Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. president, was born in Staunton, Virginia, on 28 December 1856. He was raised in a pious and academic household, with his father being a Presbyterian minister and his mother being the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Wilson was a passionate advocate for democracy, progressivism, and education. He attended Davidson College near Charlotte, North Carolina, for a year before becoming president.
Wilson was troubled by weak eyesight and possible dyslexia that delayed his learning to read. Despite this, he was otherwise a normal boy, playing baseball and exploring Augusta and Columbia with friends and cousins. He overcame a severe learning disability at the age of 10 and was the 28th U.S. president. His parents were Joseph Ruggles Wilson, a Presbyterian minister, and Janet Woodrow, who was a warm and loving companion to Wilson’s father.
Wilson was an avid golfer, riding horses, and enjoying cruising Chesapeake Bay aboard the presidential yacht Mayflower. He also enjoyed horseback riding on his horse named Arizona and cruising the Chesapeake Bay on the presidential yacht. Wilson developed passionate interests in politics and literature and attended Davidson College near Charlotte, North Carolina.
Wilson’s parents were Joseph Ruggles Wilson, a Presbyterian minister, and Janet Woodrow. He was an enthusiast of automobiles, particularly the Pierce-Arrow limousine. Wilson’s favorite car was the Pierce-Arrow, and he preferred riding his horse named Arizona.
In celebration of Woodrow Wilson’s 150th birthday, it is important to walk where he was born and lived to learn more about the Presidents of the United States. Wilson regarded himself as the personal representative of the people, like Theodore Roosevelt before him.
📹 Woodrow Wilson: The Worst Great President?
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What happened to Woodrow Wilson’s first wife?
Ellen Axson Wilson, the first lady of President Woodrow Wilson, passed away on August 6, 1914, due to Bright’s disease at the White House. She was buried in Rome, Georgia, and in December 1915, President Wilson remarried to Edith Bolling Galt. Wilson’s love letters to Galt are a testament to the love and sacrifices made by Wilson and Axson, as well as the legacy of Wilson’s presidency.
What did Woodrow Wilson do as a kid?
Wilson was a normal boy in the South, with a passion for education and scholarship. Despite having weak eyesight and dyslexia, he was a normal boy who played baseball and explored Augusta and Columbia with friends and cousins. His early education came from his father, who emphasized religion and British history and literature. At sixteen, Wilson enrolled at Davidson College, excelling in logic, rhetoric, Latin, English, and composition. However, poor health and concern about his father forced him to drop out of school after one year.
In 1875, he enrolled at Princeton University, graduating 28th out of 167 students in 1879. He then attended the University of Virginia law school but dropped out in his second year due to his first cousin Hattie Woodrow. Returning to Wilmington, North Carolina, Wilson continued to study law on his own. In 1882, he moved to Atlanta and set up a legal practice with a friend from the University of Virginia.
However, he practiced law for less than a year and abandoned the practice of law. He enrolled in Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore as a graduate student in history and political science, earning his PhD in 1886.
Did Woodrow Wilson have pets?
During his tenure in the White House, he owned a ram, sheep, two dogs, songbirds, and two cats, one of which was named Mittens and the other Puffins. Despite the lack of historical evidence, it is rumored that the cats enjoyed leaping on the dining room table.
Which president had a stroke?
World War I led the United States to transition from isolationism to international involvement in a major European conflict. President Woodrow Wilson envisioned a permanent American influence on world affairs through participation in the League of Nations. However, Wilson suffered a major ischemic stroke on October 2, 1919, leaving him incapacitated. Admiral Cary Grayson, Wilson’s friend and personal physician, treated Wilson’s stroke, keeping the severity hidden from Congress, the American people, and even the president himself.
Despite being incapacitated and hemiplegic, Wilson remained active, with all messages relayed through his wife, Edith. Patient-physician confidentiality overshadowed national security, leading to the United States’ disengagement from the League of Nations and distance from the international stage. The League of Nations proved powerless without American support and was unable to prevent Adolf Hitler’s rise.
Only after World War II did the United States assume its global leadership role and realize Wilson’s visionary, yet contentious, groundwork for a Pax Americana. The authors describe Woodrow Wilson’s stroke, its historical implications, and its impact on US foreign policy.
Did Woodrow Wilson marry his cousin?
Woodrow Wilson, the twenty-eighth president of the United States, was introduced to Edith Bolling Galt by his cousin Helen Woodrow Bones in March 1915. Wilson proposed marriage to Galt after only knowing her for two months, and she initially rejected the proposal. However, she later confessed love and agreed to marry him on June 28.
The relationship was criticized by newspapers for spreading rumors of scandalous affairs and suggesting that Edith Galt may have been behind the First Lady’s death. Wilson’s advisors worried that the relationship could affect his chances for reelection, and some privately suggested that he was distracted by Galt and dependent on her attention. However, after Wilson announced the engagement on October 6, 1915, the press reacted positively, with the Washington Post publishing several stories highlighting Edith Galt’s descent from Pocahontas.
Edith Galt Wilson became Wilson’s helpmate, providing emotional support, acting as a sounding board, offering informal advice, and accompanying him on domestic and international trips. She sat in on White House meetings and offered advice on domestic and foreign affairs. Despite the sinking of the British passenger liner Lusitania by a German submarine in May 1915, Wilson vowed to keep the United States out of the Great War.
Edith Wilson accompanied Wilson as he campaigned for reelection, winning at the polls on November 7, 1916. Increased German hostility led to a change in public opinion and ultimately to Congress’s declaration of war on April 2, 1917.
Which president had a lion?
Theodore Roosevelt and his family enjoyed having various animals at the White House, including a zebra, parrot, bears, lion, hyena, coyote, rats, and a one-legged rooster. Theodore’s daughter Alice had a garter snake named Emily Spinach, while his son Quentin brought the family to visit his brother Archie when he was sick. Herbert Hoover had two pet alligators, which sometimes wandered around the White House. Thomas Jefferson received unusual pet presents when he sent expeditions to explore newly purchased land from France.
Captain Zebulon Pike sent two grizzly bear cubs, peacocks, partridges, and mockingbirds. Jefferson’s favorite pet was his mockingbird Dick, which would land on his table and regale him with its sweet notes or perch on his shoulder and take its food from his lips. The president’s friends described how the bird would hop up the stairs after him when he retired to his chamber.
What did Woodrow Wilson do in his life?
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. He was a progressive Democrat who had previously served as the governor of New Jersey and as the president of Princeton University. Wilson’s progressive stance on foreign policy, known as Wilsonianism, led the United States into World War I and was the leading architect of the League of Nations.
Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. After earning a Ph. D. in history and political science from Johns Hopkins University, Wilson taught at several colleges before being appointed president of Princeton University. He won the 1912 United States presidential election easily, becoming the first Southerner to do so since 1848.
During his first year as president, Wilson authorized the widespread imposition of segregation inside the federal bureaucracy and opposed women’s suffrage. His first major priority was the Revenue Act of 1913, which began the modern income tax, and the Federal Reserve Act, which created the Federal Reserve System.
During World War I, Wilson declared neutrality and narrowly won re-election in 1916 against Charles Evans Hughes. In 1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany in response to its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. Wilson focused on diplomacy, issuing the Fourteen Points that the Allies and Germany accepted as a basis for post-war peace.
What religion was Woodrow Wilson?
Presbyterian Wilson, a Presbyterian, was influenced by his Christian faith and upbringing. He was mocked during the 1912 presidential campaign for running a Calvinist ticket. Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. Members of an institution can access content through IP-based access, which is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses.
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Did Woodrow Wilson have any hobbies?
Wilson’s progressive agenda and war supervision left him little time for recreation. He regularly exercised by playing golf, rode horses, and enjoyed cruising Chesapeake Bay aboard the presidential yacht Mayflower. He enjoyed attending baseball games, vaudeville performances, and musical comedies, and reading aloud from favorite English poets in the privacy of the White House. Wilson’s family often gathered around the piano to sing hymns and popular songs.
His eldest daughter, Margaret, was a professional soprano who performed at Army camps during the war. Jessie and Eleanor were married at the White House in 1913 and 1914. Wilson was devoted to his family, once lecturing reporters for intruding on their privacy.
Wilson screened the first feature film ever shown at the White House, D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, based on a novel by one of his former students, Thomas Dixon. The film’s crude racism and argument that Reconstruction had set blacks free to prey upon defenseless whites in the postwar South did not fully reflect Wilson’s opinion of the period. He had written that the end of slavery was a benefit of the Civil War, although he was critical of black involvement in Reconstruction. The White House issued a statement dissociating the president from the film’s viewpoint a few days later.
What president got sick and his wife took over?
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, the second wife of the 28th President, Woodrow Wilson, served as First Lady from 1915 to 1921. After her husband’s severe stroke, she pre-screened state matters and ran the Executive branch of government for the remainder of his second term. She is often referred to as the “Secret President” and “first woman to run the government”. Born in 1872, she was a descendant of Virginia aristocracy and studied music at Martha Washington College. Her role gained significance when her husband’s illness led to a prolonged and disabling illness.
Did President Wilson have a stroke?
World War I led the United States to transition from isolationism to international involvement in a major European conflict. President Woodrow Wilson envisioned a permanent American influence on world affairs through participation in the League of Nations. However, Wilson suffered a major ischemic stroke on October 2, 1919, leaving him incapacitated. Admiral Cary Grayson, Wilson’s friend and personal physician, treated Wilson’s stroke, keeping the severity hidden from Congress, the American people, and even the president himself.
Despite being incapacitated and hemiplegic, Wilson remained active, with all messages relayed through his wife, Edith. Patient-physician confidentiality overshadowed national security, leading to the United States’ disengagement from the League of Nations and distance from the international stage. The League of Nations proved powerless without American support and was unable to prevent Adolf Hitler’s rise.
Only after World War II did the United States assume its global leadership role and realize Wilson’s visionary, yet contentious, groundwork for a Pax Americana. The authors describe Woodrow Wilson’s stroke, its historical implications, and its impact on US foreign policy.
📹 RACIST PROGRESSIVE: Woodrow Wilson – Forgotten History
Every world leader has their controversies, and are judged by history as to their successes and failure. President Woodrow Wilson …
Here in Italy Wilson is remembered mostly because of his 14 points, while his internal policies, racism and wars in Latin America are generally ignored. Wilson after WWI became really unpopular in our country, sometimes truely hated, because Italy didn’t gain the Dalmatian coastline, in modern day Croatia. The Italian nationalists wanted Dalmatia because it had been a territory of the ancient republic of Venice, and there were many Italians there, but due to Wilson’s criteria of nationality the region was given to Jugoslavia. We still obtained other lands, but the nationalists protested against this “mutilated victory”, as they called it. Their insatisfaction, among other things, contributed to the rise of Fascism.
I remember a story my American History professor told my class about Wilson when I was in college. While Wilson was advocating for all these new nations to be created from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and whatnot, a delegation from Ireland for Irish independence came to meet him and ask him to advocate the same principles of self-determination for them as well. Wilson, who was recovering from a cold at the time, just looked at them and said, “Of course, I didn’t mean you.” That story has stuck with me for years, and it has helped define my view of Wilson over the years as I have learned more about him.
“…it was both.” Those three words summarize Wilson better than anything else I have ever heard on the man. This is the President I was perhaps most looking forward to seeing covered on this website and you did not disappoint. On the one hand he was a true economic progressive on issues like worker’s compensation, child labor, trust busting and other such topics. So much so that much of the modern American economy began with Wilson. But on the other hand he was a horrific racist even by the standards of the 1910’s, his actions in Latin America were imperialistic and idiotic, and he was responsible for truly horrific civil liberties violations during WWI. I understand why a lot of people hate him and he certainly does not belong on any top 5 lists of greatest presidents. Unfortunately, we have had worse men in office. One example would have to be James Buchanan whose weakness and inaction was a key factor in allowing the Civil War to reach such a point it nearly destroyed the country. Though that is only one example.
You missed 2 things rather important against Wilson: 1. He wrote a book glorifying the South and the Klan, which was used to justify the Klan’s resurgence in America, and 2. Wilsonian Doctrine, which was a practice of global policing for the sake of democracy, which has been used by nearly every US President since to start wars all over the world and has kept the US in constant military conflict ever since. There’s a reason he’s a horrible President. OH! And not to mention that he only got the Federal Reserve Act passed was because he basically held a secret vote in Congress during the Christmas holidays, when most of the Republican Party was out of Washington, and it can be argued that the Federal Reserve (a private institution) aided the Great Depression and has little to no government oversight, like during the 2008 crash where they lost something like 9 billion dollars that has never been found.
Wilson’s position on race revealed his intense bigotry and simply destroyed his legacy. Humanity matters and in this respect Wilson failed miserably and deserves being despised. • ironically The League of Nations was designed to save humanity • further, he was responsible for the only female president (in proxy) Edith * Thank you for a very pragmatic and insightful Biography on YouTube 👍
Simon I’m not English, and we don’t have a personal relationship, but with how much I watch your articles, you’ve taken up the role of Uncle in my life. I hope you never stop making these awesome History articles (Edit) This is also one of the best post-nut content on YouTube to watch until you fall asleep
A word about his incapacitation: his wife ran he country for months. All communication to Wilson passed through her, and even before his stroke, she had access to classified documents and sat in on cabinet meetings. After his stroke, she met with cabinet secretaries and dignitaries, claiming she merely passed messages to her husband while he was convalescing. Visitors never laid eyes on the president, and he didn’t speak publicly for months. Her actions were, decades later, cited as an example of the need for he 25th Amendment when it was being debated and agreed on. Also, Wilson’s predecessor, Taft, is also a fascinating figure, not least of which because not only was he the president, but also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a job he liked far better than the presidency. Taft would also be worth a article at some point.
Simon, in the near future please consider doing a article on US President Rutherford Hayes. Among the forgotten Presidents, he’s probably one of the ones we should remember more than we do. He’s criticized for ending Reconstruction and dooming Southern Blacks to Jim Crow and for starting the pattern of crushing workers strikes with federal troops. On the other hand, he successfully avoided a 2nd Civil War, which almost broke out in the aftermath of the 1876 Election (perhaps the most contentious and explosive election in US history). He also began the process of federal reforms preventing corruption, and reestablished faith in the US Presidency which had been lost due to the Grant Administration’s many scandals through his consistent transparency and honesty. He entered office with the unfortunate nickname Rutherfraud and His Fraudulency, but he left it praised as being one of America’s great Presidents. Time has left his legacy as forgotten, and his reputation among scholars as average at best. A article about him could be fascinating to say the least.
This was a great article! Amazing job! I give thanks to some of the things Wilson has passed, but I never liked this president. I grew up in New Jersey and I remember what I learned about Wilson in school. The topic I remember the most was he was a champion of Eugenics, The sterilization of the mentally ill and minorities. I was in 5th grade when we learned about that. Again, great article!
Mostly great article, but I’d have to argue that Wilson was in many ways even worse than you made him out to be. He worked as hard as he could to make life as difficult and miserable as possible for black people during his time in office, and starting the federal reserve was an absolutely horrible decision. I can understand many Europeans seeing him as something of a savior, but I can only imagine how much better they’d have felt if he hadn’t waited so long to finally agree to aid in the war and prevented countless deaths while he was puttering around looking for excuses to stay out of it. Not to mention the effect his “shining city on the hill” ideology has had on so many places and America’s current, well deserved public image abroad.
I went to California public school before enrolling in a private university. Yet, O was blessed with some great history teachers because they were amazing story tellers. Wilson was definitely a piece of crap human being. He was part of the Good Ol Boys club. But he did do A LOT. His list of achievements is huge compared to most presidents. Having said that, the stuff he passed was usuallu to the benefit to the majority of american people, even though some things ended up being detrimental.
Simon, thanks for trying to accurately show how each person, each leader of history, is much more nuanced than people often think. Great men and women have flaws, and terrible men and women usually have some redeeming qualities, so it’s important to cover all aspects fairly to come to a conclusion as to a person’s overall character. Viewing him as a whole person, I think Wilson is a very poor president and human being, despite the few good things he did for Europe and some American workers.
The latter intro was not strong enough to show how terrible of a President Wilson was. Wilson was indeed the very worst president America has ever had. Reluctantly advocating for women’s voting rights out of concern for his image after mercilessly punishing those women; Wilson’s liberty record is appalling. Catastrophic wars and non-stop interventionism, mismanaging the Spanish Flu pandemic, creating the Federal Reserve, and signing the Adamson Act are just some of his failures. The icing on the cake is Wilson’s racist actions that set all advances of Blacks back to before the Civil War. Wilson was a hard-core white supremacist who tried to get Congress to pass legislation to restrict the civil liberties of blacks. He put whites in jobs that his Republican predecessors had given to blacks, and he encouraged some of his cabinet members to re-institute racial segregation in federal agencies. He vocally opposed a statement on racial equality in the document that governed the League of Nations. Racial violence escalated during his administration, along with lynchings, anti-black race riots, and of course the birth of the second Ku Klux Klan.
For what it’s worth, at least everyone remembers Wilson. That’s not true for most POTUS Pre-WW2. Whether he’s remembered fondly though, that’s a different story. As a graduate student of Political Science, I can say first hand that the rising generation of political scientists in the US views Wilson must more negatively than previous generations did, both liberals and conservatives. Obviously we still have our biases and fallacies, but at least good old Woodrow’s reputation is starting to get a much deserved thumping. I can see why he’s still very liked in Europe though.
This is an amazing article showing the 2 sides of Wilson. A progressive, yet a pro confederate racist. Anti imperialist yet imperialist. Despite some good that came from him, Things would have likely been far better had Teddy not been cheated out of the Republican nomination by Taft (Teddy had more delegates, but they were literally kicked out of the convention by Taft’s people). Had Teddy gone 1 on 1 against Wilson, he would have certainly won. Teddy had all the good policies of Wilson without most of the bad ones.
Many presidents have been terrible men but effective in office. Others have been reasonably good men who did not belong in the executive mansion. All in all, I think Wilson was a product of his time. He watched the Civil War come to an end. His VA home life was probably gravely disrupted as a child because of it and growing up in reconstruction era America put something in him that forever poisoned his soul. Here’s a question I has while perusal this article. He up ended the federal government by firing and demoting blacks, replacing them with whites. Some of those whites might have been less equipped to do this or that specific job. (I said MIGHT. Don’t be a Todd. I’m speculating here toward a larger point.) Could his harmful actions toward blacks in particular have planted some seeds of the eventual Great Depression??? He singlehandedly tried to disenfranchise an entire segment of the population. Economically alone, that’s going to cause issues down the road.
Thank you Simon. Your observation is immaculate yet again. He was one of those many examples that exist to this day branded as “a necessary evil”. Though on the flip side he could have been easier on the racist factor. And i do believe teddy would have handled this war in more nobel and strategic form.
Before Princeton, Wilson taught at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. He is quoted as not liking it, because he felt teaching women was beneath him. Also, Women’s Sufferage was not something Wilson was in favor of. He was fine with Sufferagists being arrested & tortured during his presidency. Theamendment went through 10 months AFTER his incapacitating stroke .
Not that all your content isn’t thoroughly researched, this was fantastic in the time provided. Woodrow Wilson was something else. I went to a very Liberal University, and I remember my History of Presidents professor assigning me Wilson for independent study, and sarcastically telling me, a glutton for history, “you’re going to get a kick out of this guy.” I sure did. As far ‘worse” presidents. I would have to go with Andrew Johnson, Buchanan, Harding, and Andrew Jackson but ‘Ol Woody right there. 🤣🤣🤦🏿♂️
Hopefully Biographics with be able to make a article on these former presidents/politicians in the foreseeable future: Charles Evans Hughes Eugene V Debs Henry A. Wallace Robert La Follette Sr. Grover Cleveland Andrew Jackson Chester A. Arthur John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe William Howard Taft James Garfield John Quincy Adams
I read John M. Barry’s ‘The Great Influenza’ in January. That book covered Wilson’s response to the constantly escalating war fever in America. Yes, Wilson’s administration is probably the closest America has ever come to being an authoritarian state, but it has to be emphasised that that was precisely the mood of the nation and Wilson’s draconian rule was applauded. Almost total fervor for war and whatever was required to wage and win war was the default attitude of the country and no opposing view was tolerated. Wilson’s own doctor diagnosed him as having contracted the influenza virus while Wilson was negotiating the preliminary terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson had been unmovable in arguing that the terms did not just punitively punish Germany, but after contracting the virus Wilson became listless, lost his mental focus, began to suffer from irrational preoccupations and the whole impetus behind the Treaty negotiations fell to the French. This had obviously terrible consequences within 20 years.
I had no idea that he was so racist. He was a great man…. with an unwavering flaw that should never be forgotten. He seems like a well-spoken but bigoted version of Donald Trump. That is, he makes Donald Trump, as divisive as he is ( I think we can all agree on that) look much better by comparison. Good thing we don’t worship our Presidents, just elect them.
“Provoke a liberal and you get a fascist” doesn’t matter how much good they have in mind, their policies often don’t work and cause immeasurable harm. Just look at what welfare has done to Poor black neighborhoods, in the 60s even the poorest areas were more or less safe, but that changed after welfare encouraged single parent households, promoting bad unbalanced childhoods leading to crime.
Wilson wasnt the only one doing all of this since he is part of the executive branch which enforced laws written by congress. So he may have been the driving force behind his policy but also a majority in congress at that time must have also been agreeing with his ideas to pass laws that went with his ideas right?
Woodrow Wilson was the worst President in US History. Apart from his overt racism, the fact is that Wilson gave us World War II by going along with the Europeans and not entering into German territory in 1918. Wilson and TR were mostly responsible for much of Latin America’s issues with us that remain to this day. Wilson re-segregated the federal government. His economic policies gave us an economic depression. He couldn’t work with others – Wilson couldn’t handle anyone disagreeing with him or his policies. How anyone can stomach Woodrow Wilson and call him a great President is beyond imagination.
It’s sad that Wilson’s family had to relocate from Ohio to Georgia. Then his father would probably not have become such a diehard Confederate, and Woodrow would probably have had a more racially enlightened upbringing. Yes, I hear everyone saying, he should have been racially enlightened no matter where he was born. But in Ohio it would have been much easier. It does annoy me, though, when Republicans use a combination of Wilson’s bad points and his “progressivism” to try to smear the left today. They need to understand that “progressive” meant something quite different 100 years ago, and that many of that era’s progressives, among other things, supported racial segregation – as long as it was “separate but equal” – and were committed to a free-market economy, albeit one with a strong welfare state component. By today’s standards, Wilson would be much closer to Joe Biden than to Bernie Sanders – not that that distinction matters to Republicans, of course.
All credit to Wilson he wasn’t Buchanan, Johnson (Andew not Lyndon), Nixon, Bush the sequel or Trump. But he wasn’t exactly Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt (both of them), Kennedy, Reagan or Obama. Firmly in the middle of the road, possibly between Chester A Arthur and Gerald Ford, which is a very odd place to be.
This is brilliant. Always felt Woodrow Wilson was little overrated. Not terrible, but I remember having to learn about him at school and just didn’t think he was that interesting, but this article taught me much more than Schools did. I am still waiting for the Biographics on Andrew Johnson. I love your articles on the American Presidents. I look forward to you doing them all then I will watch them back-to-back.
I think what you missed is how the Lily White Movement was a product of the Progressive Era and one that even Roosevelt caved to after his controversial dinner with Booker T. Washington. Likewise, Taft and Wilson both continued the Lily White Movement. But also, Wilson did speak out against lynching.
So, who was the “good” president of the period between 1865-1933? Wilson wasn’t very great, Harding had to keep his friends’ scandals a secret which would then shatter his reputation for his friends’ sake, Theodore Roosevelt had HIS problems whilst being president after McKinley, who also wasn’t very good along with Cleveland 1, Harrison, Cleveland 2, Arthur, Coolidge, Hoover, Garfield, Hayes, Grant, Johnson, and/OR Taft. None of these presidents were really that great, tbh…so who was the really good one then?
When you think about it, he could have been top five just by doing (or not doing) three things: Refrain from re-segregating the federal government refrain from taking the authoritarian, anti-civil liberties measures during WWI, and Take the half-loaf offered by the Republicans regarding League of Nations membership. He never could have done much about Versailles. Not his fault, really. Europe simply was not ready for the kind of Pax Americana he proposed. In that regard, he was ahead of his time. His inflexibility on Versailles, civil liberties, and civil rights are unforgivable, though.
The Republicans ran on a platform of war preparedness in 1916, the Democrats opposed any mobilization measure. Wilson won in November, we entered the war in March, it took us a over a year to be able to deploy ground troops to France and we had logistical problems the whole way through. Then we had problems reentering the men back home which led to race riots, and Wilson did nothing, then there were the mass persecutions.
Woodrow Wilson isn’t just the worst president of his time, but the worst of all time. Yet neocons and left wing progressives gush over him and FDR. FDR was awful, but Wilson didn’t have to deal with the great depression. FDR wasn’t some lofty ideologue, Wilson was. Apparently bigot too but his fans don’t seem to care. I mean I’ve seen no college students denounce him, that’s for sure. Yet, I am told anyone who’s ever held a slight against blacks or indians should be denounced and boy do they do it. But we’ll just pretend he was a saint I guess.
This nails it. History is complicated, because well people are complicated. Wilson was indeed a progressive who did some good things on the home front and tried to get something good out of the misery and uselessness of WWI….and was also a horrible racist who set us back on race relations and tried to nation build to teach those non white people the “proper” way to govern their country….I can’t help but think if WWII would’ve been avoided if we followed his plan (instead of the imperialist powers gong for vengeance and land) but he also tossed out civil liberties and overlooked violence here. He regressed us on racial issues but tackled corruption. A truly fascinating and frustrating figure.
Simon, I often take issue with your framing of people, you (or your writers) often use racism as a cudgel to beat the reputation of the person you’re speaking about like a dead horse. While I’m no big fan of Woodrow, quite the opposite really, I expected this article to be much the same in structure to what I briefly outlined, I can now say I was pleasantly surprised. Instead of trying to make him out to simply be a cut and dry villain you portrayed him for what he was, a deeply flawed human, perhaps (almost definitely) more so than many of us, but still a human. Thank you for making this article, shining light on his failures and successes in such a way that I didn’t feel like you were defending nor attacking the man, simply telling the story.
Even though I I’m not the biggest fan of Trump and Trump is one of the wrost President however, Wilson still remains the wrost President that America has ever saw although there are some Presidents before that may have been wrost although Wilson some good things for America and Europe as a whole as a Irish person and a fellow European I offer my thanks to America and it’s people however, I can’t give any respect to Wilson dispute all of the things that he his heart is black and it’s of hatred for people who are different who aren’t white and for that I think that should be remembered not as a great man or a hero but as a very evil man who cared about power nothing else.
He and Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes did not see eye to eye…. “…Chided later by Wilson in the debate on the German Pacific colonies because Australia represented only a small country of five million people, Hughes replied simply: ‘I speak for 60,000 dead.’ As the story of the confrontations spread around Paris, Hughes became something of a folk hero.”
You guys should do one on Terence McKenna; his life is quite interesting, filled with journeys to the deep Amazon rainforest, encountering crazy personalities within the aboriginal groups, and some very authentic individuals who transformed his perspective on several psychedelics, and creating the world’s first psycho-botanist reserve on his home island in Hawaii. He was an avid speaker on the use of psychedelics to help individuals grow and society to mend together and heal,,, he also ancillarily predicted the rise of internet, and was a big proponent of VR technology in the nineties.
It’s always interesting to peer through the lense of modern perspective at the movers & shakers of the past. Pres. Wilson was a forward thinker, but also a product of his time. He established goals for American social & political improvement, yet could not escape the horrible experience of the Civil War & Reconstruction. Informed by this, he knew the country needed to advance past that awful period, but was blinded by its very stereotyping of African Americans & other minorities. Can we label him as bigot? Yes, but he was no different than millions of other white Americans of his time. Overall, Mr. Wilson sought to improve American society, while at the same time, because of his mindset, discounting African Americans as part of that society. He did what he thought was right for his time. We can be thankful that, in OUR time, ALL Americans are recognized as part of the fabric of our society, making us stronger as we move forward through our OWN place in history.
He’s also responsible, indirectly, for WWII. WWI was winding down. France and Germany were tired of the conflict, both emotionally and financially. England stalled so as to give time to Wilson to get America into the conflict. We extended the war and then forced all the blame on Germany. They forced the Treaty of Versailles on the defeated Germany which crippled its economy and birth National Socialism. No Wilson War Machine, no Hitler.
The Chicago Defender and similar African American newspapers of the time wrote at length about how bad Wilson was, with many telling people to run north to escape the south. They discouraged African Americans from enlisting in some cases as they assumed they would be relegated to labor or treated poorly while fighting for a nation that fights against them. Ida B Wells and William Trotter met with President Wilson to ask for anti-lynching laws, restoring protections for African Americans that existed since reconstruction, as well as a change in treatment of black troops. He’s always been viewed negatively by some, and now others can see the impact of his election on the world.
I’m ashamed to be his great great great great great grand daughter just knowing he was racist but I am proud of my name knowing that I am not racist and history doesn’t always repeat itself. (And yes, my mom has all of the paperwork and family tree showing who we are) and if you look at my brother, uncle and grandfather, you can tell we’re quite closely related to him 🤷
Julius Caesar was a racist. So was Napoleon. And very nearly every leader of every nation everywhere that took up imperialism and colonialism as means empire building. Out of primitive and tribal times now. Let’s be grateful, let’s not forget history, but let’s understand that people did as they did in the times that they lived as society at the time would have them do.
You were kinder to Wilson than he deserves. His arrogance played a role in both world wars. He saw himself as the Great Arbitrator, the only man who could end WWI through his diplomacy. He totally failed. Had we not intercepted the Zimmerman Telegram, he would’ve kept the US out of the war unless Germany unleashed its submarines on the US. This would’ve lengthen the war and possibly changed the outcome. Even though he knew better, he went along with the punitive Treaty of Versailles, in exchange for European support for his League of Nations. As you note, the League failed, and the terms of the Treaty made WWII a likelihood. Your comments about his racism and desire to consolidate power are totally correct. He might have said he was for the common man, but he was a condescending elitist. Had the Republicans given the 1912 nomination to TR, Charles Hughes would have easily won in 1916. Hughes would’ve been a great President, and the world would’ve been better off because Wilson never would have been a President.
I’m really glad to live during a time where social restraints are not as strict compared to this time period. Who knows what any of us would do in the face of mounting social pressure to be racist or enlist in the army? I’m sure there are brave people with their convictions but you never know until you’re facing it…
If countries in Latin America and the Caribbean defaulted on their debt, there was always the possibility that one or another European country, or several, might send in their troops. When Wilson sent in the U.S. army, seized the custom’s house (as the major source of revenue) and used the proceeds to pay off the European debt, he prevented such violations of the Monroe Doctrine.
Wilson’s progressivism in political views, was more mainstream at the time, since we just came out of the Roosevelt presidency and progressivism as a whole were leading American society. It’s the racism and social decisions that impacted the world negatively. His dismissing of European ideas, left ideological division leading European nations coming on the tides of manufacturing. His treatment of blacks also was used to further ethic division furthering race based pseudoscience, carried over to justify anti-semitisim in Europe as a political platform. Wilson was just bad.
Wilson presented himself to the Brits, Italians, and French leaders like the Second Coming. He then started selling out his 14 Points to try to back the League. Meanwhile, he outraged the French government. In the last days of the war, the German Army took the time to pointlessly destroy coal mines that they controlled in France just before they pulled out and headed to Germany. The French wanted to take him to see the mindless destruction… Wilson refused… Said that it might “prejudice” him against the Germans. YP
You should make a article about Lula, the former brazilian president. It’s a great history, and it’s directly related to the entire brazilian society for the past 4 decades at least. I mean, my opinion may be biased (just like the case against him, lol), since i am a suporter, but it’s important even for the critics of his government, as he is responsable for the greatest events of Brazil’s recent history, which can be in a good way or in a bad one, depending on the point of view. Anyway, it’s a great personality of the modern world and I think he deserves a quality article just like yours.
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My main beef with Wilson is his institutionalizing the Federal Reserve and progressive income taxation, and making senatorial elections nationalized. These things had an adverse effect upon American society which is felt to this day. I despise Woodrow Wilson, who, in my mind, is second behind Joe Biden as the worst president in American history.
This article should’ve been titled “Woodrow etc.: From a Civil Liberties point of view”. You made your point very clearly regarding his racism…..and then you made it again…..and again…….and again……and again (getting tired yet? I was….). You also made almost no mention of the decision in his presidency that arguably affects this country today more than anything else that he did: The Federal (cough cough) Reserve. Put a bunch of rich bankers in charge of our country’s money with absolutely NO oversight by Congress, and the ability to print the nation’s money with wild abandon. Worst President of all time; Period. All of the above exceptions notwithstanding, I enjoyed and learned from your article. Thanks, Sparks
Simon, you should really check out the fascinating book that recently came out called “The Road less traveled” since you stated Wilson didn’t have many options to avoid WW1. It’s a real scholarly overview of the backroom peace negotiations that Wilson tried to lead, and failed at, before the start of US involvement in ww1
I think he’s way overhated. I’m not here to defend his racism or the Espionage and Sedition Acts. But he was not uniquely terrible, nor was he the worst. While I’m not saying the Federal Reserve is perfect by any means, it is a necessity in regulating the big banks and keeping them under control, same goes for his implimentation of an Income Tax, since, while, it may be annoying to have to pay some of your own income for something you have no control over, there are times that they are needed from many government services like what subsequent government programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to function properly. Also, let’s not forget Women’s Suffrage, which though he previously opposed it, he did come around in dropping his opposition to it, and his Fourteen Points, which allowed several nations to become independent, and made several colonies want independence from European Empires like Britain and France. He’s honestly a mixed bag, he did some really great things, some really bad things, and others that are extremely controvercial, but, I can’t say he’s at the same level as Franklin Pierce or James Buchanan, or Abraham Lincoln (Who also supported a National Bank and an Income Tax.) and George Washington. He’s like life, full of its ups and downs, positives and negatives.
5th worst president we had since he’s as racist as Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, and Andrew Johnson were. Federal reserve did more harm than good as it helped set the stage for the Great Depression. He got us into WW1 after promising to keep us out of it, invading Latin America, sign laws that attacked journalists and much more. He did have a few good things but I think the negatives greatly outweighs anything positive that he did. Not the worst president as this title goes to James Buchanan, but he’s definitely top 5 for me.
Cypher the Cynical Historian: WILSOOOOON! VTH: I hate his guts! Cody of Alternate History Hub: There’s a reason why he’s the worst. Mr. Beat: He is my least-favorite president… Me: Guys? Guys? You can pour all the hate you want upon him, but might I suggest you say similar things about other presidents? I never heard you bashing people who were even more tyrannical than him. Cypher: Do you mean Lincoln? I think he was great. VTH, Cody, Mr. Beat: Yes, he was the best president we’ve ever had. Me: No, he was the best person we’ve ever had! Being president has made him even better. He was no tyrant. He was a Saint! Why do we celebrate people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, people who had slaves they never freed. And Lincoln, despite not getting his way with the Emancipation Proclamation, did end up freeing the slaves with Amendment XIII.
I would be curious to see a ranking of US Presidents by people exclusively outside of the US. In terms of how Europe viewed Wilson after the Great War, Wilson being highly regarded makes some sense because his domestic policies didn’t carry over to his international work. Here in America he is falling fast down the rankings due to his extremist views and authoritarian style.
I think it should be investigated if the American states now and then are legislated with the Bible written as a story. The word immunity (Latin immunitas, freedom from obligations to the state) comes from a religious revelation from the middle ages, most likely from a pope to become lawless, and which has since been rewritten into sovereign, absolute, and qualified immunity (legally, cannot be prosecuted for the criminal act) to the president, senate (origin, the Roman Empire), congress, cabinet, and Supreme Court for law decisions and actions. It should also be investigated if fallen soldiers were elected by the people or not. The political exploitation of the vital ecosystem has now led to forest death (force majeure) how will it affect people’s economy, etc. The political exploitation of the vital ecosystem has led to forest death, how will that affect people’s economy, etc? I also think The Democratic party can be a consciously misleading party name with all parties belonging to The Republican party, as current political democracy and socialism can only be about going more toward the middle, eg. The Democrats for law decisions and actions, even with the misleading word professional politician. Furthermore, I think the people should consider voting for a real democratic party with an independent state formation to investigate if the president, parties, senate (origin, the Roman Empire), congress, cabinet, and Supreme Court overall may be guilty of a violation of democratic rights with misleading elections, serious economic crimes, violation of human rights with class society for adults and children, and serious environmental crime (force majeure).
Wilson isn’t unique or even a minority in our history (ours=humanity’s, not the US) in being someone responsible for both great evil and good. The perceptions we (again, we as in humans, not Americans) collectively choose to have about certain figures since history has been recorded ends up being further cemented by what’s remembered and what’s forgotten…with information vindicating the chosen perception of a figure typically winning out. It’s only recently, where some semblance of nuance and objectivity has seemingly been injected into our analysis of history (although a decidedly facile iteration of nuance/objectivity, it’s still better than none) whete we are willing to taint our “heroes” and offer consideration to the “villains”. Our application of today’s privileged and often socially motivated morality to an uncontextualized past shows it to still be woefully lacking…but it’s something.
Wilson a great president? NO. Just because a person is president during a Great War doesn’t mean he’s great. The man was a very class-conscious person. That’s the politically correct way of saying he was not ONLY a racist but he wasn’t big on hanging out with people that weren’t of his own level or class, at least as he saw it. Wilson perpetrated one of the greatest crimes ever done to a somewhat still unknowing American public. He was the man in office that gave the green light to the Federal Reserve System. This act basically finally accomplished what the European banking interests had been after since the inception of the United States. In essence, it gave control of the American banking system to the people that had been the richest people in the world for generations. The same people that had left there mark on the Old World for hundreds of years, generally in the form of wars and economic disasters of different degrees. Wilson actually did the thing that no politician would ever do today, though, so he must’ve had some degree of a conscience. He basically wrote an Op-Ed piece that was run in the bigger newspapers and apologized to an unsuspecting American public for the treasonous actions he’d been engaged in by bringing about the Fed. Wilson was eventually slapped down, some may say, by a stroke in his second term. His wife, Edith, in a very real, de facto manner, became POTUS. She became the first woman president although that information was not generally known. And, she was a good president, or was at least well advised.
I definitely view some of your articles, but at times you are too intense. I’m glad to find you have a university degree as well as a law degree. This means I can watch articles that I choose to believe and not watch the ones that won’t enhance my life. Why, because it appears you don’t have a doctorate degree in history. If you just told the story a information and without so much aditude. I understand people/ kids not being a kid I don’t need the hype. All I want to know about WW is the failed League of Nations. That’s All Folks 🥕🥕
Very interesting. Yes, Wilson was a racist but Britain only used black troops from the West Indies in non-combatant roles although I suppose this can be offset by Walter Tull who was commissioned even though he was black. Yes, Wilson was prepared to ignore the Fourteen Points if it suited him but has there ever been a politician who didn’t change his mind when it suited him? What has always annoyed me was his smug certainty that he was right and everyone else was wrong but that’s not unusual in very religious people.
He also technically had a hand in Pearl Harbor, and Vietnam. He didn’t want to sign a clause in the treaty of Versailles that made it so that “all nation were equal” so Japan felt that they must prove that they were equal. He ignored Ho Chi Minh’s request for help to create and independent Vietnam, which made Ho turn to the Commies
Biograpics, especially as narrated by Simon, is aways entertaining and generally enlightening, is not always objective. In this episode, there were a lot of sweeping statements about events without due /just /accurate qualification for objective understanding of the truth and significance, and a lot of denigration and disdain was splattered on the image of Woodrow Wilson. That’s all okay if the viewer keeps in mind that this website can be an editorial on history, and a highly biased, emotional one, and not a reporting of the “truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. No doubt, Wilson was a rascist and promoted racial injustice – a great crime, a personal fundamental flaw – but the overwhelming preponderance of his actions were humanitarian, both at the personal level of human existence and at the political level, resulting in untold, profound benefit to America and humanity ever since his deeds. Granted, a crumb was thrown to Wilson’s great service in short references, but the feeling, the sense of who Wilson was as a man and what he contributed that was conveyed by this editorial, was overshadowed by his racist aspect and the repeated statement and implication that he was self-righteous, hateful and religious to the point of “divine right” or at least “divine directed”, presented with disdain and denigration. Half-truths were presented, especially with regard to military reactions to social-political circumstances and events in South and Central America, ignoring the short- and long-term contribution or intent of these to the welfare of humanity and the positive influence on humanity in general.
Recently found and enjoying wide aspects of his website; I really want to like it but you’re so snarky and so jaded and so cynical that it’s hard to watch sometimes. Woodrow Wilson is currently considered to be number 13 in the best president in US history, be listening to you you think he was dead last.
To my mind a more interesting question would be what would have happened if Mckinley hadn’t been assassinated. Hopefully there are some developments that would have never taken place that did in our world, like the 16th and 17th amendments to the Constitution and the creation of the Federal Reserve, and we wouldn’t have even gotten involved with the war in Europe.
I like your articles however this one bothered me for some reason. I am not a big fan of Wilson however you spent a significant amount of time tearing the man down because he didn’t approve of African Americans. But at the turn of the century this is not something that defines a man’s character. Obviously today and in the past 50 years or more you could draw that conclusion but I just don’t think it’s fair to completely rip apart the person’s legacy solely based on race when most of the country at that time felt that goes viewpoints were ” ” normal.
IMO, Wilson is not that great in my eyes for being too hesitant in joining WW1. Had American troops arrived earlier (around late 1915, early to mid 1916) perhaps the Weimar Republic could have lasted a bit longer, and maybe could have stopped the Provisional Government for failing due to that one bad offensive (Tsar would fall no matter what). It may sound dark, but 200k more US soldiers dying for perhaps the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany not existing is worth it imo
I’m not gonna “preach” but I will say this much. It’s funny how when shoes change feet the OPPRESSOR (which is EXACTLY what White Southerners were, open a history book)gets EXTREMELY nervous when the formerly OPPRESSED is in the area! When I go down to Ohio, where I was born, from NYC, I can walk anywhere I want without fear because I haven’t wronged anyone. There are certain people who get a lil nervous when they hear I intend to visit. I’d be afraid as well if I had been keeping PEOPLE as PROPERTY! But I wouldn’t because that’s not in MY NATURE, I’m not WICKED, then to pretend it wasn’t a big deal or worse, it didn’t even happen! Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.
“I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.” ~ Woodrow Wilson
Thank you for this, in a time in America where we are perusal states turning back the clock on hard fought civil liberties, we need the balance of history to continue to be told in the most TRUTHFUL way possible. I know how bad it was growing up educationally in school to learn about the true American history, now they are making it illegal…SMH Thank You!
Woodrow Wilson First wife was from my hometown. Legend has it he was blackmailed into signing the banking act into law, a matter of national security. His first wife Ellen threatened to expose the scandal. She died of bright’s disease about 8 months after the amendment was signed into law, she was too bright for her own good. Then old Woody was introduced to his second wife who was a widower as well. To bad for old Wilson he didn’t learn she had killed her first husband cause Mr. Galt couldn’t give her a child. She became Woody’s handler to make sure he kept his mouth shut. Poor Woody was so torn up about the afair he became bedridden while old wifey number two put through the paperwork for the league of nations.
Wilson’s point on self-determination not only affected central europe, but many of the former colonies as well. many nationalists and independence movements saw it as US backing of their movements. Although its fair to probably say that Wilson probably never meant it for those in Africa and Asia, who were suffering under the boots of colonialism.
When a French woman whisper passionate words in your ears, it doesn’t matter if you know it’s all rubbish. It’s beautiful. Either Europeans was unaware of Wilsons racism, or it was completely irrelevant to us. America helped Europe against Wilhelm the Second’s war machine. And in the end, that what the only thing that mattered.
This article looks like take down piece against Wilson. Most of negatives are shown as most important legacy of his presidency while some of most important positives, especially for global community is mostly ignored or shunned completely. It is second Biographics article in last month where I see this trend and it seems worrying for Simon website, because even on his articles on worst presidents he was able to shine light on few positives from their terms. Yet here where an international policy changing politician needs to be taken down the script writer does that brilliantly. So what are the positive changes for global community from President Wilson agenda? First there are those 14 points which allowed many small European nations to form their own countries and preserve their language and culture. Then there is the formation of League Of Nations which was UN predecessor and was first global forum to solve international disputes. And finally his terms for Versailles peace treaty was one of first times when someone offered war ending treaty without reparations and through that finger pointing at war instigators. Strange historical fact in WW1 and Versailles treaty history is fact that Germany, who was blamed for causing the war, was at best 3. country in line of responsibility. The main instigator of that war was Austro-Hungary (but they were dissolved so there was nothing to take). The second firestarter was Russia (but they were on the winning site so that would be bit awkward). So the blame for that war fall on Germany who was the losing country that didn’t dissolve).
I will suggest very important personalities in human history whose biography is important to know: 1. Caliph Omar Ibn Al-Khattab 2. Caliph Ali bin Abi Talib 3. King Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, founder of the Umayyad Empire 4. The Abbasid Caliph Jaafar Al-Mansur, founder of the city of Baghdad 5. The founder of the Umayyad state in Andalusia after its fall in Damascus : Abd al-Rahman ibn Muawiyah ibn Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik al-Qurashi 6.Commander Khalid bin Al-Walid. 7. Fatima Al-Fihri: The first woman to establish a university in the world 8. Maslama bin Hisham bin Abd al-Malik bin Marwan, the most important leader of the Umayyad dynasty 9. Messenger of the Abbasid Caliph: the traveler Ibn Fadlan 10. Ibn Hayyan, founder of chemistry 11. Ibn Khaldun, founder of sociology 12. Al-Idrisi is one of the founders of the world of modern geography 13. Saud Al-Faisal: The world’s longest-serving foreign minister 14. The poet and knight al-Mutanabbi 15. Imru al-Qays, the poet-prince who wanted to restore the kingdom of his late father 16.Antarah Al-Absi: Knight of the Abs tribe. His story of slavery and chivalry 17. Hind bint al-Nu’man bin al-Mundhir, the last king of the Kingdom of Manathira / the cause of the Persian Empire’s war with the Waelah tribes and their allies. 18. Biography of Al-Bukhari, the scholar who collected hadiths 19. Harun al-Rashid, one of the greatest Abbasid caliphs 20. The Story of the Prophet Saleh (The Thamud Civilization How It Ended) 21. Muhammad Al-Fazari, maker of the first Islamic astrolabe and author of the poem “Astronomy” 22.
It all makes me wonder how different things would be if Abraham Lincoln would have lived and would have been able to do Reconstruction his way.. His death was certainly one of the pivot points in American history. I wish things would have been different – and I say that as a born and raised southerner. I know there was way too much sympathy and pandering to the racists, segregationists, etc. I just think integration could have/should have been much smoother and all of the Jim Crow, segregation, KKK, lynchings, racism, etc from the Civil War onward could have all been avoided if Reconstruction were handled properly.
I liked this article because my opinion of him is very negative. While President of Princeton one of his reforms was to try and get rid of Mathematics teaching. He thought that technical subjects like Math did not belong in Princeton. He was an Arts and Letters type. I heard this over 50 years ago by one of my college Math teachers, who had heard this from one of his Math teachers in the late 30’s. My opinion on this idea to say the least was very negative. I went on to teaching Math myself and despising him. Fortunately, he failed. Princeton became the hub of scientific work after he moved on.
The dark will always cloak itself in the light…..and in measure be remembered as the dark times. “Taking the bad with the good ” is not reserved for those in power, it is reserved for those that survived it and for the future people that continue to live with it. In the end, it is which side you choose. Woodrow, God’s blessing may be your only saving grace. Pray the Lord is as real as your misgivings.
Wilson was the worst of the worst! He wrote in his younger years that “the determination of the Saxon race of the South that the negro race shall never again rule over them is, then, not unnatural and it is necessarily unalterable,” he said. He concluded that whites must maintain a “united resistance to the domination of an ignorant race.” What caught my attention was the “NEVER AGAIN RULE OVER THEM AGAIN”, this would lead a thinking person to insinuate that the American Colored/Negro once ran America prior to European Rule and are not from Africa as we are told!! When you realize that the Colored/Negros were Running the Republican Party in the 1800s, his statement makes perfect sense!
Some historians have asserted that Wilson’s media censorship during the war also caused a lack of news coverage and positive government response to the raging Spanish Flu pandemic which killed over 600,000 in the U.S. alone. Some have also argued that he was a victim of karma. He was unable to personally attend critical sessions of the peace treaty negotiations since he was sick and incapacitated with the Spanish Flu himself.
Wilson is by far, for me, one of the most polarizing figures in American history. Undeniably a racist but held many other ideas that at the time were extremely progressive. He was for all intent and purposes an aspiring empirical president within our own hemisphere. But as progressive as he was in some areas he was equally tyrannical during wartime. I don’t think in the century that has passed I can come up with a comparable person in American politics or history.
I find it funny how he’s always heralded as one of our best presidents, yet he was responsible for the Federal Reserve, the IRS, entering into WW1 when we had no business doing that, mass segregation of the federal government, and the Espionage Act. This single man did more to hurt this country than he ever did to help it.
Thank you for this. I have a degree in history from a US state university. I remember being so frustrated at how ideological so many of the professors were without any concern for an objective presentation of history that students could then formulate their own conclusions about. I was sharp enough to understand a real manipulation was afoot and had to do a lot of my own studying to find the reality and contrasts from what I was learning in the classroom!! More than once my grades on papers suffered when I held to “historically and politically incorrect” conclusions. This was over 20 years ago. I imagine the revisionist history is taught even more overtly today! Guard your kids parents!!
I try very hard not to judge historical characters by today’s standards. But it’s very difficult not to think highly negatively about this man and his racist escapades. He not only stopped blacks from applying for federal jobs, he eliminated people who were doing good work just because they were black. To go out of your way and destroy a person’s livelihood like that requires a level of evil that’s hard to justify.
My son and I have long conversations about History (he’s a chip off the old block) and his take on when America was subverted was Wilson’s presidency. I go with Lincoln’s locking up the Maryland legislature in violation of habeus corpus (which is articulated in the powers delegated to Congress), but all the same, his case regarding Wilson is hard to assail.
Sir, my grandfather grew in Selma alabama in the 19 teens as a sharecropper on a cotton plantation. He was also white. When he move to Birmingham during the depression several of his fellow sharecroppers black and white went with him. Never once heard my grandfather mention lynchings or racism for that matter. They farmed together, ate together, went to church together and lived next door to one another white and black. People were just poor back then period.
Excellent article. It may be worth noting that U.S. dimes minted during Wilson’s time in office began being produced with an emblem on the back side showing an axe bound, upright, in a bundle of sticks. This emblem is called ‘Lichter’s Facese’. It is the same emblem used by the fascist Airforce of Italy during WW2. It carries the meaning that Government is everything. All powerful. In other words government is God. Kind of strange for the administration of a man who was the son of a minister and a ministers daughter. That is exactly how the left sees things today too.