creation of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the Clayton Antitrust Act. He also signed the first modern income tax and the Keating–Owen Child Labor Act. Re-elected in 1916 on the slogan "He kept us out of war," Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany in April 1917 after the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. He mobilized the nation for World War I through agencies like the Committee on Public Information and oversaw the American Expeditionary Forces under General John J. Pershing. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, Wilson traveled to the Paris Peace Conference to help negotiate the Treaty of Versailles. His central role in founding the League of Nations earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919. A debilitating stroke in October 1919 severely limited his capacity during his final years in office, with much authority exercised by his wife, Edith Wilson, and his cabinet.

Post-presidency and death

After leaving the White House in 1921, Wilson lived in quiet retirement in Washington, D.C.. He formed a short-lived law partnership with former Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby but was physically enfeebled. He made few public appearances, his last being a brief radio address on the eve of Armistice Day in 1923. Wilson died at his home on S Street on February 3, 1924. He 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 praised for his progressive domestic leadership, his idealistic foreign policy vision, and his role in establishing the League of Nations, a precursor to the United Nations. Scholars often rank him among the upper tier of U.S. presidents. However, his record is severely marred by his administration's segregation of the federal civil service and his personal views on race, as well as his suppression of dissent during the war via the Espionage and Sedition Acts. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Virginia, and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University bear his name, though the latter was renamed in 2020 following debates over his racial policies.

Category:Woodrow Wilson Category:Presidents of the United States Category:1919 Nobel Peace Prize laureates