Woodrow Wilson - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com Google Woodrow Wilson’s Early Years Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born on December 28, 1856, in Staunton, Virginia . (Because his mother said he arrived around midnight, some sources list Wilson’s birthday as December 29.) His father, Joseph Ruggles Wilson (1822-1903), was a Presbyterian minister, and his mother, Janet Woodrow Wilson (1826-1888), was a minister’s daughter and originally from England. Tommy Wilson, as he was called growing up, spent his childhood and teen years in Augusta, Georgia , and Columbia, South Carolina . During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Wilson’s father served as a chaplain in the Confederate army and used his church as a hospital for injured Confederate troops. Did You Know? Woodrow Wilson, who had an esteemed career as an academic and university president before entering politics, did not learn to read until he was 10, likely due to dyslexia.

Wilson graduated from Princeton University (then called the College of New Jersey ) in 1879 and went on to attend law school at the University of Virginia. After briefly practicing law in Atlanta, Georgia, he received a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University in 1886. (Wilson remains the only U.S. president to earn a doctorate degree.) He taught at Bryn Mawr College and Wesleyan College before being hired by Princeton in 1890 as a professor of jurisprudence and politics. From 1902 to 1910, Wilson was president of Princeton, where he developed a national reputation for his educational reform policies. In 1885, Wilson married Ellen Axson (1860-1914), a minister’s daughter and Georgia native. The couple had three daughters before Ellen died of kidney disease in 1914, during her husband’s first presidential term. The following year, Wilson married Edith Bolling Galt (1872-1961), a widow whose husband had owned a Washington , D.C., jewelry business.

Woodrow Wilson’s Rise in Politics In 1910, Woodrow Wilson was elected governor of New Jersey, where he fought machine politics and garnered national attention as a progressive reformer. In 1912, the Democrats nominated Wilson for president, selecting Thomas Marshall (1854-1925), the governor of Indiana , as his vice presidential running mate. The Republican Party split over their choice for a presidential candidate: Conservative Republicans re-nominated President William Taft (1857-1930), while the progressive wing broke off to form the Progressive (or Bull Moose) Party and nominated Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), who had served as president from 1901 to 1909. With the Republicans divided, Wilson, who campaigned on a platform of liberal reform, won 435 electoral votes, compared to 88 for Roosevelt and eight for Taft. He garnered nearly 42 percent of the popular vote; Roosevelt came in second place with more than 27 percent of the popular vote. Woodrow Wilson’s First Administration At the age of 56, Woodrow Wilson was sworn into office in March 1913.

He was the last American president to travel to his inauguration ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage. Once in the White House , Wilson achieved significant progressive reform. Congress passed the Underwood-Simmons Act, which reduced the tariff on imports and imposed a new federal income tax. It also passed legislation establishing the Federal Reserve (which provides a system for regulating the nation’s banks, credit and money supply) and the Federal Trade Commission (which investigates and prohibits unfair business practices). Other accomplishments included child labor laws, an eight-hour day for railroad workers and government loans to farmers. Additionally, Wilson nominated the first Jewish person to the U.S. Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis (1856-1941), who was confirmed by the Senate in 1916. When World War I broke out in Europe in the summer of 1914, Wilson was determined to keep the United States out of the conflict. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine torpedoed and sank the British ocean liner Lusitania , killing more than 1,100 people (including 128 Americans). Wilson continued to maintain U.S.

neutrality but warned Germany that any future sinkings would be viewed by America as “deliberately unfriendly.” In 1916, Wilson and Vice President Marshall were re-nominated by the Democrats. The Republicans chose Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948) as their presidential candidate and Charles Fairbanks (1852-1918), the U.S. vice president under Theodore Roosevelt, as his running mate. Wilson, who campaigned on the slogan “He kept us out of war,” won with a narrow electoral margin of 277-254 and a little more than 49 percent of the popular vote. Woodrow Wilson’s Second Administration: World War I Woodrow Wilson’s second term in office was dominated by World War I. Although the president had advocated for peace during the initial years of the war, in early 1917 German submarines launched unrestricted submarine attacks against U.S. merchant ships. Around the same time, the United States learned about the Zimmerman Telegram, in which Germany tried to persuade Mexico to enter into an alliance against America.

On April 2, 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany, stating, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” America’s participation helped bring about victory for the Allies, and on November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed by the Germans. At the Paris Peace Conference, which opened in January 1919 and included the heads of the British, French and Italian governments, Wilson helped negotiate the Treaty of Versailles . The agreement included the charter for the League of Nations, an organization intended to arbitrate international disputes and prevent future wars. Wilson had initially advanced the idea for the League in a January 1918 speech to the U.S. Congress in which he outlined his “Fourteen Points” for a postwar peace settlement. When Wilson returned from Europe in the summer of 1919, he encountered opposition to the Versailles treaty from isolationist Republicans in Congress who feared the League could limit America’s autonomy and draw the country into another war. In September of that year, the president embarked on a cross-country speaking tour to promote his ideas for the League directly to the American people.

On the night of September 25, on a train bound for Wichita, Kansas , Wilson collapsed from mental and physical stress, and the rest of his tour was cancelled. On October 2, he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. Wilson’s condition was kept largely hidden from the public, and his wife worked behind the scenes to fulfill a number of his administrative duties. The Senate voted on the Treaty of Versailles first in November 1919 and again in March 1920. Both times it failed to gain the two-thirds vote required for ratification. The treaty’s defeat was partly blamed on Wilson’s refusal to compromise with the Republicans. The League of Nations held its first meeting in January 1920; the United States never joined the organization. However, in December 1920, Wilson received the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to include the Covenant of the League of Nations in the Treaty of Versailles. Woodrow Wilson’s Second Administration: Domestic Issues Woodrow Wilson’s second administration saw the passage of two significant constitutional amendments.

The era of Prohibition was ushered in on January 17, 1920, when the 18th Amendment, banning the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol, went into effect following its ratification one year earlier. In 1919, Wilson vetoed the National Prohibition Act (or Volstead Act), designed to enforce the 18th Amendment; however, his veto was overridden by Congress. Prohibition lasted until 1933, when it was repealed by the 21st Amendment. Also in 1920, American women gained the right to vote when the 19th Amendment became law that August; Wilson had pushed Congress to pass the amendment. That year’s presidential election–the first in which women from every state were allowed to vote–resulted in a victory for Republican Warren Harding (1865-1923), a congressman from Ohio who opposed the League of Nations and campaigned for a “return to normalcy” after Wilson’s tenure in the White House. Woodrow Wilson’s Final Years After leaving office in March 1921, Woodrow Wilson resided in Washington, D.C.

He and a partner established a law firm, but poor health prevented the president from ever doing any serious work. Wilson died at his home on February 3, 1924, at age 67. He was buried in the Washington National Cathedral, the only president to be interred in the nation’s capital. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today. Tags Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Women received the right to vote with the passing of the 19th Ammendment. The Federal Reserve System was established. Income tax was initiated with the birth of the Internal Revenue System. World War I broke out in Europe between 1914 and 1918. Sheep grazed on the White House lawn to help the Red Cross raise wool for the war effort. The national observance of Mother's Day was established. Image is on the $100,000 bill although it is no longer in circulation Woodrow Wilson was the first president to... Personally deliver what is known today as the "State of the Union Address". Hold regular news conferences. Cross the Atlantic Ocean while in office. Was the first president to attend the Major League Baseball Fall Classic.

He saw the debut of a young 20 year old pitcher by the name of George Herman "Babe" Ruth. Woodrow Wilson and the Great War When Europe was thrust into war in 1914, Woodrow Wilson, who believed in neutrality, saw America's role as that of peace broker. "The Great War", as contemporaries called it, was without precedent, involving many countries in a vast and gruesome battlefield. The resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany and the news of the Zimmermann telegram were part of a long process that persuaded Wilson to ask for a declaration of war. Rarely does one event precipitate a decisive reaction from a thoughtful and deliberate individual such as Wilson. The Russian Revolution and the French Army mutiny convinced the United States that Russia and France would pull out of the war leaving the way open for a German victory. This was unacceptable to the Wilson administration. These two events, combined with the numerous sinking of ships, the increasingly belligerent communications from the Germans, the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, and the Zimmermann telegram, drove Wilson’s decision. In April 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war, only the second declaration of war in U.S. history.

President Wilson was best remembered for his leadership during World War I and his vigorous attempt to establish the League of Nations. The war came to an end on November 11, 1918. At the Paris Peace Conference, Wilson proposed "Fourteen Points" as the basis for the peace treaty. The final Treaty of Versailles included many of Wilson's ideas. Unfortunately, the U.S. Congress did not support the Treaty. Consequently, the United States never joined the League of Nations. In 1920, Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of the League of Nations. Visit the links listed below for an insightful journey into the history of The Great War. World War I Links A Call to Service Wilson asks soldiers to undertake a great duty On May 4, 2007 the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, historically known as the Stonewall Brigade, mustered and shipped out from the Thomas D. Howie Memorial Armory in Staunton, Virginia for service in Iraq. This unit traces its lineage back to 1742 but became the 116th Infantry Regiment when it was called upon to join the fight on the Western Front in World War I.

Two days after the soldiers of the Stonewall Brigade were drafted into Federal Service and only weeks before they would become part of the 29th "Blue and Gray" Division that saw battle in the trenches of France, President Wilson sent this message to the soldiers he had charged "to show all. . . not only what good soldiers you are, but also what good men you are. . . and set a standard so high that it will be a glory to live up to it." View the letter in the eLibrary Wilson and Censorship of the Press: President Wilson hopes the press will observe a "patriotic reticence" Wilson's position on censorship following the United States' entrance into the Great War was a complicated one. He could "imagine no greater disservice to the country than to establish a system of censorship that would deny to the people . . . their indisputable right to criticize their own public officials," but he also felt strongly that his administration should have the power to censor information in the interest of national security. The letter to Representative Webb represents Wilson's argument for the inclusion of a censorship provision in the Espionage Act that would prohibit the dissemination of information deemed "to be useful to the enemy" in times of national emergency.

An amendment to that effect passed in the House but did not make it into the Espionage Act voted into law on June 15, 1917. In May of 1918, Wilson was successful in getting the Sedition Act passed as an amendment to the Espionage Act. It became a crime to "utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane...or abusive language" about the United States government or to disagree with its actions abroad. The act was repealed in 1921. A President's Illness Kept Under Wraps: Woodrow Wilson's Deteriorating Health Detailed in Doctor's Correspondence By Michael Alison Chandler Washington Post Photo Saturday, February 3, 2007 STAUNTON, Va. While U.S. troops were fighting in World War I in the summer of 1918, President Woodrow Wilson underwent treatment for a breathing problem in a hushed episode that foreshadowed worse health troubles to come. The White House doctor, Cary T.

Grayson, later recounted the incident to his wife in one of a slew of newly public documents that show how far Wilson's innermost circle went to conceal his frail condition amid major world events. "The patient is progressing most satisfactorily, so far, and I have good reasons to hope for a most beneficial result. It has been a big undertaking. . . . No one knows anything about it except Miss E., Miss Harkins, Hoover -- It is one secret that has been kept quiet, so far, and I think it is safe all right now," the doctor wrote Alice Grayson in a July 16 telegram. The episode, which caused Grayson great anxiety, most likely involved an operation to remove polyps from the president's nose, according to Michael Dickens, a Charlottesville physician familiar with Wilson's medical history and the telegram. Historians say the telegram indicates that the procedure was then known only to Grayson; the president's wife, Edith Wilson; a nurse; and a White House usher. Grayson's account was revealed to the public recently through a cache of personal files his family donated to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library here in the Shenandoah Valley.

The letters, photographs and other documents had been stored for decades at a family home in Fauquier County. The papers offer new insight into the 28th president's fragile health and how those around him tried to keep it quiet. Although historians have known for years about Wilson's debilitating stroke in late 1919 and his poor health beforehand, including previous possible strokes, the estimated 10,000 documents in the Grayson collection offer fresh and intimate details about the president's mental and physical condition from a man whom several Wilson biographers call an extraordinary eyewitness: his personal physician. "He literally had his finger on the pulse of the president," said historian A. Scott Berg, who has been studying the Grayson papers for a forthcoming Wilson biography. "Dr. Grayson enjoyed a unique position in Woodrow Wilson's life as both his personal physician and a personal friend." The Grayson documents are the first major donation to the eight - year-old Wilson library, which unveiled them in late December on C-SPAN. The documents are drawing historians to this city two hours southwest of the Washington area where Wilson was born to a Presbyterian minister and his wife 150 years ago.

Researchers say about 15 percent of the documents have been explored so far. Grayson, born in Culpeper County in 1878 to a well-connected Virginia family, was a naval surgeon who rose to the rank of rear admiral. At the family home in Upperville, Cary T. Grayson Jr. is surrounded by black-and-white photos of his father in an impeccable Navy uniform posing with his "number one patient," as the elder Grayson sometimes called the president. The younger Grayson, now 87, lives there with his wife, Priscilla. He said the papers reveal that the doctor-patient relationship was about much more than health. In the doctor's weekly planners, now at the library, Grayson chronicled frequent golf games, automobile rides and nights of theater with the president. From inauguration day in 1913, when they met, to the Sunday morning in February 1924 when Wilson died, Grayson was an almost constant companion. He stayed often at the White House, traveled with Wilson to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and was one of a few people who saw him regularly after his stroke that October.

The stroke was a turning point for Wilson's presidency and, many argue, the world. Wilson collapsed Oct. 2 in the White House after a national tour seeking support for the Treaty of Versailles and America's entrance into the League of Nations. He went into seclusion for the remainder of his presidency. The treaty he had so strongly championed was rejected by the Senate in March 1920. "This is the worst instance of presidential disability we've ever had," said John Milton Cooper, a Wilson scholar at the University of Wisconsin. "We stumbled along . . . without a fully functioning president" for a year and a half, he said. The public was largely left in the dark about Wilson's condition. The official White House line was that the president was suffering from "nervous exhaustion." Other presidents have also concealed health problems, historians say, but the secrecy that enveloped Wilson's illness seems difficult to imagine today. Grayson died in 1938. Years ago, his family gave Arthur S. Link, a preeminent Wilson scholar, access to his diary.

Much of it was published in Link's collection of Wilson papers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, offering historians an in-depth look at the troubled end of Wilson's presidency and how his health could have affected major events. Link's grandson is one of the historians now sifting through the Grayson papers to see what else they reveal about the president. Arthur Link III and other researchers were struck by this letter from Grayson to his wife dated Aug. 19, 1915: " My number one patient in this house had an accident last night with one of his eyes -- the good one, which is bad now. I am hurrying off to Philadelphia with him at six o'clock tomorrow morning to consult an eye specialist. We are going by motor. I think we can make the trip less noticeable in this way -- . . . [T]he papers will read something like this: The President made his annual visit to the oculist etc etc." The letter was written during Wilson's first term at a time when many historians believe he was relatively healthy. During Wilson's second term, Grayson wrote another letter to his wife Sept. 7, 1918, that may be of historical note.

It appears to refer to a second operation, similar to the previous one that Grayson probably performed that year on Wilson's nose. Researchers were also struck by two photographs that experts say show Wilson at his last Cabinet meeting in 1921. In one photo, he is holding a cane; in the other, the cane appears to have been erased. "They were flying by the seat of their pants, doing damage control," Link said. "It's fun to watch." Historians say the documents help shed light on what can happen when a president falls ill. The 25th Amendment spells out how a vice president can become acting president in the event of a presidential disability. But that amendment was ratified in 1967, nearly a half-century after Wilson left office. A letter Grayson sent from Europe to his friend Samuel Ross on April 14, 1919, shows that Wilson's doctor knew the stakes: "The president was suddenly taken violently sick with the influenza at a time when the whole of civilization seemed to be in the balance. And without him and his guidance Europe would certainly have turned to Bolshevism and anarchy. From your side of the water you can not realize on what thin ice European civilization has been skating.

I just wish you could spend a day with me behind the scenes here. Some day perhaps I may be able to tell the world what a close call we had." Now the papers are gone from the Grayson family basement, attic and closets. But Cary Grayson Jr. still has family stories to share. He recalled how his older brother Gordon went with their father to the White House to cheer the president after the 1919 stroke, sitting at Wilson's feet while they watched Western movies. Sometimes they went for drives with him. Grayson himself had a stroke in August. He used a cane as he walked around the wooded hills where his father used to go fox hunting. He said he is relieved that the papers have a place in history. View a Grayson letter from the eLibrary detailing secret. Click here. Sections Who Was The President During World War One Who Was The President During World War One Who Was The President During World War One ? When World War One was going on, the US president was Woodrow Wilson, who wanted the US to stay neutral. Wilson tried everything possible for 2 years to prevent the US from entering the war.

Even when the German U-boat sunk the liner, Lusitania, and caused the death of 124 Americans, the US stayed out of the war. Then, in the year 1916, Wilson was re-elected as the US president by a narrow margin. It is believed that Woodrow Wilson won the re-election because he promised to keep the US out of the war and had succeeded for 2 years. After being re-elected as the president, Wilson tried to mediate between the Allies and the Central Powers to no effect. And, then the Germans returned to submarine warfare that sunk many American merchant ships. This was the last straw for Wilson, who requested the US Congress on 2nd April 1917 to declare war against Germany. On 6th April 1917, the Congress passed a resolution to declare war. After this, the US started conscription and this allowed the US to increase its army strength to 4 million in 18 months. Out of these, 2 million soldiers were sent to Europe. Wilson claimed that the US entry into the First World War was a war to end the war. He did not want revenge, but was looking for peace.

On 8th January 1918, Woodrow Wilson announced his famous 14 Points for a peace settlement. On 11 November 1918, the war came to an end with surrender of the German forces. At the same time, the Germans put forth their proposal for peace. This occurred during the US Congressional elections and Woodrow Wilson asked the people to support his policies by electing the Democrats. However, the Democrats lost and the Republicans gained control of the Congress. This did not stop Wilson from attending the peace conference held at Paris and he tried to defend his 14 Points program. The peace conference went on for a week and the English, Italians and French were determined to have their way. The peace agreement did have many of the points suggested by Woodrow Wilson and he was also instrumental in getting the nations to agree to form the League of Nations. On return to the US, Wilson tried to get the US Congress to approve the US joining the League of Nations. However, the Congress did not support it. Wilson then toured the country to get support from the people. This exhausted him and in late September 1919, Wilson suffered a stroke that paralyzed him. It was just strong will that kept him going.

Wilson continued to fulfill his duties as the president of the US, but his illness did not allow him to take part in the 1920 presidential elections which was won by the Democrat James M Cox. More Articles : Franklin D. Roosevelt - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com Franklin D. Roosevelt A+E Networks Introduction Franklin D. Roosevelt was in his second term as governor of New York when he was elected as the nation’s 32nd president in 1932. With the country mired in the depths of the Great Depression, Roosevelt immediately acted to restore public confidence, proclaiming a bank holiday and speaking directly to the public in a series of radio broadcasts or “fireside chats.” His ambitious slate of New Deal programs and reforms redefined the role of the federal government in the lives of Americans. Reelected by comfortable margins in 1936, 1940 and 1944, FDR led the United States from isolationism to victory over Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II. He spearheaded the successful wartime alliance between Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States and helped lay the groundwork for the post-war peace organization that would become the United Nations.

The only American president in history to be elected four times, Roosevelt died in office in April 1945. Google Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Early Life and Career Born on January 30, 1882, on a large estate near the village of Hyde Park, New York , Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only child of his wealthy parents, James and Sara Delano Roosevelt. He was educated by private tutors and elite schools (Groton and Harvard), and early on began to admire and emulate his fifth cousin, Theodore Roosevelt , elected president in 1900. While in college, Franklin fell in love with Theodore’s niece (and his own distant cousin), Anna Eleanor Roosevelt , and they married in 1905. The couple had a daughter, Anna, followed by five sons, one of whom died in infancy. Did You Know? Encouraged by his wife, Eleanor, FDR appointed more women to federal posts than any previous president; he also included black Americans in federal job programs (though they remained largely segregated). Roosevelt attended law school at Columbia University and worked for several years as a clerk in a Wall Street law firm.

In 1910, he entered politics, winning a state senate seat as a Democrat in the heavily Republican Dutchess County. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson named Roosevelt assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy. He would hold that post for the next seven years, traveling to Europe in 1918 to tour naval bases and battlefields after the U.S. entrance into World War II . FDR’s Personal Struggles and Election as Governor With the support of his wife and his longtime supporter, the journalist Louis Howe, Roosevelt began to return to public life, issuing statements on issues of the day and keeping up a correspondence with Democratic leaders. Eleanor Roosevelt spoke publicly throughout New York State, keeping her husband’s reputation strong despite his illness; she also organized the women’s division of the Democratic Party. In 1924, Franklin made a triumphant public appearance at the Democratic National Convention to nominate New York’s Governor Alfred E. Smith for president (though Smith lost the nomination and the Democrats lost the general election). He nominated Smith again in 1928, this time successfully, and at Smith’s urgings agreed to run for governor of New York.

Smith lost to Herbert Hoover , but Roosevelt won. Governor Roosevelt grew more liberal in his policies as New York (and the nation) sank deeper into economic depression after the stock market crash of 1929. In particular, he set up the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (TERA), which aimed at finding jobs for the unemployed, and by 1932 TERA was helping nearly one out of every 10 families in New York. Roosevelt Enters the White House Reelected as governor in 1930, Roosevelt emerged as a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination two years later. He broke tradition and appeared in person in Chicago to accept the nomination, famously pledging himself to “a new deal for the American people.” In the general election, a confident and exuberant Roosevelt triumphed by an overwhelming margin over the incumbent Hoover, who had become a symbol for many people of the ongoing Great Depression. In addition, Democrats won sizeable majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. By the time Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, the Depression had reached desperate levels, including 13 million unemployed.

In the first inaugural address to be widely broadcast on the radio, Roosevelt boldly declared that “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and prosper…[T]he only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Roosevelt began the momentous first 100 days of his presidency by closing all banks for several days until Congress could pass reform legislation. He also began holding open press conferences and giving regular national radio addresses in which he spoke directly to the American people. The first of these “fireside chats,” about the banking crisis, was broadcast to a radio audience of some 60 million, and would go a long way toward restoring public confidence and preventing harmful bank runs. After passage of the Emergency Banking Relief Act, three out of every four banks were open within a week. Roosevelt and the New Deal Other key pieces of legislation during FDR’s first “Hundred Days” created some of the most important programs and institutions of Roosevelt’s New Deal , including the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), the Public Works Administration (PWA), the Civilian Conservations Corps (CCC) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

In addition to programs aimed at providing economic relief for workers and farmers and creating jobs for the unemployed, Roosevelt also initiated a slate of reforms of the financial system, notably the creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect depositors’ accounts and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate the stock market and prevent abuses of the kind that led to the 1929 crash. In 1935, after the economy had begun to show signs of recovery, Roosevelt asked Congress to pass a new wave of reforms, known as “Second New Deal.” These included the Social Security Act (which for the first time provided Americans with unemployment, disability, and pensions for old age) and the Works Progress Administration. The Democratic-led Congress also raised taxes on large corporations and wealthy individuals, a hike that was derisively known as the “soak-the-rich” tax. Roosevelt’s Reelection and “Court-Packing” Controversial but extremely popular with voters, Roosevelt won reelection by a huge margin in 1936 over Governor Alfred M. Landon of Kansas .

He faced opposition from the Supreme Court over his New Deal programs, and proposed an expansion of the court that would allow him to appoint one new justice for every sitting justice 70 or older. After heated debate, Congress rejected this “court-packing” scheme, handing FDR the biggest setback of his career. Nonetheless, the Court abruptly changed direction, upholding both the Social Security Act and the Wagner Act (officially the National Labor Relations Act). Labor unrest and another economic downturn in 1937 hurt Roosevelt’s approval ratings, but the crisis had largely passed by the following year. Republicans gained ground in the midterm congressional elections, however, and soon formed an alliance with conservative Democrats that would block further reform legislation. By the end of 1938, as support for the New Deal was waning, Roosevelt faced a new looming challenge, this time on the international stage. FDR and World War II As early as 1937, FDR warned the American public about the dangers posed by hard-line regimes in Germany, Italy and Japan, though he stopped short of suggesting America should abandon its isolationist policy.

After World War II broke out in September 1939, however, Roosevelt called a special session of Congress in order to revise the country’s existing neutrality acts and allow Britain and France to purchase American arms on a “cash-and-carry” basis. Germany captured France by the end of June 1940, and Roosevelt persuaded Congress to provide more support for Britain, now left to combat the Nazi menace on its own. Despite the two-term tradition for presidents in place since the time of George Washington , Roosevelt decided to run for reelection again in 1940; he defeated Wendell L. Wilkie by nearly 5 million votes. Roosevelt increased his support of Great Britain with passage of the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941 and met with Prime Minister Winston Churchill in August aboard a battleship anchored off Canada. In the resulting Atlantic Charter , the two leaders declared the “Four Freedoms” on which the post-war world should be founded: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear. On December 8, 1941, the day after Japan bombed the U.S.

naval base at Pearl Harbor , Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress, which declared war on Japan. The first president to leave the country during wartime, Roosevelt spearheaded the alliance between countries combating the Axis, meeting frequently with Churchill and seeking to establish friendly relations with the Soviet Union and its leader, Joseph Stalin . Meanwhile, he spoke constantly on the radio, reporting war events and rallying the American people in support of the war effort (as he had for the New Deal). Yalta Conference and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Death In 1944, as the tide of war turned toward the Allies, a weary and ailing Roosevelt managed to win election to a fourth term in the White House . The following February, he met with Churchill and Stalin in the Yalta Conference , where Roosevelt got Stalin’s commitment to enter the war against Japan after Germany’s impending surrender. (The Soviet leader kept that promise, but failed to honor his pledge to establish democratic governments in the eastern European nations then under Soviet control.) The “Big Three” also worked to build foundations for the post-war international peace organization that would become the United Nations.

After Roosevelt returned from Yalta, he was so weak that he was forced to sit down while addressing Congress for the first time in his presidency. In early April 1945, he left Washington and traveled to his cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia , where he had long before established a nonprofit foundation to aid polio patients. On April 12, Roosevelt suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage; he died later that day, and was succeeded in office by his vice president, Harry S. Truman. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today. Tags First World War.com - Timeline - 1914 Timeline Timeline - 1914 The First World War spanned four years and involved many nation states. This section lists the landmark events of the year 1914, the first year of the war which began as the widely expected war of movement, but which inexplicably (to contemporary eyes) settled into stubborn trench warfare. Sponsored Links For a day by day account click any given month using the sidebar to the right.

Date Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian empire, in Sarajevo, Bosnia July 28 Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia July 29 - December 9 Austria-Hungary repeatedly invades Serbia but is repeatedly repulsed August 1 Outbreak of war - Germany declares war on Russia August 3 Germany declares war on France August 4 Britain declares war on Germany August 4 US President Woodrow Wilson declares policy of US neutrality August 14 Battle of the Frontiers begins August 17-19 Japan declares war on Germany August 23 - September 2 Austria-Hungary invades Russian Poland (Galicia) August 26-30 Battle of Tannenberg, which Russia loses; Germany's greatest success of the war on Eastern Front September 5-10 First Battle of Marne, halts German advance, resulting in stalemate and trench warfare September 9-14 First Battle of Masurian Lakes, which Russia loses September 14 First Battle of Aisne begins September 15 - November 24 The "race to the sea", trenches appear on September 15 September 17-28 Aust

ro-German attack on western Poland October 14 - November 22 Woodrow Wilson | whitehouse.gov Air Force One Woodrow Wilson 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." 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. The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Frank Freidel and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2006 by the White House Historical Association. Learn more about President Wilson's first wife, Ellen Axson Wilson, who died during her term. First World War.com - Who's Who - Woodrow Wilson What's New Who's Who - Woodrow Wilson Like Roosevelt before him, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) 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." Sponsored Links 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.

( Click here to read Wilson's 1913 inauguration speech.) Wilson manoeuvred 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 labour; 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. ( Click here to read Wilson's 1917 inauguration speech.) 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. ( Click here to read Wilson's conscription proclamation of May 1917) Massive American effort slowly tipped the balance in favour 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?" ( Click here to read Wilson's views on the League of Nations.) 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. Feature: Woodrow Wilson's Administration Click here to read Wilson's views on the 1914 Tampico Incident.

Click here and here to read Wilson's ultimatums to the German government on the subject of the Lusitania. Click here , here and here to read Wilson's ultimatum's to Germany on the subject of the U-boat war. Click here to read Wilson's speech urging "peace without victory" in 1917. Click here to read Wilson urge the American people to "do their bit" following the declaration of war with Germany. Click here and here to read Wilson's views of the armistice agreement of 11 November 1918. Click here to read Wilson's opening address at the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919. Click here and here to listen to audio records featuring Wilson. Sponsored Links Saturday, 22 August, 2009 Michael Duffy A "Bangalore Torpedo" was an explosive tube used to clear a path through a wire entanglement. - Did you know? Woodrow Wilson in World War I Woodrow Wilson in World War I NEXT Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was the 28th President of the United States, serving two terms from 1913-1919.

As president of Princeton University and later as governor of New Jersey, Wilson was a leading Progressive, arguing for a stronger central government and fighting for anti-trust legislation and labor rights. As president of the United States, he passed important legislation on those and many other issues, narrowly winning reelection in 1916 after pledging to keep America out of World War I. Wilson's foreign policy was noted for its idealistic humanitarianism; his Fourteen Points—a statement of national objectives that envisioned a new international order after World War I—ultimately failed, but was one of the clearest expressions of interventionist American values. Wilson suffered a severe strokes during his second term in office and died in 1924. Though he pledged to keep America out of World War I, Wilson was obliged to declare war on Germany after the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917. He was relatively uninterested in military affairs, but was able to organize the American economy to provide the food and munitions the army needed to fight in France. At the end of the war, Wilson became the first American president to leave the country during his administration when he sailed for Paris to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

Most of Wilson's Fourteen Points advocating for human and democratic rights were not adopted in the treaty, due to France and Britain seeking punishment for Germany. However, the most important of the Fourteen Points—the creation of the League of Nations—was adopted. Wilson proved unable to get the Treaty of Versailles ratified by the U.S. Senate, and ironically, America never joined the League of Nations.

Question: Who was president for the duration of the First World War?
Answer: Thomas Woodrow Wilson