Woodrow Wilson was a bad president.

Peace 1: My Opponent does well to quote a speech presented to Congress by the very President in question. I consider it a good strategy because it would obviously appear to be conclusive evidence that President Wilson decided to enter World War I considering that he is saying it with his own mouth. However, we all know well that Presidential speeches are strategically written by a collective of advisors, all of whom are behind the scenes and who are themselves influenced by other groups. Yes, President Wilson decided to enter the war, but was he responsible for the conditions that placed him in such an uncomfortable position? No! In 1909 the ironically named "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace" discussed the issue of war in depth, considering the pros and cons of such an endeavor. In the end, they resolved to focus on a final fundamental question: "How do we involve the United States in a war? " President Wilson was not present for this discussion. The infamous Lusitania was sent to New York City where it was loaded with six million rounds of ammunition, owned by J. P. Morgan & Co. , to be sold to England and France to aid in their war against Germany. Even Franklin Delano Roosevelt, serving as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Wilson, stated that, "The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson…" he continued to address the question of World War I by saying, "the country is going through a repetition of Jackson's fight with the Bank of the United States - only on a far bigger and broader basis. " My Opponent has cleverly hit a soft spot when raising the issue of Wilson's decisions that lead to the execution of those Italian immigrants. Being Italian myself, I find Wilson's policies distasteful. My Opponent has also hit on a very important issue which I had not considered, nor am I willing, for the sake of winning a debate, to ignore or deny. The creation of the Federal Reserve under Wilson's watch is by far, as my Opponent states, one of the "worst policies of any US President in economics, freedom, and peace, the ramifications of which we still feel today. " My Opponent has met my challenge and I must concede that he has, in the end, convinced me that President Woodrow Wilson was indeed a bad President. My Opponent is well informed in the history of the period and has put forth a strong argument. I had hoped that I could steer the debate away from the "administrative decisions" of Wilson's presidency and focus on his individual powers and influence, but my strategy has lead to a dead end. President Wilson openly stated that, "a great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is privately concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men who, even if their action be honest and intended for the public interest, are necessarily concentrated upon the great undertakings in which their own money is involved and who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom. " Wilson knowingly, and with malice aforethought, allowed for the creation of the Federal Reserve knowing that it would "destroy genuine economic freedom. "