Growing up religious
Woodrow Wilson was born in 1856 in Staunton, Virginia. His father was a Presbyterian minister and a professor at Hampton-Sydney College.
Young Woodrow received a good, private education from his parents in both religion and classical studies. (He also attended public schools during the post–Civil War era.) Wilson spent the Civil War years in the Confederacy. His father was a chaplain in the Confederate army and a Confederate supporter. This sympathy for the Confederacy stuck with Wilson. Even though he was personally opposed to slavery, he supported the right of the Confederacy to secede from the Union to protect its way of life.
After the Civil War, Wilson wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a minister. So he enrolled at Davidson College in North Carolina in 1873. It was not until 1875 that Wilson abandoned the idea of becoming a minister. Instead, he transferred to what today is Princeton University. At Princeton University, he studied British literature, politics, and speech. During his final year at Princeton, he published his first article. In the article, he criticized the current U.S. Congress and advocated reforms to make it more democratic in nature.
Wilson’s next step was to study law. The study of law disappointed Wilson. He found it tedious and boring, but he managed to graduate in 1882 from the Virginia School of Law. He didn’t enjoy practicing law, so he instead went to Johns Hopkins University to study government. He revised his article on Congress and published it as a book entitled Congressional Government. The book sold well. It impressed many people and earned Wilson a PhD.
Next came a career in teaching. Wilson started out at Bryn Mawr — a traditional all-female college. He hated it there, so he left for Wesleyan University in 1888. He continued to publish, achieving a nationwide reputation for being one of the best scholars on government. Finally, in 1890, his dream of receiving a professorship at Princeton University came true. Wilson settled in for a career in education. He continued to be active in his field; his books sold well. In 1902, Wilson published his masterpiece, A History of the American People. Wilson achieved the status of a famed writer; he became a household name in the United States.
By 1902, Wilson became so famous that Princeton University appointed him its president. He implemented tougher admission standards, turning Princeton into the well-known institution it is today.
Wilson was hardworking, but he did find time to marry. He married Ellen Louise Axson in 1885 after a long engagement. She proved to be the ideal wife for Wilson — she was always supportive of her husband. Their marriage was a happy one until her death in 1914.
Breaking into Politics in New Jersey
When Woodrow Wilson became active in New Jersey politics in 1906, it didn’t look good for him. New Jersey had been a Republican state for decades. Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, was president and at the height of his popularity.
In 1910, a political opportunity arose. More and more people in New Jersey were fed up with Republican politics. Corruption was high, and the patronage system was widespread (see “The spoils system” sidebar in Chapter 11 for info on this practice). The Democrats wanted a fresh new face, a reformer, to run for governor. Who better to fill the role than Wilson, a man well known for championing social causes at Princeton.
Wilson received the Democratic nomination. He resigned from Princeton and won big in the November election. He soon abandoned the traditional Democrats and aligned himself with progressive Democrats and Republicans who, like himself, wanted to reform New Jersey politics.
Governing New Jersey
Wilson and his allies transformed New Jersey from a conservative state, dominated by political machines and patronage, into one of the most progressive states in the Union. Among his accomplishments as governor were the following:
Instituting direct primaries: Instead of having party leaders pick the nominees for the two political parties, Wilson implemented a direct primary. This system allowed for the people, not politicians, to pick whom they wanted to run for state office.
Setting up the Public Utilities Commission: This commission had the power to regulate the water and power companies in New Jersey. Because the state could set rates, price gouging by these companies was prevented.
Establishing workmen’s compensation: With the federal government not yet providing a welfare system for the U.S. public, Wilson started to provide injured workers with workmen’s compensation.
By 1911, Wilson had become one of the most famous and well-respected governors in the United States. With the incumbent President Taft having problems (see Chapter 13), Wilson was ready for the White House.
Running for president in 1912
Wilson went to the Democratic nominating convention in 1912 as an underdog. The two front-runners, Champ Clark of Missouri and Oscar Underwood of Alabama, split the vote on the first 45 ballots. Neither of them could receive the required two-thirds majority, so the delegates started to look for someone else. On the 46th ballot, Wilson received the nomination.
If the Republican Party had not split into the Taft faction, which supported the president, and the Bull Moose faction, headed by former President Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson would have lost badly to any Republican nominee.
Wilson ran on a liberal platform, reaching out to union workers and blacks. He won big in the electoral vote but garnered just under 42 percent of the popular vote. The Republican Party received over 50 percent of the popular vote. But because of its split, it lost badly in the Electoral College.
President Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921)
As president, Woodrow Wilson (shown in Figure 14-1) moved quickly to implement his progressive reform programs. He referred to his policies as the “New Freedom” programs, because they gave the average U.S. citizen more democratic freedoms in relation to the government and business. Wilson’s two terms contained some of the most important legislation introduced in U.S. history. Some of his great accomplishments include:
Figure 14-1: Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress
The Underwood Tariff (1913): This bill reduced tariffs for many imported goods by 25 percent. For some goods, like wool and sugar, the bill even eliminated import charges. It was the first tariff reduction since before the Civil War. The average U.S. citizen benefited from this tariff reduction by being able to buy cheap foreign goods.
The 16th Amendment to the Constitution (1913): With the passing of the 16th Amendment, the federal government could legally tax incomes in the United States. Wilson implemented the first income tax in U.S. history. It was progressive, meaning that the more a person made, the more he paid in income taxes.
The first income tax in the United States seems ridiculously low when compared to the income taxes of today. The income tax rate on people making more than $3,000 was 1 percent. If a person made more than $20,000, the rate went up to 7 percent — the highest tax rate.
The 17th Amendment to the Constitution (1913): This amendment allowed the people, instead of the state legislatures, to vote for their U.S. senators.
The Federal Reserve Act (1914): Wilson implemented a new system to control the economy because he wanted to avoid continuous problems with the banks that went belly up during times of economic crisis. The new Federal Reserve System was in place by 1914. It regulated the money supply in the United States by establishing 12 regional banks that would respond to changing economic conditions, such as inflation or a recession. The Federal Reserve Act stabilized the overall economic system in the United States.
The Federal Trade Commission (1914): Wilson believed that monopolies, or companies that controlled a whole sector of the economy, were bad for a democracy. So he put the Federal Trade Commission in place. The commission had the power to study suspected monopolies and recommend the destruction of them.
The Clayton Antitrust Act (1914): This act helped unions by declaring it acceptable to strike and picket factories.
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p; The Unemployment Compensation Act (1916): This act provided unemployment benefits to federal employees but not to the masses of U.S. workers. It provided the foundation for the New Deal agenda of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (see Chapter 16 for more on Roosevelt’s New Deal programs).
The Child Labor Acts (1916): These acts, later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, declared child labor illegal in the United States.
The 18th Amendment to the Constitution (1919): This amendment outlawed the production and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Wilson himself drank liquor, and he made it available to guests in the White House, but he was a consummate politician, believing that the public should get what it wants.
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution (1920): This amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920. Wilson supported the amendment even though he personally didn’t think that women should be involved in politics.
The one area where Wilson was not progressive was civil rights. Many southerners served in high positions under Wilson, and their influence soon became visible. Within a few years, some federal agencies had become segregated.
Managing the media
Wilson liked Theodore Roosevelt: He copied much from Roosevelt in his own political career. The idea of using the presidency as a bully pulpit, or using his position to go directly to the people and ignoring Congress, appealed to Wilson. He adopted this idea as soon as he became president. For Wilson, the presidency was an active institution. Wilson believed that the president should lead Congress instead of just react to it.
As president, Wilson set many precedents. One of his major changes was a reverting back to the tradition of delivering the annual State of the Union address to Congress in person — something that no president had done since John Adams, more than a century earlier.
Prior presidents had sent a written copy of their address to Congress, where it was read aloud. Wilson felt that he could be more influential if he addressed Congress personally. In addition, he had his speeches published and publicized by the media to reach as many U.S. citizens as possible. He knew that if he controlled public opinion, he also controlled Congress. For example, when Wilson pushed for lower tariffs, the Senate objected. So Wilson went straight to the U.S. voters and asked them to contact their senators and push for lower tariffs. Thousands of letters poured in, and the Senate passed Wilson’s lower tariff bill.
When his wife Ellen died in 1914, President Wilson was devastated. He sat next to her corpse for two days and told his aides that he hoped that someone would assassinate him.
One of the most embarrassing newspaper typographical errors regarding the presidency occurred during the Wilson administration. A year after his wife died, Wilson took a young widow, and his eventual wife, Edith Galt, to the theater. The Washington Post reported on this and meant to print the following: “the president spent most of his time entertaining Mrs. Galt.” Instead, the printed story read: “the president spent most of his time entering Mrs. Galt.”
Woodrow Wilson married Edith Galt in December 1915. She helped to run the White House after he was disabled by a stroke in 1919.
Most of Wilson’s domestic accomplishments took place between 1913 and 1914. The outbreak of WWI in Europe turned Wilson’s focus toward foreign policy.
Establishing a moral foreign policy
In the area of foreign policy, Wilson made important changes to the policies of Roosevelt and Taft. Unlike Roosevelt, Wilson refused to carry a big stick and bully other countries into pursuing policies that favored the United States. In contrast to Taft, Wilson believed that handing out money to foreign countries wasn’t good enough. He wanted to pursue a moral foreign policy.
Wilson’s foreign policy was just in nature. He respected other countries, even if they were weaker than the United States. For Wilson, it was important that all partners — not just the United States — benefit from foreign policy. For example, he considered it unjust that Roosevelt turned Panama into an independent nation for his own political purpose, namely the building of a canal. Roosevelt ignored the claims of Columbia, which controlled Panama. Wilson gave Columbia $20 million as compensation for the loss of Panama.
Mishandling Mexico
Wilson considered it illegal to intervene in the policies of other countries. Believing in the right of sovereignty, Wilson refused to intervene in the Mexican revolutions that began in 1910. Wilson declined to get involved even though many U.S. businesses that had invested in Mexico and owned property there called for military intervention to protect their investments. Roosevelt, Taft, and the Republicans agreed with this view, but Wilson refused to use the military, choosing to take a diplomatic approach instead.
Wilson refused to recognize the new Mexican government headed by General Victoriano Huerta, who seized power in 1913. Wilson backed the democratic opposition leader Venustiano Carranza instead. In 1914, Huerta’s men arrested several U.S. sailors, and Wilson acted. He sent soldiers to Vera Cruz, Mexico. Over 100 people were killed in a skirmish between U.S. and Mexican soldiers in the city.
Other Latin American countries tried to mediate the Mexican civil war. However, Carranza, who was in power after Huerta’s resignation, refused to recognize mediation. Carranza’s refusal drove Wilson to back another reformist leader, the bandit Francisco (Pancho) Villa.
Villa believed that only the United States could overthrow the Carranza government. His idea was to raid border towns, blame the raids on Carranza, and have the United States go to war with Mexico.
Wilson didn’t fall for the ruse. He recognized the Carranza government and sent troops after Pancho Villa. The troops failed to capture Villa. Many U.S. citizens wanted a full-fledged war against Mexico and the new Mexican government. On the other side of the issue, many Mexican citizens turned against the United States because they were upset by Wilson’s actions. Wilson’s foreign policy towards Mexico ended in disaster.
Looking at war in Europe
In 1914, World War I broke out in Europe. Wilson announced U.S. neutrality immediately because he believed that the United States had no interest in the war in Europe. Public opinion didn’t support going to war, and the minority that supported getting involved was split over which side to support. Wilson knew that taking sides in WWI could split the United States politically and ethnically, so he remained neutral, issuing ten neutrality proclamations in the fall of 1914 alone.
The two largest ethnic groups in the United States were citizens of German and English descent. This division made it tough for Wilson to take sides. He knew that he would alienate one of the two groups if the United States entered WWI.
Personally, Wilson favored the Allies — especially Great Britain, the cradle of democracy in Europe. Wilson’s cabinet was also pro-British. His ambassador to Great Britain, Walter Page, consistently defended British policies.
Determining the causes of World War I
World War I (WWI) broke out in Europe in August 1914 and lasted until November 1918. The war proved to be the bloodiest and most vicious war to date. In a little over four years, 37 million people died in World War I.
The causes of the war were many. The spark that led to the outbreak of the war was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. Serbian nationalists assassinated the archduke while he was visiting Sarajevo, now the capital of Bosnia. Austria wanted revenge and demanded that Serbia accept several demands. The demands would have turned Serbia into a province of the Austrian empire. With Russian backing, the Serbs rejected the offer. Austria turned to Germany for help and received Germany’s complete support. The war was on.
There are many theories on the outbreak of WWI. It is clear today that many nations wanted a war. Both Germany and Russia faced domestic problems, which the war temporarily cured. France wanted to regain territory lost to Germany during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), and Italy wanted to expand. In other words, most nations in Europe, with the exce
ption of Great Britain, welcomed the war.
However, when Germany attacked Belgium, Britain, which guaranteed Belgian security by treaty, had to act. Every major European power participated in the war. Within two years, the war had become a global war, involving 32 countries.
Being Drawn into the War
Wilson attempted to settle WWI peacefully, sending diplomatic missions to Great Britain and Germany. He was eager to ensure that the seas remain open and that U.S. trade with Europe wouldn’t be affected.
The British rejected the U.S. offer. Germany, trying to disrupt British control of the seas, declared the area surrounding Great Britain a war zone and said it would attack any ships bound for Britain.
Wilson retaliated by declaring that an attack on any U.S. ship would not go unpunished. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine sank the British passenger ship Lusitania, killing more than 1,100 people, including 128 U.S. citizens. The U.S. public reacted angrily and demanded action. For the first time, public opinion shifted toward the Allied side. Former president Theodore Roosevelt publicly advocated a massive rearmament to get the United States ready for war.
Great Britain employed a strategy of carrying war materials, such as ammunition, on passenger ships during WWI. The strategy made it legal, under international law, for countries at war with Great Britain to sink these passenger ships. William Jennings Bryan, Wilson’s secretary of state, pressured Wilson to demand that Great Britain stop this practice. Wilson refused, and Bryan resigned.
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