Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921. Born and raised in Virginia, Wilson earned a PhD in political science, working as a professor and scholar at various institutions before being chosen as President of Princeton University, where he worked from 1902 to 1910. In the election of 1910, he was the gubernatorial candidate of New Jersey's Democratic Party, and was elected the 34th Governor of New Jersey, serving from 1911 to 1913. Running for president in 1912, a split in the Republican Party allowed his plurality, just over forty percent, to win him a large electoral college margin. As President, Wilson was a leading force in the Progressive Movement, bolstered by hisDemocratic Party's winning control of both the White House and Congress in 1912.
In office, Wilson reintroduced the spoken State of the Union, which had been out of use since 1801. Leading the Congress, now in Democratic hands, he oversaw the passage of progressive legislative policies unparalleled until theNew Deal in 1933.[1] Included among these were the Federal Reserve Act,Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the Federal Farm Loan Act. Having taken office one month after ratification of theSixteenth Amendment, Wilson called a special session of Congress, whose work culminated in the Revenue Act of 1913, reintroducing an income tax and lowering tariffs. Through passage of the Adamson Act, imposing an 8-hour workday for railroads, he averted a railroad strike and an ensuing economic crisis.[2] Upon the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Wilson maintained a policy of neutrality, while pursuing a more aggressive policy in dealing with Mexico's civil war.
Wilson faced former Governor Charles Evans Hughes of New York in thepresidential elections of 1916. He became the first Democrat since Andrew Jackson elected to consecutive terms with a narrow majority. Wilson's second term was dominated by American entry into World War I. In April 1917, when Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson asked Congress to declare war in order to make "the world safe for democracy." The United States conducted military operations alongside the Allies, although without a formal alliance. During the war, Wilson focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving military strategy to the generals, especially General John J. Pershing. Loaning billions of dollars to Britain, France, and other Allies, the United States aided their finance of the war effort. Through the Selective Service Act, conscription sent 10,000 freshly trained soldiers to France, per day, by summer of 1918. On the home front, he raised income taxes, borrowing billions of dollars through the public's purchase of Liberty Bonds. He set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor unioncooperation, regulating agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, and granting to the Secretary of the Treasury, William McAdoo, direct control of the nation's railroad system.
In his 1915 State of the Union, Wilson asked Congress for what became theEspionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, suppressing anti-draft activists. The crackdown was intensified by his Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to include expulsion of non-citizen radicals during the First Red Scareof 1919–1920. Following years of advocacy for suffrage on the state level, in 1918 he endorsed the Nineteenth Amendment whose ratification provided all women the right to vote by its ratification in 1920, over Southern opposition. Wilson staffed his government with Southern Democrats who believed in segregation.[3] He gave department heads greater autonomy in their management.[4] Early in 1918, he issued his principles for peace, the Fourteen Points, and in 1919, following armistice, he traveled to Paris, promoting the formation of a League of Nations, concluding theTreaty of Versailles. Following his return from Europe, Wilson embarked on a nationwide tour in 1919 to campaign for the treaty, suffering a severe stroke. The treaty was met with serious concern by Senate Republicans, and Wilson rejected a compromise effort led by Henry Cabot Lodge, leading to the Senate's rejection of the treaty. Due to his stroke, Wilson secluded himself in the White House, disability having diminished his power and influence. Forming a strategy for reelection, Wilson deadlocked the 1920 Democratic National Convention, but his bid for a third term nomination was overlooked.
A devoted Presbyterian, Wilson infused morality into his internationalism, an ideology now referred to as "Wilsonian"— an activist foreign policy calling on the nation to promote global democracy.[5][6][7] For his sponsorship of the League of Nations, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize, the second of three sitting presidents so honored.[8][9]
Sources and shit:
In office, Wilson reintroduced the spoken State of the Union, which had been out of use since 1801. Leading the Congress, now in Democratic hands, he oversaw the passage of progressive legislative policies unparalleled until theNew Deal in 1933.[1] Included among these were the Federal Reserve Act,Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the Federal Farm Loan Act. Having taken office one month after ratification of theSixteenth Amendment, Wilson called a special session of Congress, whose work culminated in the Revenue Act of 1913, reintroducing an income tax and lowering tariffs. Through passage of the Adamson Act, imposing an 8-hour workday for railroads, he averted a railroad strike and an ensuing economic crisis.[2] Upon the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Wilson maintained a policy of neutrality, while pursuing a more aggressive policy in dealing with Mexico's civil war.
Wilson faced former Governor Charles Evans Hughes of New York in thepresidential elections of 1916. He became the first Democrat since Andrew Jackson elected to consecutive terms with a narrow majority. Wilson's second term was dominated by American entry into World War I. In April 1917, when Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson asked Congress to declare war in order to make "the world safe for democracy." The United States conducted military operations alongside the Allies, although without a formal alliance. During the war, Wilson focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving military strategy to the generals, especially General John J. Pershing. Loaning billions of dollars to Britain, France, and other Allies, the United States aided their finance of the war effort. Through the Selective Service Act, conscription sent 10,000 freshly trained soldiers to France, per day, by summer of 1918. On the home front, he raised income taxes, borrowing billions of dollars through the public's purchase of Liberty Bonds. He set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor unioncooperation, regulating agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, and granting to the Secretary of the Treasury, William McAdoo, direct control of the nation's railroad system.
In his 1915 State of the Union, Wilson asked Congress for what became theEspionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918, suppressing anti-draft activists. The crackdown was intensified by his Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to include expulsion of non-citizen radicals during the First Red Scareof 1919–1920. Following years of advocacy for suffrage on the state level, in 1918 he endorsed the Nineteenth Amendment whose ratification provided all women the right to vote by its ratification in 1920, over Southern opposition. Wilson staffed his government with Southern Democrats who believed in segregation.[3] He gave department heads greater autonomy in their management.[4] Early in 1918, he issued his principles for peace, the Fourteen Points, and in 1919, following armistice, he traveled to Paris, promoting the formation of a League of Nations, concluding theTreaty of Versailles. Following his return from Europe, Wilson embarked on a nationwide tour in 1919 to campaign for the treaty, suffering a severe stroke. The treaty was met with serious concern by Senate Republicans, and Wilson rejected a compromise effort led by Henry Cabot Lodge, leading to the Senate's rejection of the treaty. Due to his stroke, Wilson secluded himself in the White House, disability having diminished his power and influence. Forming a strategy for reelection, Wilson deadlocked the 1920 Democratic National Convention, but his bid for a third term nomination was overlooked.
A devoted Presbyterian, Wilson infused morality into his internationalism, an ideology now referred to as "Wilsonian"— an activist foreign policy calling on the nation to promote global democracy.[5][6][7] For his sponsorship of the League of Nations, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize, the second of three sitting presidents so honored.[8][9]
Sources and shit:
- John Milton Cooper, Woodrow Wilson: A Biography p. 201
- ^ Kerr, K. Austin (1967). "Decision For Federal Control: Wilson, McAdoo, and the Railroads, 1917". Journal of American History 54 (3): 550–560. doi:10.2307/2937406. JSTOR 2937406.
- ^ Yellin, Eric (2013). Racism in the Nation's Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson's America. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 161–162. ISBN 978-1469607207.
- ^ Cook, Brian (2007). Democracy and Administration: Woodrow Wilson's Ideas and the Challenges of Public Management. Baltimore: JHU Press. p. 142. ISBN 9780801885228.
- ^ Blum, John Morton (1956). Woodrow Wilson and the Politics of Morality. Boston: Little, Brown.
- ^ Gamble, Richard M. (2001). "Savior Nation: Woodrow Wilson and the Gospel of Service" (PDF). Humanitas 14 (1): 4–22.
- ^ Cooper, Woodrow Wilson (2009) p. 560.
- ^ a b "Woodrow Wilson bio sketch". Nobel Media AB 2014.
- ^ The other presidents are Theodore Roosevelt and Barack Obama.
