Author: Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, was born in Virginia in 1856. His father was a pastor in Augusta, Georgia who, during Reconstruction became a professor at the University of South Carolina. Wilson graduated from Princeton University in 1879, and studied law at the University of Virginia. Admitted to the bar in 1882, he practiced in Atlanta, Georgia for a year before studying political science and jurisprudence at Johns Hopkins. In 1890 he became Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Economy at Princeton. In 1902 he became the first non-clerical President of Princeton.Wilson was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1910 on the Democratic ticket. While governor he espoused such progressive policies as an employer’s liability act, the direct primary, a corrupt-practices act, and revitalization of the state’s public utilities. In 1912 he was nominated for President at the Democratic Convention, and in a three-way election won only 42% of the popular vote, but won overwhelmingly in the Electoral College.As a progressive reformer in domestic politics his administration oversaw the passing of a number of important laws including, The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the establishment of the Federal Trade Commission in 1914 and in 1916 a new law prohibiting child labor. Three amendments to the Constitution were also passed during the Wilson Administration: the Seventeenth Amendment that provides for the direct election of U.S. Senators; the Eighteenth Amendment, which instituted prohibition; and the Nineteenth Amendment that enfranchised women in the electoral process.In foreign affairs Wilson inherited a number ofdifficult situations. In North America Wilson found in necessary to send American troops to Mexico in 1913, Haiti in 1915, the Dominican Republic in 1916 and Cuba in 1917.In the world at large the onset of the First World War overshadowed all other events, and Wilson made every effort to maintain impartial neutrality. However, by early 1918 popular sentiment and German provocations were such that on April 6th war was declared. As the war drew to a close and preparations were begun for a peace conference, Wilson was generally looked upon in Europe as the savior of the future. The resulting Treaty of Versailles was far from being the fulfillment of his dream, although he did secure the adoption of a covenant establishing the League of Nations.The post-war mood back home in the United States was such that the idea of the League of Nations was not well received, and Wilson went on a speaking tour to promote its adoption by the Senate. It was while returning to Washington from the west coast the he suffered a physical breakdown followed on October 2, 1919 by a stroke that incapacitated him for several months. He never entirely recovered. Three years after the expiration of his term he died.