A Brief History
On April 2, 1917, just a few months after being reelected President of the United States on a platform of “He kept us out of war,” Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany, proving that you cannot believe a word a politician says.
Digging Deeper
Wilson, more or less the “peace candidate” who had initially resisted involvement in World War I, had been the President of Princeton University and the Governor of New Jersey prior to being elected President of the United States in 1912. To this day, Wilson remains the only American president to have earned a PhD, getting his doctorate from Johns Hopkins with a dissertation on American government (how apropos!).
The son of parents who owned slaves and defended this practice, Wilson was a notorious racist and set back African-American progress while in office by reintroducing segregation in government agencies and prohibiting blacks from holding certain jobs. Wilson also refused to counter California’s anti-Japanese policies, something that would embitter Japan toward the U.S. for many years to come. Nor was Wilson tolerant of Mexico, a neighboring country. Despite his apparent racism (“Segregation is not a humiliation, but a benefit”) and despite discouraging blacks from enrolling at Princeton, Wilson was still somewhat liberal and had appointed the first Catholic and the first Jew to the faculty of Princeton and, in an attempt to combat elitism, eliminated upper class clubs. As U.S. President, he even appointed the first Jew to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Wilson’s political agenda included labor reform and anti-trust activity, and he instituted the income tax (13th Amendment) as a permanent part of American life as well as the Federal Reserve Act.
During American involvement in WWI, Wilson lashed out at domestic “enemies” such as unions that did not support the war and at immigrants from countries he felt had anti-American sentiments or at least anti-war sentiments and deported many “undesirables.” The “Peace Candidate” had turned into a war hawk.
After the war, Wilson called for his “Fourteen Points” and the formation of a League of Nations and at first was moderate in his belief that defeated Germany should be treated fairly. Wilson soon changed his tune and became increasingly critical of Germany for its role in the war but ended up suffering a stroke that left him temporarily unable to perform his duties, during which time some researchers believe his wife made many decisions and signed many documents on his behalf. Domestically, his second term was marred by race riots and his failure to mediate race relations.
Often revered as a man of peace, for which he even won a Nobel Peace Prize, Wilson was in fact something of a racist and was self serving in regard World War I and labor.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Was he a good man of peace, deserving of respect and adulation? Or was he another phony politician, deeply flawed and deserving of scorn?
History and Headlines Facts: A college baseball player, Wilson was the first U.S. president to throw out the opening pitch at a World Series baseball game. Awkward in face to face meetings, Wilson preferred that people kept their distance from him.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Doenecke, Justus D. Nothing Less Than War: A New History of America’s Entry into World War I (Studies in Conflict, Diplomacy and Peace). University Press of Kentucky, 2011.
Kennedy, Ross. The Will To Believe: Woodrow Wilson, World War I, and America’s Strategy for Peace and Security (New Studies in U.S. Foreign Relations). The Kent State University Press, 2009.
Yellin, Eric S. Racism in the Nation’s Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson’s America. University of North Carolina Press, 2016.
