Claim: William Jennings Bryan was Secretary of State during World War I.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson -LRB- December 28 , 1856 -- February 3 , 1924 -RRB- was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921 . A member of the Democratic Party , Wilson served as the President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910 and as Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913 . Wilson 's victory in the 1912 presidential election made him the first Southerner elected to the presidency since Zachary Taylor in 1848 , and Wilson became a leading force in the Progressive Movement . He also led the United States during World War I , establishing an activist foreign policy known as `` Wilsonianism . '' He was a major leader at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 , where he championed the proposed League of Nations . However , he was unable to obtain Senate approval for U.S. membership . He suffered debilitating strokes in September 1919 ; after that his wife and staff handled most of his presidential duties .   Born in Staunton , Virginia , he spent his early years in Augusta , Georgia and Columbia , South Carolina . His father was a leading Presbyterian in the Confederacy during the Civil War , and Wilson was always a devout Presbyterian and a proud Southerner . He took a law degree and then one of the first PhDs in political science awarded by Johns Hopkins University . He served as a professor and scholar at various institutions before being selected as President of Princeton University , a position he held from 1902 to 1910 . Wilson became a notable academic , arguing for the superiority of the parliamentary system . He was associated with Grover Cleveland and the conservative Bourbon Democrats until 1910 , when he moved left . With the help of state Democratic bosses , Wilson won the 1910 Democratic nomination for governor of New Jersey , and was elected as a fresh reformer , holding office from 1911 to 1913 . He overthrew the same bosses and gained a national reputation . He won the 1912 Democratic presidential nomination after forty-six rounds of balloting , with support from William Jennings Bryan . Former President Theodore Roosevelt 's third party candidacy split the Republican Party , which re-nominated incumbent President William Howard Taft . Wilson won the 1912 election with a plurality of the popular vote and a large majority in the electoral college .   Leading the Congress that was now in Democratic hands , he oversaw the passage of progressive legislative policies unparalleled until the New Deal in 1933 . The Federal Reserve Act , Federal Trade Commission Act , the Clayton Antitrust Act , and the Federal Farm Loan Act were some of these new policies . Having taken office one month after ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment , Wilson called a special session of Congress , whose work culminated in the Revenue Act of 1913 , introducing an income tax and lowering tariffs . Through passage of the Adamson Act that imposed an 8-hour workday for railroads , he averted a railroad strike and an ensuing economic crisis . 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 staffed his government with Southern Democrats who implemented racial segregation at the Treasury , Navy and other Federal offices . In the presidential election of 1916 , Wilson faced former New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes . By a narrow margin , he became the first Democrat since Andrew Jackson elected to two consecutive terms .   In April 1917 , when Germany had resumed unrestricted submarine warfare and sent the Zimmermann Telegram , 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 . Through the Selective Service Act , conscription sent 10,000 freshly trained soldiers to France per day by the 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 union cooperation , regulated agriculture and food production through the Lever Act , and took direct control of the nation 's railroad system . Wilson asked Congress for what became the Espionage 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 Scare of 1919 -- 1920 . Early in 1918 , Wilson issued his principles for an end to the war , the Fourteen Points , and in 1919 , following an armistice , he traveled to Paris , promoting the formation of a League of Nations and concluding the Treaty of Versailles . Following his return from Europe , Wilson embarked on a nationwide tour in 1919 to campaign for the treaty , but suffered a severe stroke . The treaty was met with serious concern by Senate Republicans , and the Senate ultimately rejected the treaty . Due to his stroke , Wilson secluded himself in the White House , disability having diminished his power and influence , and he failed in his bid to win re-nomination at the 1920 Democratic National Convention . Wilson retired at the end of his presidency , and he died in 1924 .