Princeton senior

Princeton president

Intellectual life

• 1856 born Thomas Woodrow Wilson in Virginia - strong father Joseph, Presbyterian minister; loving mother Janet from intellectual family 1
• Princeton class of 1879 - God, duty, justice - absolute values, not relativism
• Johns Hopkins Ph.D. 1885; marriage to Ellen Axson, close-knit family of 3 daughters 1 - 2nd wife Edith Boling Galt 1915-24 - 2
• Princeton teacher and president 1902-1910; arterial illness evident by 1906
• electives, preceptors, eating clubs, grad school of Andrew Fleming West 1
• Key Ideas:
  1. Religion - "The Bible reveals men unto themselves, not as creatures in bondage, not as men under human authority, but responsible through his own conscience to his Lord and Maker." - "I will not cry 'peace' so long as there is sin and wrong in the world ... America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy scripture."
  2. Morality - foreign policy must be "more concerned about human rights than about property rights." - "The force of America is the force of moral principle."
  3. Democracy - "When properly directed, there is no people not fitted for self-government." - "Discipline - discipline generations deep." - U.S. to be the "preceptor to the world."
  4. Mission - "America's mission was to realize an ideal of liberty, provide a model of democracy, vindicate moral principle, give examples of action and ideals of government, uphold the rights of man, work for humanity and the happiness of men everywhere, lead the thinking of the world, promote peace - in sum, to serve mankind and progress."
  5. Progress - history is linear, not cyclical; is idealistic, not materialistic like Lenin or Debs 1

Princeton 1909

British model

Canon Inn - lawn parties

Woodrow Wilson Memorial inside the Reagan Building, Federal Triangle, Washington DC, June 1999

U.S. president

DC in 1916 - bg cu

• admired Disraeli, Gladstone
• wrote "Congressional Government" 1898, praised PM

Democratic progressive

• 1910 elected NJ governor - Boss J. Smith
• with Champ Clark, C.E. Hughes 1
• Insurgent revolt - La Follette, Norris 1
• Democrats controlled House - ousted Joe Cannon from Rules Committee
• 16th and 17th amendments
• Pujo Committee probed J.P. Morgan and "banking trust" 1

New Freedom

• 1912 defeated Taft and Roosevelt's Bull Moose third party 1
• called special session and appeared in person to attack the "triple wall of privilege"
• Underwood tariff - down to 27% - graduated income tax 1
• "pitiless publicity" investigated each senator who opposed Wilson
• Federal Reserve Act - 12 districts controlled by local banks 1
• Clayton Act to bust trusts - Federal Trade Commission to regulate "unfair trade" 1
• to restore freedom, competition, traditional values, remove barriers to economic growth, destroy monopoly and special privilege
• but no government social programs, favored states rights

Internationalist

• Mexico - opposed Huerta, sent Pershing and the "new" progressive army
• WWI - make world safe for democracy, 14 Points, covenant
• America Over There in World War I

Links:

• The Great War documentary series: Episode 6 "Collapse" argued "the U.S. was going to war to establish a new world order, to establish the principles of democracy." Episode 7 "Hatred and Hunger" described the revolution in Russia, Allied intervention, and Wilson in Paris.
• Mexican Revolution
• China Revolution
• Bolshevik Revolution
• Why U.S. Entry into WWI?
• America and the Great War
• Versailles Treaty
• Woodrow Wilson House pictures
• pictures
• maps of China and Mexico and Caribbean

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  revised 3/12/04 by Schoenherr | WWI links