Woodrow Wilson

28th President of the United States

### Children

Margaret Woodrow Wilson (daughter), Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre (daughter), Eleanor Wilson McAdoo (daughter)

### Parents

Joseph Ruggles Wilson Sr. (father)Jessie Janet Woodrow (mother)

### Siblings

Joseph Ruggles Wilson Jr. (brother), Anne E. Wilson Howe (sister), Marion Wilson Kennedy (sister)

### Education

Princeton University (AB)Johns Hopkins University (PhD)

### Hair Color

Brown

**Woodrow Wilson**, a leader of the Progressive Movement, was the 28th President of the United States (1913-1921). After a policy of neutrality at the outbreak of World War I, Wilson led America into war in order to “make the world safe for democracy.”

*The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson spanned the period in United States history that encompasses the events of the WW1 and the Prohibition era. President Woodrow Wilson represented the Democratic political party. World War I began in Europe (1914-1918) and the US entered WWI by declaring war on Germany in 1917. The 1917 Espionage and Sedition Acts followed.*

## Biography

Like Roosevelt before him, Woodrow Wilson regarded himself as the personal representative of the people. “No one but the President,” he said, “seems to be expected … to look out for the general interests of the country.” He developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international leadership in building a new world order. In 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world “safe for democracy.”

Wilson had seen the frightfulness of war. He was born in Virginia in 1856, the son of a Presbyterian minister who during the Civil War was a pastor in Augusta, Georgia, and during Reconstruction a professor in the charred city of Columbia, South Carolina.

After graduation from Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School, Wilson earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University and entered upon an academic career. In 1885 he married Ellen Louise Axson.

Wilson advanced rapidly as a conservative young professor of political science and became president of Princeton in 1902.

His growing national reputation led some conservative Democrats to consider him Presidential timber. First they persuaded him to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. In the campaign he asserted his independence of the conservatives and of the machine that had nominated him, endorsing a progressive platform, which he pursued as governor.

He was nominated for President at the 1912 Democratic Convention and campaigned on a program called the New Freedom, which stressed individualism and states’ rights. In the three-way election he received only 42 percent of the popular vote but an overwhelming electoral vote.

Wilson maneuvered through Congress three major pieces of legislation. The first was a lower tariff, the Underwood Act; attached to the measure was a graduated Federal income tax. The passage of the Federal Reserve Act provided the Nation with the more elastic money supply it badly needed. In 1914 antitrust legislation established a Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices.

Another burst of legislation followed in 1916. One new law prohibited child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. By virtue of this legislation and the slogan “he kept us out of war,” Wilson narrowly won re-election.

But after the election Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

Massive American effort slowly tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. Wilson went before Congress in January 1918, to enunciate American war aims–the Fourteen Points, the last of which would establish “A general association of nations…affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”

After the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918, Wilson went to Paris to try to build an enduring peace. He later presented to the Senate the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations, and asked, “Dare we reject it and break the heart of the world?”

But the election of 1918 had shifted the balance in Congress to the Republicans. By seven votes the Versailles Treaty failed in the Senate.

The President, against the warnings of his doctors, had made a national tour to mobilize public sentiment for the treaty. Exhausted, he suffered a stroke and nearly died. Tenderly nursed by his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt, he lived until 1924.

## Personality

The character traits of President Woodrow Wilson can be described as reserved, ambitious, confident, intelligent, generous and diligent. It has been speculated that the Myers-Briggs personality type for Woodrow Wilson is an INTJ (introversion, intuition, thinking, judgment). A reserved, analytical and insightful character with a strong sense of independence. Woodrow Wilson Personality type: pragmatic, logical, individualist and creative.

## Nicknames

* "The Schoolmaster"
* "The Professor"
* "The Phrasemaker"

*Meaning: The nickname of President Woodrow Wilson provides an insight into how the man was viewed by the American public during his presidency. The meaning of the Woodrow Wilson nickname "Schoolmaster" refers to his skill as an exceptional historian and his early role as President of Princeton University. Another nickname reflecting his intellectual skills was "The Phrasemaker" in reference to his skills as a good orator and his ability to write great speeches.*

## Inaugurations

### First Inauguration

The **first inauguration of Woodrow Wilson** as the 28th president of the United States was held on Tuesday, March 4, 1913, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 32nd inauguration and marked the commencement of the first four-year term of Woodrow Wilson as president and Thomas R. Marshall as vice president. Chief Justice Edward D. White administered the presidential oath of office to Wilson.

In his inaugural address, Wilson made clear his vision of the United States and its people as an exemplary moral force: "Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in the way of strength and hope". No inaugural balls were held to celebrate the occasion, as Wilson found them inappropriate for the occasion. The day before his inauguration, Wilson expected crowds to meet him at the train station when he arrived in Washington. However, more people were watching the Woman Suffrage Procession organized by Alice Paul. The event was filmed in Kinemacolor by the Kinemacolor Company of America.

### Second Inauguration

The **second inauguration of Woodrow Wilson** as president of the United States was held privately on Sunday, March 4, 1917, at the President's Room inside the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., and publicly on Monday, March 5, 1917, at the East Portico of the Capitol. This was the 33rd inauguration and marked the commencement of the second and final four-year term of both Woodrow Wilson as president and Thomas R. Marshall as vice president. Chief Justice Edward D. White administered the presidential oath of office to Wilson. Crowds of men in Washington for the inauguration assaulted women who were picketing the White House and demanding that women get the right to vote. Press coverage of the violence and the women's suffrage movement overshadowed that of the inauguration itself.

## Presidents born during his Presidency

* John F. Kennedy
* Richard Nixon
* Gerald Ford

## Famous films

* **Birth of a Nation (1915)**
* A Dog's Life
* Shoulder Arms
* Intolerance (1916)

## Accomplishments and major events

*The major accomplishments and the famous, main events that occurred during the time that Woodrow Wilson was president included the Federal Reserve Act (1913), the Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914), the Sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. His presidency also witnessed the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic, Women's suffrage, the Harlem Renaissance, establishment of the Niagara Movement civil rights organization and the NAACP, the First Red Scare, the Palmer Raids and the Sacco and Vanzetti Case.*

**Wilson's New Freedom**

Summary: The Progressive Movement continued during the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson and Wilson's New Freedom  attacked the Triple Wall of Privilege in favor of supporting small farmers and small businessmen by Reforming Tariffs, Reforming the Banks, breaking up monopolies and passing important financial and Social Welfare reforms.

**The 1913 Federal Reserve Act**

Summary: The 1913 Federal Reserve Act was passed  by Woodrow Wilson to booster public confidence in the US banking system by establishing a regional Federal Reserve System that operated under a supervisory board in Washington.

**The Revenue Act of 1913**

Summary: The Revenue Act of 1913 reduced the average tariff on imported goods and re-imposed Income Tax passed by Woodrow Wilson to compensate for lost revenue on tariffs.

**The 1914 Federal Trade Act**

Summary: The 1914 Federal Trade Act was an Antitrust action that created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the power to investigate companies for unfair trade practices that damaged competition.

**The 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act**

Summary: The 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act was "An Act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies" and banned monopolistic practices by corporations and gave the right of workers to strike.

**Birth of a Nation (1915)**

Summary: The controversial film is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play *The Clansman*. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay with Frank E. Woods and produced the film with Harry Aitken. The film was controversial even before its release, and it has remained so ever since; it has been called "the most controversial film ever made in the United States" and "the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history". The film has been denounced for its racist depiction of African Americans. The film portrays its black characters (many of whom are played by white actors in blackface) as unintelligent and sexually aggressive toward white women. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is portrayed as a heroic force, necessary to preserve American values, protect white women, and maintain white supremacy.

Popular among white audiences nationwide upon its release, the film's success was both a consequence of and a contributor to racial segregation throughout the U.S. In response to the film's depictions of black people and Civil War history, African Americans across the U.S. organized and protested. In Boston and other localities, black leaders and the NAACP spearheaded an unsuccessful campaign to have it banned on the basis that it inflamed racial tensions and could incite violence. It was also denied release in Chicago, Ohio, Denver, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. Griffith's indignation at efforts to censor or ban the film motivated him to produce *Intolerance* the following year.

In spite of its divisiveness, *The Birth of a Nation* was a huge commercial success across the nation—grossing more than any previous motion picture—and it profoundly influenced both the film industry and American culture. The film has been acknowledged as an inspiration for the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan, which took place only a few months after its release. In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

**The 1916 Keating-Owen Child Labor Act**

Summary: The 1916 Keating-Owen Child Labor Act limited the number of hours that children were allowed to work and banned the employment of children under the age of fourteen in factories that produced goods for interstate commerce.

**The 1916 Federal Farm Loan Act**

Summary: The 1916 Federal Farm Loan Act passed by Woodrow Wilson to create 12 Federal Land Banks to provide small farmers with low interest loans.

**The Adamson Act of 1916**

Summary: The Adamson Act of 1916 was passed passed by Woodrow Wilson to avoid a major railroad strike by establishing the 8 hour working day for railroad workers and time and a half for overtime.

### The United States in World War 1

**The Prohibition Era**

Summary: The Prohibition Era (1920 to 1933) was the time in US history when the manufacture and sale of alcohol was banned. Prohibition was seen as a 'Noble Experiment' and the solution to the nation's growing poverty, crime, violence and  abuse Prohibition led to the  emergence of organized crime, increased violence, the sale of illegal alcohol by bootleggers and massive political corruption.

**The Volstead Act**

Summary: The Volstead Act aka the National Prohibition Act, became effective on January 29, 1920 to enforce the 18th amendment on Prohibition. No one could manufacture, sell, buy, transport any liquor without first obtaining a Government permit.

**The Prohibition Gangsters**

Summary: The Prohibition Gangsters were mobsters and 'bootleggers' who profited from the illegal sale of liquor during the Prohibition Era.  The most famous Prohibition Gangsters were Al "Scarface" Capone, Charles “Lucky” Luciano, George “Bugs” Moran, Dutch Schultz and Jack "Legs" Diamond.

**The Speakeasies**

Summary: The Speakeasies were illegal, secret drinking clubs during Prohibition when gangsters took control of the distribution of alcohol to bars and clubs which ultimately led to the rise of organized crime in America.

**The Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age**

Summary: Following the events of World War 1 the nation enjoyed the Economic Boom of the 1920's and entered into periods in history known as the Roaring Twenties and the Jazz Age. It was an exciting time for Women in the 1920's and the new 1920's Fashion for Women. The United States also saw many changes due to the Inventions in the 1920's.

**The Fundamentalist Movement and the 'Monkey Trial'**

Summary: The Fundamentalist Movement was founded by conservative Americans who rejected the new ideals of the Roaring Twenties and attempted to restore old morals and Protestant religious values, developing a new kind of Christianity called Fundamentalism. The Fundamentalists rejected ideas such as Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution which led to the prosecution of schoolteacher John Scopes and the famous 'Monkey Trial' in which John Scopes was found guilty of teaching the theory of evolution.

**The WW1 Great Migration**

Summary: The WW1 Great Migration saw the movement of thousands of African Americans from the farmlands in the southern states to the cities in  the north in order to find new opportunities and jobs. Many made their way to the New York city neighborhood of Harlem in Manhattan, New York City which became the home of the Harlem Renaissance movement.

**The Harlem Renaissance**

Summary: The Harlem Renaissance (1917 - 1932) was the flowering of African American culture embracing literary, musical, theatrical, and visual arts. The Harlem Renaissance was a new beginning for African Americans and a period of intellectual growth which inspired African American artists, authors and musicians.

**Marcus Garvey and the UNIA**

Summary: Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). He moved to Harlem, New York in 1916 and the first UNIA division was formed in Harlem, New York in May 1917.

**The First Red Scare**

Summary: The First Red Scare (1917-1920) followed World War 1 bringing the period of anti-radical hysteria and fear that communists and anarchists were conspiring to start a workers revolution in the USA. The Red Scare was intensified by a series of terrorist attacks in the homeland during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.

**The Palmer Raids**

Summary: The Palmer Raids were made to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists following incidents in June 1919  when 8 bombs in 8 American cities exploded in minutes of each other.

**The 1920 Wall Street bombing**

Summary: The 1920 Wall Street bombing was a terrorist attack on New York that occurred on September 16, 1920 outside the J. P. Morgan bank building killing 38 people and causing injuries to hundreds.

**The Sacco and Vanzetti Case**

Summary: The Sacco and Vanzetti Case was one of the most famous and controversial trials in the history of the United States involving two Italian immigrants and self confessed anarchists and radicals.

**The Eugenics Movement**

Summary: The Eugenics Movement, established in 1903, gained momentum. It was Pseudo-Scientific Racism, supported by many prominent people of the era, that fueled anti-immigrant and racist beliefs.

**The Resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's**

Summary: Fear and suspicion triggered by the anti-radical and anti-immigrant hysteria of the Red Scare led to the Resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.

**The U.S. and the Mexican Revolution**

Summary: The US and the Mexican Revolution (1910 - 1920) saw two episodes of intervention and involvement by the US in the Mexican Revolution led by revolutionaries including Emiliano Zapata Salazar and Francisco "Pancho" Villa.

**The Panama Canal**

Summary: President Woodrow Wilson officially opened the Panama Canal in 1920 reducing the trip  between the east and west coasts of North America by about 9,200 miles (14,800 kilometers).

## Post Presidency

After the end of his second term in 1921, Wilson and his wife moved from the White House to a townhouse in the Kalorama section of Washington, D.C. He continued to follow politics as President Harding and the Republican Congress repudiated membership in the League of Nations, cut taxes, and raised tariffs. In 1921, Wilson opened a law practice with former Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. Wilson showed up the first day but never returned, and the practice was closed by the end of 1922. Wilson tried writing, and he produced a few short essays after enormous effort; they "marked a sad finish to a formerly great literary career." He declined to write memoirs, but frequently met with Ray Stannard Baker, who wrote a three-volume biography of Wilson that was published in 1922. In August 1923, Wilson attended the funeral of his successor, Warren Harding. On November 10, 1923, Wilson made his last national address, delivering a short Armistice Day radio speech from the library of his home.

## Death

Wilson's health did not markedly improve after leaving office, declining rapidly in January 1924. He died on February 3, 1924, at the age of 67. He was interred in Washington National Cathedral, being the only president whose final resting place lies within the nation's capital.

## Facts and trivia

* Woodrow Wilson was the first U.S. President to earn a Ph.D.
* Wilson grew up in the American South, mainly in Augusta, Georgia, during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
* It is believed that Wilson was dyslexic, as he couldn't read until he was 10 years old. Determined not to be held back, he earned his Bachelor's Degree at Princeton University.
* After earning a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University, Wilson taught at various colleges before becoming the president of Princeton University and a spokesman for progressivism in higher education. As governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913, Wilson broke with party bosses and won the passage of several progressive reforms.
* To win the presidential nomination he mobilized progressives and Southerners to his cause at the 1912 Democratic National Convention. Wilson defeated incumbent Republican William Howard Taft and third-party nominee Theodore Roosevelt to easily win the 1912 United States presidential election, becoming the first Southerner to do so since 1848.
* Two years after winning the election, his first wife Ellen died, making him one of three presidents (along with John Tyler and Benjamin Harrison) to be widowed in office. Wilson was deeply affected by the loss, falling into depression.
* On March 18, 1915, Wilson met Edith Bolling Galt at a White House tea. Galt was a widow and jeweler who was also from the South. After several meetings, Wilson fell in love with her, and he proposed marriage to her in May 1915. Galt initially rebuffed him, but Wilson was undeterred and continued the courtship. Edith gradually warmed to the relationship, and they became engaged in September 1915. They were married on December 18, 1915. Wilson joined John Tyler and Grover Cleveland as the only presidents to marry while in office.
* During his first year as president, Wilson authorized the widespread imposition of segregation inside the federal bureaucracy.
* Wilson was the first president since John Adams to deliver a State of the Union Address before the U.S. Congress.
* While on office, Wilson managed America's involvement in World War I and formed the League of Nations, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Wilson became the second sitting United States president after Theodore Roosevelt to become a Nobel Peace Laureate.
* Wilson had intended to seek a third term in office but suffered a severe stroke in October 1919 which left him incapacitated. His wife and his doctor controlled Wilson, and no significant decisions were made. Meanwhile, his policies alienated German and Irish Democrats and the Republicans won a landslide in the 1920 presidential election.
* Wilson is the only American President to be buried in Washington, D.C., the nation's Capitol.
* Scholars have generally ranked Wilson in the upper tier of U.S presidents, although he has been criticized for supporting racial segregation. His liberalism nevertheless lives on as a major factor in American foreign policy, and his vision of ethnic self-determination

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## References

* https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Wilson-7591