Woodrow Wilson

[[File:President_Woodrow_Wilson_portrait_December_2_1912.jpg|thumb|165px|Wilson, looking at dirty German sympathizers.]]{{Uspolitics}}
{{cquote| It was a menace to society itself that the negroes should thus of a sudden [[Thirteenth Amendment|be set free]] and left without [[slavery|tutelage or restraint]]. Some stayed very quietly by their old masters and gave no trouble, but most yielded, as was to have been expected, to the novel impulses and excitement of freedom and made their way to the camps and cities, where the blue-coated soldiers were, and the agents of the Freedman’s Bureau.|||Woodrow Wilson, ''A History of the American People'', Vol. 9 (1902).<ref>[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#A_History_of_the_American_People,_Vol._9_(1902) Woodrow Wilson: A History of the American People, Vol. 9 (1902)] Wikiquote.</ref>}}

{{cquote|Wilson, the first college president to occupy the White House, banned blacks from government restrooms, was the first president to openly attack the U.S. Constitution and eagerly support laws to prosecute and imprison those who disagreed with his policies. His hostility to black Americans was matched only by his antipathy toward Italian, German and Irish Americans and his desire to rid the nation of those he referred to dismissively as “hyphenated Americans” and against who he railed incessantly.|||[[Stopped clock|David Keene, ''Washington Times'' opinion editor]].<ref>[https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/10/woodrow-wilson-legacy-tainted-by-racism-attacks-on/ The foul fruits of Woodrow Wilson] Keene, David. ''Washington Times.'' 10 April 2017</ref>}}

'''Thomas Woodrow Wilson''' {{lived|1856|1924}} was the 28<sup>th</sup> [[President of the United States]]. Though generally viewed as a Northerner, he was born in [[Virginia]] to a slave-holding family that supported the [[Confederacy]],<ref>Cooper, John Milton, Jr. (2009). Woodrow Wilson: A Biography. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 13–19. ISBN 978-0-307-27301-7.</ref> although Wilson himself would go against these views saying "I yield to no one precedence in love for the South. But because I love the South, I rejoice in the failure of the Confederacy."<ref>''Woodrow Willson: Essential Writings and Speeches of the Scholar-President of the Scholar-President'' by Mario R. DiNunzio</ref>{{rp|73}} This had an unfortunate impact on his views on [[race]]. Although he is most known for {{wpl|Wilsonianism||,}} an ideology which supports spreading [[democracy]] abroad and fighting for all people's self-determination, these ideals didn't stand a chance against Wilson's more powerful instincts for anticommunism, [[authoritarianism]], and [[racism]]. The Wilson administration ferociously [[censorship|suppressed dissent]] both during and after [[World War One]], invaded [[Latin America]] more often than at any other time in US history,<ref>Lowen, James W. ''Lies My Teacher Told Me''. "Handicapped by History." Touchstone, 2007. p. 16</ref> and pushed through fanatical [[segregation|segregationist]] reforms in the federal government.

However, Wilson was also a [[progressive]] in some significant ways. A devout [[Calvinism|Presbyterian]], Wilson governed his personal life according to principles of austerity and [[temperance]], in line with the era's progressive fashions. He was responsible for some modest progressive reforms in economic regulation and taxation, including the creation of the [[Federal Reserve System]], the [[United States]]' first [[progressive income tax]],<ref>[http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/Web/THM1901?OpenDocument Tax History Museum: 1901-1932: The Income Tax Arrives]</ref> and the League of Nations — but America never joined, and the League was ultimately a failure. He also worked to end child labor, signing the Keating–Owen Act in 1916, which limited children's working hours, and banned the sale in interstate commerce of goods produced by factories that employed children under 14, mines that employed children younger than 16 (although this was later struck down by the Supreme Court).<ref>[https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/artifact/hr-8234-bill-act-prevent-interstate-commerce-products-child-labor-january-17-1916-keating U.S. Capitol - Visitor Center: H.R. 8234, A Bill for an Act to Prevent Interstate Commerce in the Products of Child Labor, January 17, 1916]</ref> He also opposed requiring literacy tests for immigrants, vetoing the Immigration Act of 1917, the most sweeping restriction on immigrants until that time (although this veto was overridden by Congress anyway). These reforms allowed Wilson to win the support of white Northern progressives who might not ''necessarily'' agree with his rabid segregationist views but who supported his economic agenda, arguably helping to establish the Democratic party's modern identity as one of economic reform, while the Republican party became increasingly conservative. 

Wilson ended up being arguably the worst case of a presidential disability, as he was nearly completely incapacitated by a stroke two years before the end of his second term. This, in part, led to the creation of the [[United States Constitution#25th Amendment|25<sup>th</sup> Amendment]] which deals with presidential succession. During his incapacitation, his wife {{wpl|Edith Wilson|Edith}} effectively ran the country by deciding who could and could not meet with the president,<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/woodrow-wilson-stroke When a secret president ran the country] Dr. Howard Markel. ''PBS.'' Oct 2, 2015.</ref> and it was during this time that the [[United States Constitution#19th Amendment|19<sup>th</sup> Amendment]] was passed, which gave women the right to vote. President Wilson was actually at best ambivalent and at worst hostile to the concept of women's suffrage.<ref>[https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/jamie-stiehm/2013/12/10/woodrow-wilson-versus-the-suffrage-movement Woodrow Wilson Versus the Suffragettes] Stiehm, Jamie. ''US News''. Dec. 10, 2013.</ref>

==Two Historical Campaigns==
Woodrow Wilson's two terms were proceeded by campaigns that were historic, in different ways.

===1912===
Long before people argued if Ralph Nader cost Al Gore the 2000 Election, the "split Republican Party" faced by William Howard Taft was the perfect example of why third party campaigns are a bad idea. After being unable to win the Republican nomination, former President Theodore Roosevelt decided he would run for President as a member of his own Bull Moose/Progressive Party.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1912 United States presidential election of 1912]</ref> Many have argued vote splitting between those who supported Roosevelt and Taft is what ended up giving Wilson the White House,<ref>[https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2016/05/100-years-ago-fear-republican-spoiler/ 100 Years Ago: Fear of a Republican Spoiler]</ref> a point essentially agreed on by the data.{{efn|Going through the data, only 154 of his Electoral Votes came from states where he won a majority.<ref>[https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1912 1912] The American Presidency Project</ref>}}

===1916===
Wilson's campaign for a second term is infamous for having one of the most broken promises in American history, with the President bragging about how he "kept us out of war," in reference to World War One and promising to keep the United States peaceful if given four more years--that did not happen.<ref>[https://woodrowwilsonhouse.org/election-1916/ Election: 1916] President Wilson House</ref>

=="Bad Neighbor" policy==
{{main|Imperialism}}
One of the defining, yet surprisingly little known aspects of Wilson's foreign policy were his frequent military interventions in Latin America. He presented this as an ongoing mission to build democracies in the region, saying in 1913: "I am going to teach the South American republics to elect good men."<ref>Paul Horgan, Great River: the Rio Grande in North American History (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1984), 913</ref> Despite what he said, however, it should be clear to anyone that Wilson's Latin America policies were motivated by the same cold, hard, capitalistic greed that spurred his predecessors. These invasions and occupations were deeply unpopular even at the time, and Wilson's successors, [[Calvin Coolidge]], [[Herbert Hoover]], and [[Franklin Roosevelt]] all publicly renounced the need for US military presence in Latin America.<ref>[https://millercenter.org/president/coolidge/foreign-affairs Calvin Coolidge: Foreign Affairs] Greenberg, David. Miller Center.</ref><ref>[https://millercenter.org/president/hoover/foreign-affairs Herbert Hoover:Foreign Affairs] Hamilton, David E. Miller Center</ref><ref>[https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/good-neighbor Good Neighbor Policy, 1933] US Department of State Office of the Historian</ref> By the time of the Hoover administration, their renunciation of American interventionism towards Latin America became known as the "Good Neighbor policy," an ironic echo of what Wilson had earlier claimed as his goal.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McPherson |first1=Alan |title=Herbert Hoover, Occupation Withdrawal, and the Good Neighbor Policy: the Good Neighbor Policy |journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly |date=2014 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=623–639 |doi=10.1111/psq.12153}}</ref>

[[File:Charlemagne Péralte.jpeg|thumb|right|150px|The US published this image of a dead Haitian rebel leader as a warning but created a rallying cry instead.]]
===Invasion and occupation of Haiti===
Fearing that chaos in [[Haiti]] would create an opportunity for Europeans to expand their economic interests there at America's expense, Woodrow Wilson used the 1915 assassination of Haiti's president as an excuse to order the United States Marines to invade the country.<ref name="wwhaiti">[https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/haiti-us-occupation-hundred-year-anniversary The Long Legacy of Occupation in Haiti]. Edwidge Danticat. ''The New Yorker''. July 28, 2015.</ref> One of the first things Wilson did at the start of the occupation was to move Haiti's financial reserves to the US and rewrite their constitution to give foreigners, as in US businessmen, land-owning rights.<ref name="wwhaiti"></ref> After manipulating the nation's elections to install a pro-US president, the Americans then forced him to permanently dissolve the legislature after meeting resistance to the new constitution.<ref>[https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/haiti U.S. Invasion and Occupation of Haiti, 1915–34] US State Department Office of the Historian.</ref> The occupying Americans enforced segregation policies and used forced labor to build infrastructure.<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/07/30/100-years-ago-the-u-s-invaded-and-occupied-this-country-can-you-name-it/?utm_term=.e2b8bfb8239b 100 years ago, the U.S. invaded and occupied this country. Can you name it?] Ishaan Tharoor. ''Washington Post.'' July 30, 2015.</ref> During the occupation, US Marines killed 15,000 Haitians in their attempts to brutally suppress resistance.<ref name="wwhaiti"></ref> The occupation frequently featured indiscriminate murders, robberies, and massacres perpetrated by American marines.<ref>[http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Independent_Media/Conquest_Haiti_SNM.html The Conquest of Haiti] Selections from ''The Nation'' magazine 1865-1990 edited by Katerina Vanden Heuvel. Thunder's Mouth Press, 1990, paper.</ref> After killing a prominent Haitian rebel, the US Marines circulated the image of his corpse as a warning. Instead, they created a martyr.<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/haiti-u-s-occupation-charlemagne-peralte?intcid=mod-latest An Iconic Image of Haitian Liberty]. ''The New Yorker''July 28, 2015.</ref> President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] finally ended the occupation in 1934, although the US still had control of Haiti's finances until 1947.<ref>Schmidt, Hans. The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1995. (232)</ref>

===Invasion and occupation of the Dominican Republic===
For much the same reason as with Haiti, Woodrow Wilson ordered Marines into the Dominican Republic in 1916 to hijack the nation's finances.<ref>[https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/dominican-republic-1916.htm Dominican Republic Occupation (1916-24)] GlobalSecurity.</ref> The influx of arrogant foreign invaders predictably birthed a resistance movement, and the US military government responded by censoring communications and fighting an eight-year guerrilla war against the Dominicans.<ref>[http://countrystudies.us/dominican-republic/10.htm Occupation by the United States, 1916-24] Country Studies.</ref> American troops also collected on the Dominican Republic's debt by collecting tariffs on the nation's imports.<ref>[https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/posts/the-american-invasion The American Invasion] Alejandra Baez. Georgetown University. December 4, 2014.</ref> In the course of ruling the nation, the United States created institutions that would go on to be used during the brutal dictatorship of [[Rafael Trujillo]].<ref>[https://nacla.org/news/2016/05/25/one-hundred-years-after-occupation One Hundred Years After the Occupation]. NACLA. Lorgia García Peña. May 25, 2016</ref> This intervention was also notorious for American troops' brutal tactics.<ref>Brown, Isabel Zakrzewski (1999). "Culture and Customs of the Dominican Republic". Greenwood Press.</ref>

===Invasions of Mexico===
[[File:VillaUncleSamBerrymanCartoon.png|thumb|right|200px|That hat isn't an invention of the cartoonist. Pancho Villa really wore that.]]
During the {{wpl|Mexican Revolution|}}, the US military was on edge due to the chaos down south. In 1914, [[Mexico]]'s then-government had several unarmed US marines arrested and detained for about an hour in response to their landing in a restricted area.<ref name="wwveracruz">[https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-occupation-of-Veracruz United States Occupation of Veracruz] ''Britannica''.</ref> An angry Wilson demanded that the Mexican president issue an official apology and deliver a 21-gun salute to the American flag.<ref name="wwveracruz"></ref> The Mexicans offered the apology but refused the salute. Meanwhile, Wilson also learned that a [[German]] ship was planning to deliver arms to the Mexican government through Veracruz, in violation of a US arms embargo.<ref name="wwveracruz"></ref> Wilson ordered the attack and seizure of Veracruz, occupying the city for six months.<ref name="wwveracruz"></ref>

In 1915, the US finally recognized the government of {{wpl|Venustiano Carranza}} after Mexico's previous president stepped down due to his quarrels with Wilson. Infuriated by this, Mexican revolutionary {{wpl|Pancho Villa|}} launched several attacks across the US-Mexico border, culminating in a violent raid on Columbus, New Mexico.<ref>John S.D. Eisenhower, ''Intervention: The United States and the Mexican Revolution, 1913 - 1917'' (1993), pp. 217 - 219</ref> This provocation led Wilson in 1916 to prepare the US Army for an expedition into Mexico to hunt and kill Villa in retaliation for the raids.<ref>Annual Report of the Fiscal Year 1916, by Maj. Gen. Frederick Funston, United States Army, Commanding the Southern Department, pp. 3 - 5, entry 27, file #243231, box 141, RG 407, NARA. The Southern Department was the military's geographic area that encompassed Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.</ref> The invasion was a logistical nightmare, and the few skirmishes actually fought between the US and Villa's forces were inconclusive at best.<ref>Eisenhower, Intervention: The United States and the Mexican Revolution, 1913–1917, pp. 267–268.</ref> Despite the American alliance with President Carranza, the invasion caused tensions between the two governments to skyrocket. Carranza's forces began teaming up with Villa's to push out the Americans. This show of universal hostility finally convinced America's generals to order a withdrawal from Mexico.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/winter/mexican-punitive-expedition-2.html#F6 The United States Armed Forces and the Mexican Punitive Expedition: Part 2] Mitchell Yockelson. ''Prologue Magazine''. Winter 1997, Vol. 29, No. 4</ref>

===Invasion and occupation of Cuba===
In 1917, a disputed election in [[Cuba]] led to an insurgency. Fearing that the civil strife would endanger American landowners' sugar harvest, the Wilson administration dispatched troops to protect the crops.<ref name="wwcuba">Perez Jr., Louis A. (1979). ''Intervention, Revolution, and Politics in Cuba, 1913-1921.'' University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 65–129. ISBN 9780822984719.</ref> The US government later agreed to purchase a quota of Cuban sugar at above-market prices in exchange for a [[free trade]] agreement.<ref>[https://www.coursehero.com/file/p50pu0q/Sugar-Intervention-1917-1922-US-marines-land-in-Oriente-province-at-request-of/ Sugar intervention 1917]</ref> The presence of US marines again stirred anger amongst the Cuban populace, resulting in anti-American protests and instances of violence.<ref name="wwcuba"></ref> Marines established bases around Cuba to patrol the countryside and the cities.<ref name="wwcuba"></ref> The occupation ended in 1922.

[[File:USS Denver Nicaragua Landing Force 1912.jpg|thumb|right|165px|American troops near a Nicaraguan railroad.]]
===Occupation of Nicaragua===
Wilson inherited a lengthy occupation of [[Nicaragua]] from the Taft administration, which had begun when a previous Nicaraguan president threatened to expel US financial interests.<ref>[https://www.americanforeignrelations.com/O-W/Wilsonian-Missionary-Diplomacy-Intervention-in-nicaragua.html Wilsonian Missionary Diplomacy - Intervention in nicaragua] American Foreign Relations.</ref> A secondary objective was to prevent any nation other than the United States from building a {{wpl|Nicaraguan Canal|}}; to this end, the Americans installed a [[conservative]] puppet president and ordered him to sign the {{wpl|Bryan-Chamorro Treaty|}} which made Nicaragua a de-facto protectorate of the United States.<ref>Walker, Thomas W. (2003). Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle (4th ed.). Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-4033-0.</ref> US forces also clashed violently with Nicaraguan insurgents who had risen against both the American occupation and against the Nicaraguan government.<ref>"The Banana Wars: United States Intervention in the Caribbean, 1898-1934, by Lester D. Langley, p. 69". Books.google.com. 1912-03-05. Retrieved 2018-03-26.</ref> In 1926, a civil war would erupt against the puppet president, prompting the US to reinforce its occupation force to deal with the revolutionaries.<ref>Musicant, Ivan (1990). 

The Banana Wars: A History of United States Military Intervention in Latin America from the Spanish–American War to the Invasion of Panama.'' New York: MacMillan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-02-588210-2.</ref> The US occupation would finally end in the 1930s when the US suddenly had [[Great Depression|bigger fish to fry]].

==Racism and segregation==
[[File:WMTrotter1915.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Wilson infamously had black activist Monroe Trotter thrown out of the White House.]]
===How racist presidential leadership...===
Domestically, Wilson's racial policies were a disgrace to the office he held. While his [[Republican]] predecessors ([[Southern Strategy|it was a different party then]]) routinely appointed blacks to low-level national offices and allowed them access to party conventions,<ref>Lowen, James W. ''Lies My Teacher Told Me''. "Handicapped by History." Touchstone, 2007. p. 19</ref> Wilson began an extensive series of policies designed to curtail African-American civil rights. Additionally, he was a supporter of [[eugenics]].<ref>[https://everybody.si.edu/citizens/eugenics Eugenics], ''Smithsonian Institute''</ref>

Surprisingly enough, in 1912 Wilson became the first Democratic candidate to win the black vote. This was done through pretending to support racial equality and anti-lynching laws, winning the support of black leaders like [[W. E. B. Du Bois]]. In a letter to a prominent black spokesman, Alexander Walters, head of the National Colored Democratic League (N.C.D.L.) and a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, in which he promised that "should I become President of the United States they [black Americans] may count on me for absolute fair dealing and for everything by which I could assist in advancing the interests of their race in the United States." this was helped by Taft's seeming apathy on civil rights, and the perception that the GOP had taken the black vote for granted. Theodore Roosevelt had also badly damaged his ties with the black community in 1912, when the Progressive party endorsed segregation and Jim Crow at its 1912 convention (it also didn't help that Roosevelt was arguably more vocal in his support for eugenics than Wilson). After his election, most black Americans had viewed Wilson with a sense of hope and optimism, civil rights activist Monroe Trotter even claimed Wilson was viewed as the "second coming of Abraham Lincoln." However, many African-Americans who staked his reputation on supporting Wilson would soon be bitterly disappointed after he assumed office and revealed his true colors on the matter.<ref name="jstor.org">Wolgemuth, Kathleen, "Woodrow Wilson's Appointment Policy and the Negro", The Journal of Southern History. Vol. 24, No. 4 (Nov., 1958), pp. 457-471. Published By: Southern Historical Association. www.jstor.org/stable/2954673?seq=1. Retrieved February 19, 2021.</ref> 

Wilson's election victory made him the first Southern president since 1868. This event saw ecstatic celebration from supporters of the Old South and the Confederacy, many of whom would be subsequently elevated to positions of power in the government that they would keep for generations.<ref name="wwracismi">[http://www.bu.edu/news/2013/03/04/in-their-own-words-the-long-forgotten-racial-attitudes-policies-of-woodrow-wilson/ In Their Own Words: The long-forgotten racial attitudes & policies of Woodrow Wilson] Keylor, William. Boston University.</ref> Wilson was also a child of the Old South who regretted the outcome of the [[American Civil War]] and hoped to use his office to reverse some of its consequences.<ref name="wwracismi"></ref>

This executive program to destroy what little hard-won social progress blacks had achieved began with the federal government's segregation. He allowed his Postmaster General and Treasury Secretary to introduce segregation into their departments; {{wpl|W.E.B. DuBois|}} even noted in a letter to the president that a black clerk had been made to work in a literal cage, as the nature of his work prevented him from being moved to a different building.<ref>[http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/another-open-letter-to-woodrow-wilson/ Another Open Letter to Woodrow Wilson] W.E.B. DuBois. September 1913</ref> Other segregation policies used by the Postal Service included forcing blacks to use separate lunchrooms and toilets and forcing them to work hidden away behind screens.<ref>[https://postalmuseum.si.edu/AfricanAmericanHistory/p5.html#_edn12 The History and Experience of African Americans in America’s Postal Service] National Postal Museum.</ref> Wilson also began dismissing black people from leadership positions in the federal government and refused to appoint any more.<ref name="wwracismii">[https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_segregation.html Segregation in the US Government (1913)] PBS.</ref> He even began requiring applicants to federal jobs to provide photographs of themselves to ensure that only whites could get interviews.<ref>Kathleen L. Wolgemuth, “Woodrow Wilson and Federal Segregation’ Journal of Negro History 44 (1959): p161.</ref> To justify all of this, Wilson's officials publicized complaints by white women of alleged sexual harassment by black men.<ref name="wwracismii"></ref>

A delegation of black civil rights leaders led by {{wpl|Monroe Trotter|}} appeared at the White House to appeal these policies. Still, Wilson argued back that "Segregation is not humiliating, but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen."<ref name="wwtrotter">[https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/20/9766896/woodrow-wilson-racist Woodrow Wilson was extremely racist — even by the standards of his time] Matthews, Dylan. ''Vox.'' Nov 20, 2015.</ref> Trotter retorted that "it is untenable, in view of the established facts, to maintain that the segregation is simply to avoid race friction, for the simple reason that for fifty years white and colored clerks have been working together in peace and harmony and friendliness," and Wilson retaliated by having him thrown out of the White House on the basis that [[Tone argument|his tone and demeanor were offensive]].<ref name="wwtrotter"></ref><ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/wilson-legacy-racism/417549/ The Racist Legacy of Woodrow Wilson] Lehr, Dick. ''The Atlantic.'' Nov 27, 2015</ref>

[[File:Wilson-quote-in-birth-of-a-nation.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Wilson's cameo in the stunningly racist film, ''The Birth of a Nation''.]]

===...inspires like-minded public response===
All around the country, state governments followed Wilson's example and began dismissing or segregating their black employees. A particularly egregious example of this comes from the [[Fun:Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] state IRS, which fired all blacks and released a statement saying that: "There are no government positions for Negroes in the South. [[slavery|A Negro's place [is] in the corn field]]."<ref name="wwracismii"></ref>

Filmmaker D.W. Griffith based his infamous film ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' on a book which quoted Wilson's negative views on [[Reconstruction]].<ref>Lowen, James W. ''Lies My Teacher Told Me''. "Handicapped by History." Touchstone, 2007. p. 21</ref> The film was a celebration of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] and helped lead to its resurgence. Wilson symbolically aligned himself with the film by ordering a private screening. He allegedly sang its praises, which contributed to its popularity.<ref>[https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/us-in-wwi/a/the-presidency-of-woodrow-wilson The presidency of Woodrow Wilson] Khan Academy.</ref> The revived Klan exploded in popularity, becoming a public institution with membership in the millions by the 1920s.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-history-dept/2015/03/19/390711598/when-the-ku-klux-klan-was-mainstream When The KKK Was Mainstream] NPR. March 19, 2015.</ref>

The racism oozing from the White House inspired and inflamed numerous race riots, with 26 happening in 1919 alone, a period known as [[Red Summer]].<ref>''White Violence and Black Response''. Shapiro, Herbert. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1988. 123-54.</ref>

==American police state==
===War propaganda===
Despite Wilson's claims that he was bringing America into World War One to "make the world safe for democracy,"<ref>[https://theconversation.com/1917-woodrow-wilsons-call-to-war-pulled-america-onto-a-global-stage-75022?xid=PS_smithsonian 1917: Woodrow Wilson’s call to war pulled America onto a global stage] ''The Conversation''. April 3, 2017.</ref> the Wilson administration quickly began attacking one of the core pillars of it: [[free speech]]. Almost immediately after the declaration of war in 1917, Wilson ordered the creation of the Committee on Public Information (CPI),<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/063.html?xid=PS_smithsonian Records of the Committee on Public Information] National Archives.</ref> which was responsible for producing [[propaganda]] to demonize America's enemies and encourage young men to enlist in the military.<ref>[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-woodrow-wilsons-propaganda-machine-changed-american-journalism-180963082/ How Woodrow Wilson’s Propaganda Machine Changed American Journalism] Christopher B. Daly. ''Smithsonian Magazine.'' Apr 28, 2017</ref>

The CPI did not stop at making posters and films; it also began to expand its control over what Americans and others around the world saw and watched. For instance, the CPI banned the export of any film which showed Americans in a negative light, such as Westerns or crime dramas, and strove to fill the market with ideological slush that portrayed America as the beacon of freedom the government loves to claim to be.<ref name="creel">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/the-great-war-master-of-american-propaganda/ Master of American Propaganda] Nicholas J. Cull. PBS.</ref> It also pressured Hollywood's foreign contacts to stop showing German films.<ref name="creel"></ref>

===Repression of "hyphenated Americans"=== 
[[File:Hyphenated Americans Voting Cartoon 1899.jpg|thumb|right|250px|"Why should I let these freaks cast whole votes when they are only half American?"]]
Wartime propaganda has become infamous for stoking prejudice towards white ethnic groups, virtually anyone who wasn't a [[WASP]]. This led to the popularization of the concept of the {{wpl|Hyphenated American|}}, an epithet used against Americans who had ancestral ties to other nations as a way to insinuate that they were disloyal. Wilson himself got in on the hysteria, saying:<ref>[https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wilsonleagueofnations.htm Final Address in Support of the League of Nations] Wilson, Woodrow, delivered 25 Sept 1919 in Pueblo, CO</ref>

{{cquote|[A]ny man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready. If I can catch any man with a hyphen in this great contest I will know that I have got an enemy of the Republic. My fellow citizens, it is only certain bodies of foreign sympathies, certain bodies of sympathy with foreign nations that are organized against this great document which the American representatives have brought back from Paris.}}

The American populace responded to this rhetoric with a wave of repression directed towards white minorities, especially German-Americans. In public schools, teachers were forced to sign pledges declaring loyalty to the United States. At the same time, German language classes were discontinued or banned in a whopping 38 states.<ref>I.N. Edwards, “The Legal Status of Foreign Languages in the Schools,” in Elementary School Journal 24 (December 6, 1923): 270-78</ref> Meanwhile, public libraries stopped distributing German-language materials, a prudent measure since there were instances of German books being publicly burned in patriotic ceremonies.<ref>[https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=214#_edn17 German-Americans during World War I] Katja Wüstenbecker, University of Jena. ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship.'' September 19, 2014.</ref> This period also saw campaigns to change the names of towns that sounded too German and campaigns to ban German music such as Wagner and Beethoven's compositions.<ref>The Nation, no. 107 (July 6, 1918): 3. See also J.E. Vacha, “When Wagner was Verboten: The Campaign against German Music in World War I,” New York History 64 (1983): 171-88.</ref>

===Censorship===
American entry into the war also led to the largest and most sustained assault on free speech ever carried out by the United States government. Wilson warned that there were "millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with a firm hand of repression."<ref>[http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3479 The Espionage and Sedition Acts] Digital History.</ref> This "firm hand of repression" materialized first as the {{wpl|Espionage Act of 1917|}}, which empowered federal officials to arrest anyone with dangerous opinions and empowered the Post Office to suppress dissident mail.<ref>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/espionage-and-sedition-acts-world-war-i Espionage And Sedition Acts Of World War I] Encyclopedia.com</ref> Wilson even hoped to strengthen the Espionage Act with a provision giving censorship powers to the presidency, but even in the heights of war-fever, Congress wouldn't allow that.<ref>Cooper, John Milton, Reconsidering Woodrow Wilson: Progressivism, Internationalism, War, and Peace, Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-9074-1 (2008), p. 190</ref> However, Wilson worked with what he had, and his postmaster general gleefully used his new powers to put numerous publications out of business.<ref name="wwcensored">[https://www.signature-reads.com/2017/03/that-time-in-wwi-america-when-censorship-was-legal/ That Time in WWI America When Censorship Was Legal] G.J. Meyer. ''Signature Reads''. March 6, 2017.</ref>

Eager to demonstrate their [[patriotism]], zealous prosecutors became responsible for several egregious suppressions of free speech. A movie producer was sentenced to ten years in prison for fostering anti-[[British]] sentiment; he had made a movie about the freaking [[American Revolution]]!<ref name="wwcensored"></ref><ref>{{wpa|The Spirit of '76 (1917 film)|}}</ref> A [[Socialist]] Congressman received twenty years for publishing his antiwar views during his reelection campaign.<ref name="wwcensored"></ref><ref>{{wpa|Victor L. Berger|}}</ref> A random old dude from South Dakota got five years for allegedly calling the war "foolish."<ref name="wwcensored"></ref> After the Espionage Act was amended by the {{wpl|Sedition Act of 1918|}}, even more people were arrested under the new provisions banning any abusive speech against the United States. This included notable socialist [[Eugene V. Debs]], who eventually had his sentence commuted by President Harding.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1921/12/24/archives/harding-frees-debs-and-23-others-held-for-war-violations-socialist.html Harding Frees Debs and 23 Others Held for War Violations] ''New York Times''. December 24, 1921</ref>

These pieces of legislation came before the [[Supreme Court]] in 1918 during the ''[[Schenck v. United States]]'' case, which resulted in the Court upholding censorship on the basis that speech can be restricted if it presents a "clear and present danger." This was eventually overturned and replaced with the [[Brandenburg Test]].

===Wilson's Red Scare===
[[File:Radicals awaiting deportation.jpg|thumb|right|285px|"Undesirables" awaiting deportation at Ellis Island after the Palmer Raids.]]
There was no relief from Wilson's authoritarian streak even after the end of the European war. American war fever was quickly replaced with the hysteria of the {{wpl|First Red Scare|}}. This was triggered by the [[Bolshevik]] victory in the [[Russian Civil War]]. This shift in national attitude became evident in 1919, when dock-workers in Seattle went on strike to gain higher wages after years of WWI wage-controls.<ref>Robert L. Friedheim, The Seattle General Strike. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1964.</ref> The [[media]] seized upon this event, calling it the work of anti-American [[leftist]] saboteurs, creating the first great explosion of anti-left hysteria.<ref>Murray, Robert K. (1955-01-01). ''Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919-1920.'' U of Minnesota Press. p. 58. ISBN 9780816658336.</ref> Meanwhile, the Senate Overman Committee, formerly tasked with rooting out German sympathizers, found its mandate extended past the war to investigate "any efforts being made to propagate in this country the principles of any party exercising or claiming to exercise any authority in Russia" and "any effort to incite the overthrow of the Government of this country."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1919/02/05/archives/senate-orders-reds-here-investigated-directs-overman-committee-to.html "Senate Orders Reds Here Investigated,"] ''New York Times''. February 5, 1919</ref>

The fears of a communist plot in America intensified after the race riots of 1919. The media and government became convinced that the radical leftist elements in America, as well as the Russian Bolsheviks, were trying to incite blacks to rise up against the United States.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1919/07/28/archives/reds-try-to-stir-negroes-to-revolt-widespread-propaganda-on-foot.html Reds Try to Stir Negroes to Revolt." ''New York Times''. Jul 28, 1919</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1919/10/19/archives/reds-are-working-among-negroes-widespread-propaganda-by-radical.html "Reds are Working among Negroes,"] ''New York Times''. October 19, 1919</ref> There was also a {{wpl|1919 United States anarchist bombings|campaign involving mail bombs sent to public officials and business leaders}} by Italian [[anarchists]] in spring 1919. Although only a handful of people were harmed, it was more than enough "proof" for the government and media to sow fear of foreign leftist radicals trying to turn the US into a Communist hellscape. This all led to the {{wpl|Palmer Raids|}}, when Wilson's Attorney General authorized a widespread [[FBI]] operation targeting European immigrant communities suspected of harboring leftists; in all of the Palmer raids, the number of arrests greatly exceeded the number of warrants issued, and hundreds of those arrested and deported were not guilty.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Palmer-Raids Palmer Raids]] ''Britannica''</ref> Anti-leftist hysteria eventually faded after Palmer warned of a socialist-backed coup attempt against the US government on May Day 1920 which never actually materialized.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1920/04/30/archives/nationwide-plot-to-kill-high-officials-on-red-may-day-revealed-by.html "Nation-Wide Plot to Kill High Officials on Red May Day Revealed by Palmer,"] ''New York Times'' April 30, 1920.</ref>

==Legacy==
===Conspiracy theories about him===
A short excerpt from ''The New Freedom'', a 1913 book compiled from Wilson's presidential campaign speeches, is sometimes [[Quote mining|quoted out of context]] by various conspiracy theorists to suggest that Wilson believed in a massive conspiracy. The quote itself is taken from the first chapter of the book, where Wilson rants against [[corporation]]s and "Big Business" (this is his own term!). Which sounds oddly familiar...

Here is the quote, with the following paragraph to give some context:

{{cquote|'''Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.'''

They know that America is not a place of which it can be said, as it used to be, that a man may choose his own calling and pursue it just as far as his abilities enable him to pursue it; because to-day, if he enters certain fields, there are organizations which will use means against him that will prevent his building up a business which they do not want to have built up; organizations that will see to it that the ground is cut from under him and the markets shut against him. For if he begins to sell to certain retail dealers, to any retail dealers, the monopoly will refuse to sell to those dealers, and those dealers, afraid, will not buy the new man's wares.|||''The New Freedom'', Chapter I: ''The Old Order Changeth''}}

Conspiracy theorists usually quote only the bold part, ignoring (or being ignorant of) the context, including the whole platform Wilson campaigned on and the era's political and economic climate. The quote can be found in lists of similar quotes, such as on [[whale.to]]<ref>http://www.whale.to/b/quotes_m.html</ref> and elsewhere,<ref>http://www.tentmaker.org/Quotes/conspiracy_%20nuts_theories.htm</ref><ref>http://www.marketwatch.com/Community/groups/us-politics/topics/extraordinary-quotes-times-we-live</ref> or in isolation.<ref>http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index888.htm</ref>

==See also==
*[[Lost Cause of the South]] — Wilson's work in history was instrumental in promoting this view.<ref>Jeffrey L. Lauck, [https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1195&context=compiler Lost Cause in the Oval Office: Woodrow Wilson’s Racist Policies and White-Washed Memory of the Civil War], The Cupola 12 Feb. 2015</ref>
*[[Andrew Johnson]] — His spiritual predecessor who acted authoritarian and racist around his opponents. See how funny these men have something in common?!
*[[George W. Bush]] — Let's [[Iraq War|spread democracy abroad]] and [[PATRIOT Act|defend it at home]]!
*[[Donald Trump]] — Another racist and authoritarian president who also did a bad job in handling a health crisis.
*[[Neoconservatism]]
*[[Modern liberalism]] — Woodrow Wilson claimed to be a progressive, and some liberal policies influenced both American modern-liberals and neoconservatives.
*[[White supremacy]]

==External links==
*[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14811 The New Freedom], full text legally available at Project Gutenberg, as the copyright has expired

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{POTUS}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Woodrow}}
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