Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States between 1913 and 1921.^[1] He was born in Virginia and grew up in Georgia.^[1][2] In 1917, after the United States had been neutral, it got involved in World War I. Because of Wilson, the League of Nations was founded.^[3] Therefore, he received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1919.^[2] Between 1890 and 1902, Wilson worked as professor for law at Princeton University.^[4][5]

He was one of the initiators of the League of Nations, whose creation he strongly supported.^[6] He died of a stroke in Washington, DC, at the age of 67.

Woodrow Wilson, the son of Joseph Ruggles Wilson and Janet "Jessie" Woodrow Wilson, was born in Staunton, Virginia. Wilson's father was a Presbyterian minister. Wilson had one brother and two sisters.^[7] He studied from 1875 to 1879 at Princeton University in New Jersey. Between 1879 and 1883, Wilson studied law at the University of Virginia.^[5] In 1885, he got a doctorate at the Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore. His dissertation was Congressional Government and criticized the United States Constitution as outdated. The same year, Wilson married Ellen Louise Axson.^[5]

Wilson started to teach political science at Princeton University in 1886.^[1][8] He became the director of Princeton University in 1902 and kept that position until 1910. Wilson's goal was to change the pedagogical system, the social system, and the style of the campus.^[2]

He was elected to be the Governor of New Jersey for the Democratic Party in 1911.^[4] On November 4, 1912, Wilson was elected the 28th president of the United States.^[5] He won with 42% against the incumbent president, William Howard Taft, of the Republican Party and a former president, Theodore Roosevelt, of the Progressive Party.

Wilson started being president in March 1913 and handled mostly domestic matters during his first term. He passed laws to prevent monopolies from forming, made a few business regulations, passed laws to help farmers^[9] and workers,^[10] and created the Federal Reserve. During his second term, he also helped women gain the right to vote.

In 1914, his wife, Ellen, died of Bright's disease.^[11] His doctor, Cary Grayson, introduced him to a girl named Edith Galt, whose husband had also died. After two months they fell in love and got married. For a long time, he focused on her, instead of being president, but he soon got back to work.

In 1915, the Wilson administration laid plans to mobilize government unemployment relief, but that proved unnecessary as economic prosperity rose,which was helped by European demand for various goods provided by America.^[12] In 1917, Wilson entered the country into World War I. The Americans had been neutral, but German submarines kept sinking American ships sailing in British waters and even tried to encourage Mexico to invade the United States, which was the final straw for Wilson. World War I was between the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire) and the Allied Powers (the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Italy). The Americans helped the Allies, who won the war a year later.

Wilson took a ship to Europe to talk with the leaders of the other Allies about what to do about Germany. They came up with the Treaty of Versailles. Part of the treaty stated that there would be a group of countries called the League of Nations. Many Americans did not like the League of Nations because they thought that it was none of America's business to mess with other countries' problems.

Wilson's political enemy, Senator Henry Lodge from Massachusetts, wanted amendments to the treaty. Even though Wilson was very sick, he traveled around the country asking people to like the treaty and the League. Wilson ended up having his first stroke. It was very bad, and Wilson was could not run the country at his best. His thinking also was not great. However, he stayed as president and told Congress not to vote for Lodge's amendments. Congress listened but also rejected Wilson's original treaty.

Wilson received criticism for many of his decisions. Roosevelt criticized him for entering the war too late.

Wilson nationalized private industries such as telegraphs, telephones, and railroads, and prices rose exponentially. As prices began to rise, a recession set in, and racie riots began, leading to 150 deaths. His inability to reduce racial struggles and his creation of the Federal Reserve make him one of the most consequential presidents of all time.

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