History UsefulNotes / WoodrowWilson

Other notable domestic initiatives of the early Wilson administration include a dramatic tariff rates reduction, a graduated income tax (the Sixteenth Amendment, which legalized such an income tax, was passed during the Taft administration, but he never had the chance to enact one), federal funds to create more and better highways, compensation for federal workers, an eight-hour workday for railroad workers, and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Antitrust_Act Clayton Antitrust Act]]. The latter strengthened previous anti-trust legislation, making it illegal for companies to buy stock in competing companies and practice price discrimination; it also declared that unions are not trusts and that striking was legal (they had previously been prohibited under the Sherman Antitrust Act on those grounds). Wilson attempted to make child labor illegal, but the Supreme Court ruled that the law doing this was unconstitutional. He was a hardcore advocate for federal support for farmers and passed bills which created federal farm loans, created agricultural colleges to teach farmers about new developments in agriculture, and helped create warehouses for their staple crops. The first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis (a famous lawyer, Progressive movement leader, and political adviser for Wilson who helped plan the Fed), was nominated by Wilson, and he appointed the first Secretary of Labor, William Bauchop Wilson (no relation), since Taft created that Department[[note]]He separated the Department of Commerce and Labor into its constituent functions, to be precise.[[/note]] hours before leaving office. While Teddy is remembered as the first and greatest conservationist President, Wilson was the one who created the National Park Service in 1916 to formally organize the national parks and forests, and he also added [[SceneryPorn the Grand Canyon]] to the NPS. The Seventeenth Amendment (direct popular elections for United States Senators) was ratified during his first year, a move which he supported. During his early years in office, probably the worst thing he did was to introduce segregation to federal agencies, including the Navy[[note]]Unlike the Army, the US Navy had been [[FairForItsDay relatively inclusive]] since it was founded. There were originally no restrictions against black men (or any other race, for that matter) enlisting, nor were they barred from any job or classification. A black officer, chief, or petty officer could have white subordinates, and promotions were explicitly mandated to be based on merit and seniority, which cut down on (though it couldn't entirely eliminate) unofficial racial discrimination. And while the Naval Academy at Annapolis was a whites-only institution, black officers could be (and were) commissioned from the enlisted ranks. Wilson imposed strict racial discrimination on the Navy, relegating black sailors to menial jobs, mostly cooks or stevedores, banning white men from being assigned to serve under black superiors, and making it nigh impossible for a black man to gain an officer's commission. Black gunner's mates, bosun's mates, etc. were reassigned to peel potatoes, and most black officers and [=CPOs=] were forced into retirement. This effectively pushed the Navy back 125 years, institutionalizing racism on a scale the service had never seen before. It would remain until UsefulNotes/HarryTruman desegregated the military in 1948.[[/note]] and the Postal Service, for the first time since the Civil War. When questioned about such practices, he infamously declared [[ValuesDissonance "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it."]]

Wilson had a much more difficult job winning reelection than he did first getting into the White House. He simultaneously had to advocate both remaining neutral and building up the military in case the United States was drawn into the war. The Democratic campaign slogan that year, "He Kept Us Out of War," referred to both the war in Europe as well as the war in Mexico, which is often forgotten by many people today. The Republicans reunited and nominated Charles Evans Hughes, a former Supreme Court Justice who previously taught, hilariously, at New York Law School alongside Wilson. However, Hughes was equally bad at creating a coherent message, and he made different promises at different campaign rallies, leading the Democrats to label him "Charles Evasive Hughes." It also helped that many of Hughes' policies were just slightly different than those that Wilson was also running on, such as an end to child labor, worker safety laws, and minimum wage laws. Still, though it was clear that the race would be a close one, Wilson went to bed on election night thinking that he was going to lose. After a few days of closely counting the votes in swing states, many were surprised to hear that Wilson won. The incumbent's campaign slogan in the shadow of a destructive war in Europe appealed to enough voters, and Hughes made the mistake of insulting a California Senator, which convinced enough people there to vote Democrat. Wilson once again did not win over 50% of the popular vote, giving him the dubious honor of being one of two 20th-century presidents to win twice with only a plurality. The other was UsefulNotes/BillClinton, who went up against a major third-party ticket ''both'' times. Interestingly, Wilson had a plan if he lost reelection where both the vice president and the secretary of state would resign, and Wilson would appoint Hughes as secretary of state.[[note]]Interestingly enough, Wilson's successor Warren G. Harding would appoint Hughes his Secretary of State.[[/note]] Wilson himself would then resign, and, by the presidential succession laws of the time, Hughes would now be president. Concerned with the rapid progress of events in Europe, he reasoned that a four-month lame duck period would not at all be desirable and worried that something terrible could happen before Hughes was sworn in.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 28th President of the United States, serving from [[TheGildedAge 1913]] to [[TheRoaringTwenties 1921]], and the ninth from the Democratic Party. He immediately followed UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft and preceded UsefulNotes/WarrenGHarding. The only President with a doctorate, Wilson is most well-known for his domestic reforms as well as his leadership during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

He was born in Virginia just a few years before [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the Civil War]], and his exposure to the destruction of the war fueled his desire for peace later in life. After overcoming possible dyslexia as a child, he proved to be an excellent student. Wilson briefly flirted with practicing law, but he switched career choices and instead chose the study of politics. He went to [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Princeton]] as an undergraduate and eventually earned a [=PhD=] in history and political science at Johns Hopkins University in 1886, making him the only President with a doctorate so far ([=JDs=] don't count).[[note]]A century later, Jill Biden became the first ''First Lady'' to have one.[[/note]] Despite this, he was never actually referred to by anyone as a doctor, in part because America had already spent 124 years simply calling the chief executive officer of the country "'''Mr.''' President," and wasn't about to change that now[[note]]the title of "Mr. President" was introduced as a way of making the position appear more humble compared to the prior "your majesty," "my liege," and all that other flowery stuff that came with monarchy; as cool as "Dr. President" sounds, it likely seemed a bit too pompous by comparison[[/note]]. Wilson was arguably the first President who was a trained politician, since he was educated in diplomacy, governance, and statecraft. Many Presidents practiced ''law'', but only Wilson studied actual government for a living. He wrote numerous books about political science during the first several decades of his life, and his works are considered foundational to the establishment of political science as a separate and well-respected academic discipline. His most important work as a scholar was his doctoral dissertation, ''Congressional Government'' (1885), which studied how political power in TheGildedAge was in the hands of congressional committees, not in a strong leader in TheWhiteHouse. He predicted that the Constitution's checks-and-balances system would inevitably lead to a situation where [[VindicatedByHistory the executive branch and the legislative branch are each controlled by different parties who won't agree on anything, and this will cause a deadlock and prevent any bills from getting passed]]. In fact, he initially thought that America should adopt a parliamentary government like those in Europe, but he was later impressed by the leadership of UsefulNotes/GroverCleveland and UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt and changed his mind about that last point. His work studying public administration was also very important, and he published a popular biography of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.

He went back and forth between various universities for a while before finally coming back to Princeton in 1890. About the same time, the Progressive Movement (a liberal reaction to the conservatism of the Gilded Age which Wilson despised) began, and Wilson became one of the Movement's most famous leaders. Wilson thought that Princeton, supposedly one of the most prestigious universities in the country, was just a campground for rich students to earn degrees based on their parents' money rather than on actual academic performance. When he became president of the university in 1902, he initiated some major reforms, adding new programs, changing the lecture structure, and trying (this last unsuccessfully) to get rid of elite upper-class clubs and make the college fairer. In just a few years, Princeton became one of the most acclaimed universities in America. Now well-known in UsefulNotes/NewJersey, the Democratic Party state leaders offered him their ticket for governor in 1910. He ran on a platform of progressive reforms and eliminating the power of corrupt party machines. After he won in a {{landslide|Election}}, the party leaders were shocked to find out that [[DidntSeeThatComing he meant what he said]]. Notably, he introduced direct party primaries to New Jersey, which severely limited the power of party leaders and gave more power to the voters. Other accomplishments include passing a public utilities commission, effective regulations on big business,[[note]]Which included a major reform of New Jersey's incorporation statute, on what was more or less a [[DareToBeBadass challenge to take bold reform]] from UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt. This arguably backfired: New Jersey's incorporation statute had been one of the most laissez-faire in the nation since the late 1880s. With the changes in New Jersey corporate law, most of the big corporations simply disincorporated in NJ and reincorporated across Delaware Bay in Delaware -- which had adopted an incorporation statute virtually identical to New Jersey's pre-Wilson one in 1899 -- giving rise to the modern institution of the Delaware corporation. Wilson's reforms to the incorporation statute were undone by 1930. To this day, both New Jersey and Delaware corporate lawyers can get rather bitter about this. NJ lawyers are angry at the lost opportunity to be the premier corporate-law jurisdiction in the country, and DE lawyers who aren't actually from Delaware are angry about having to work in Delaware rather than New Jersey -- New Jersey is at least just across a river from [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity major]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} cities]] (Jersey City being across the Hudson from NYC, and Camden being right across the Delaware from Philly), but the only city of note in Delaware -- Wilmington -- is 25 miles from the nearest metropolis (Philadelphia).[[/note]] and a worker's compensation system for those injured or killed on the job.[[note]]Adapted from, of all things, a program invented by UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck.[[/note]] Wilson quickly became a darling of the Progressives and a household name across the country, and many proposed that he run for President.

Following a close primary, the Democratic Party chose him to be their nominee in the 1912 presidential election. They needed a leader who could take them out of the 19th century and into the Progressive Era -- UsefulNotes/WilliamJenningsBryan had gotten the ball rolling on this during his three presidential campaigns, but was no longer seen as a credible candidate after all three campaigns ended in landslide defeats -- and Wilson was seen as their man. That same year, the Republicans split apart when former President Roosevelt, after failing in his attempt to win the Republican Party's nomination from incumbent UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft, chose to run as a third-party candidate. Wilson ran on a platform of abolishing what he identified as the "triple wall of privilege" -- the banks, the tariffs, and the trusts. Whereas Taft and Roosevelt wanted to regulate businesses and only break up the corrupt trusts, Wilson said that this would get in the way of economic growth and the only acceptable solution was to break up ''all'' trusts. This way, all the new companies would even each other out and essentially leave the economy to regulate itself, small businesses would no longer be squished under the foot of the monopolies and the economy would be more competitive. Additionally, he wanted to weaken the power of Wall Street bankers, which had recently caused a stinging financial panic in 1907; lower the tariffs, which he said defended the trusts from foreign competition; and ultimately refused to accept any money from big business or from people involved in it while he was campaigning, saying that he was running for the people and not for the rich. He called his policies the "New Freedom." Wilson also criticized both of the two for making the federal government too powerful, and Wilson called for stronger states' rights. With the Republican vote split, Wilson easily won a landslide in the Electoral College despite only winning 41% of the popular vote. The split in the Republican Party led to Taft's conservative wing taking over in the following years, while Wilson helped move what was traditionally the very conservative Democrats to the left and make them the party of reform.[[note]]It is worth noting, however, that while he made the Democrats less conservative on economic issues, he was not widely considered a "left-winger". In 1912 he actually ran as the centrist reformist candidate in-between Taft and Roosevelt and his "New Freedom" philosophy was more rooted in Jeffersonian classical liberalism than the social liberalism of many Democrats today (as UsefulNotes/HerbertHoover would later note). He was also rather socially conservative, either becoming more so or not changing his positions during his presidency. His Justice Department jailed many anti-war/anti-conscription protesters, among the most prominent of whom was perennial Socialist Party candidate UsefulNotes/EugeneVDebs, and he refused to pardon any of them. His economic reforms were more progressive, but many of them were a more moderate version of Teddy Roosevelt's New Nationalism.[[/note]]

It was under Wilson that the center of power in Washington switched from the legislative branch to the executive branch, completing UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson's goal of making the President the spokesman for the entire voting population rather than a Congress of regional politicians. He showed a consistent ability to guide major legislation through both chambers, meeting with congressional leaders regularly to discuss policy and keep Congress under his influence. Additionally, Wilson became the first President in over a century to appear before Congress personally and deliver speeches in support of his policies, breaking a tradition in place since the days of UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson. He was also the first President to schedule regular press conferences. With Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress when he became President, Wilson had a perfect opportunity to implement his New Freedom platform and build upon the Progressives' previous victories. Wilson established key regulatory agencies which remain in place to this day, such as the Federal Trade Commission, created to investigate companies suspected of unfair and anti-competitive business practices, namely false advertising and fraud. His most important domestic initiative was the creation of the United States' central banking system, the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanMoney Federal Reserve System]], to put the United States on a uniform paper currency for the first time and prevent more depressions caused by bank panics. Known as the Fed, it is a nationwide system of twelve regional banks, each with its own central bank, that are themselves private banks, but they are controlled by the Federal Reserve Board, whose members are appointed by the federal government. The Fed regulates the banks, lends money to banks when they are on the verge of collapsing, controls the money supply, and makes the currency more elastic. This way, it was easier for the average American citizen to get loans from their banks, since the Fed would send money for banks going through rough times to use as a crutch. Every dollar banknote in America is actually a Federal Reserve Note, and they are liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks. The importance of the Fed cannot be overstated; it is the government's most important tool to manipulate the economy, and it has prevented most economic downturns after the Great Depression from being as severe as they could have been.[[note]]The Great Depression is the exception because of SPECTACULAR mishandling of the Fed under UsefulNotes/HerbertHoover.[[/note]]

Wilson had a much more difficult job winning reelection than he did first getting into the White House. He simultaneously had to advocate both remaining neutral and building up the military in case the United States was drawn into the war. The Democratic campaign slogan that year, "He Kept Us Out of War," referred to both the war in Europe as well as the war in Mexico, which is often forgotten by many people today. The Republicans reunited and nominated Charles Evans Hughes, a former Supreme Court Justice who previously taught, hilariously, at New York Law School alongside Wilson. However, Hughes was equally bad at creating a coherent message, and he made different promises at different campaign rallies, leading the Democrats to label him "Charles Evasive Hughes." It also helped that many of Hughes' policies were just slightly different than those that Wilson was also running on, such as an end to child labor, worker safety laws, and minimum wage laws. Still, though it was clear that the race would be a close one, Wilson went to bed on election night thinking that he was going to lose. After a few days of closely counting the votes in swing states, many were surprised to hear that Wilson won. The incumbent's campaign slogan in the shadow of a destructive war in Europe appealed to enough voters, and Hughes made the mistake of insulting a California Senator, which convinced enough people there to vote Democrat. Wilson once again did not win over 50% of the popular vote, giving him the dubious honor of being one of two 20th-century Presidents to win twice with only a plurality. The other was UsefulNotes/BillClinton, who went up against a major third-party ticket ''both'' times. Interestingly, Wilson had a plan if he lost reelection where both the Vice President and the Secretary of State would resign, and Wilson would appoint Hughes as Secretary of State.[[note]]Interestingly enough, Wilson's successor Warren G. Harding would appoint Hughes his Secretary of State.[[/note]] Wilson himself would then resign, and, by the presidential succession laws of the time, Hughes would now be President. Concerned with the rapid progress of events in Europe, he reasoned that a four-month lame duck period would not at all be desirable and worried that something terrible could happen before Hughes was sworn in.

On November 11, 1918, Germany surrendered. This was initially celebrated in the US as Armistice Day, but now it's just Veterans' Day to celebrate all American war veterans. Wilson shocked the country by announcing that he would personally sail to Europe to take part in the peace negotiations, becoming the first sitting President to visit Europe. While popularly received by the European public, the leaders of the other Allied Powers were largely unwilling to listen to Wilson and give up their plans after years of bloody, destructive fighting. Additionally, the 1918 congressional election replaced the Democrats' majorities in both houses of Congress (the Senate more importantly) with Republican majorities, and the latter were highly suspicious of Wilson's goals, something the leaders of the UK (UsefulNotes/DavidLloydGeorge) and France (Georges Clemenceau) were willing to exploit. It didn't help that Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenceau were so much at odds personally: [[TheSpock Wilson being the sanctimonious professor]], [[TheKirk Lloyd George being the laid-back and convivial but somewhat weak-willed politico]], and [[TheMcCoy Clemenceau being a vengeful firebrand]]. (As Lloyd George put it, when asked how he had done at the Conference: "Not badly, considering I was seated between Jesus Christ and Napoleon.") In the end, the Treaty of Versailles resembled their goal of punishing Germany rather than Wilson's Fourteen Points -- Germany was totally disarmed, it was forced to take full blame for the war and repay massive war debts to the Allies, and its colonies were divided between France and the UK. Wilson still managed to win a few battles, though -- he secured the independence of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia in Eastern Europe and the redrawing of several borders based on where each ethnic group is populated. Most importantly, the UsefulNotes/LeagueOfNations was created, and Wilson hoped that this body would settle any disputes between postwar Germany and the rest of Europe. (Wilson would win 1919's Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to create the League.) The Treaty of Versailles was completed after much debate and negotiation, and pretty much everyone agrees that it was an awkward Frankenstein's monster combining Wilson's plans for peace with French and British plans for {{revenge}}, and revenge dominated. No one was fully satisfied with the treaty, but everyone agreed it was better to just end the war and pass the treaty, whatever misgivings the other countries had.

Wilson now had the difficult job of getting it passed through the Senate, and there he made a series of important missteps. At home, most people were indeed willing to join the League. However, most Republicans in the Senate, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, had reservations about the League -- in particular, they opposed how membership in the League would force the United States to defend any other members who are invaded, which they saw as a violation of America's neutrality and of Congress' sole right to declare war. Republicans were also pretty mad that Wilson took only Democrats with him to Paris -- this was largely because the presumptive Republican delegate would be Lodge, and Wilson and Lodge could not stand to be in the same room together. (The fact that at the height of his popularity Wilson got rather cocky also has something to do with it.) Perhaps scarred by his experience in Europe, Wilson did not show his usual ability to find a compromise and decided to turn towards the American people to build support. He toured the entire country, traveling long distances by train and making numerous speeches each day. This was taking a huge toll on his body, however, and eventually he collapsed just when it seemed like the necessary public support could be won. Returning to Washington, Wilson had a stroke just days later that paralyzed him for the rest of his presidency. While never exactly the healthiest man in the world, Wilson had shown signs of fatigue just before the tour and ignored his doctor's advise to stay in the capital. His stroke produced a constitutional crisis the likes of which were never imagined at the time -- he was clearly incapable of continuing his duties as President, but, since he was alive, it was not clear if [[VicePresidentWho the Vice President, Thomas R. Marshall, should or even legally]] ''[[VicePresidentWho could]]'' [[VicePresidentWho take over.]] (Marshall was widely seen as a total clown, to the point that many of Wilson's Republican enemies wanted Wilson to stay in office because they hated Marshall even more.) Wilson was hidden from the public eye in the White House, where only his doctors, his closest advisers, and his wife regularly saw him. It is widely held that Edith Wilson unofficially took charge of the federal government for at least several weeks, and she at least controlled what information went to Wilson during this time, concealing her husband's illness and disability from the general public.

For such an important President, you'd be surprised by how divisive he is. While he is still viewed highly by academics, who often rate him in the top ten presidents (albeit usually at around eighth place), the public is less keen on him. [[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/favorables/presidential_favorables A 2007 poll]] found that only 56% of Americans had a favorable impression of him, compared to 85% for Teddy Roosevelt and a surprisingly high 57% for the seemingly-forgotten Taft (though it's worth mentioning that 25% did not give an answer on Wilson).[[note]]To the extent that the one-percentage-point difference is significant at all, it might reflect a few people with the hazy recollection that after being President, Taft was actually quite well regarded as Chief Justice.[[/note]] [[PopularityPolynomial Wilson's reputation changes every few decades]], with some generations admiring him and others taking a much harsher view. It seems that his reputation is currently declining. More recent historians have criticized Wilson for his racism, the interventionist Latin American policies, his administration's record on civil liberties (probably the worst in American history, admittedly), and his [[StubbornMule stubborn refusal]] to compromise over the League. His post-stroke incapacity has also been a rough spot even if it wasn't his own fault; in 1967, the [[TwentyFifthAmendment 25th Amendment]] was passed to smooth over the presidential succession issues, with Wilson's stroke being an example of how it needed to be fixed. Still, Wilson's influence is a lasting one for his country. His New Freedom policies and his wartime mobilization were the groundwork for the programs of UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt's New Deal. The government took a greater role in managing the economy and protecting both consumers and workers from big business. He was (arguably) the first major world leader to fully recognize the need to help international stability and prevent major wars from breaking out, leading to today's UsefulNotes/UnitedNations to arbitrate disputes between world powers. Most importantly, his vision of the United States protecting democracy abroad has undeniably endured as the hallmark of American foreign policy ([[BananaRepublic though in a way he actually opposed]], which, good for him).

* Alexander Knox played him in the 1944 {{biopic}} ''Film/{{Wilson}}''. This being a work of patriotic wartime propaganda, the take on Wilson is hagiographic, and the Great War is just there to be mined for topical allegory about its sequel. The [[AnAesop Aesop]] is, of course, that UsefulNotes/WorldWarII could have been prevented had the U.S. listened to Wilson and joined the UsefulNotes/LeagueOfNations. The film was a critical smash but a BoxOfficeBomb.

Following a close primary, the Democratic Party chose him to be their nominee in the 1912 presidential election. They needed a leader who could take them out of the 19th century and into the Progressive Era -- UsefulNotes/WilliamJenningsBryan had gotten the ball rolling on this during his three presidential campaigns, but was no longer seen as a credible candidate after all three campaigns ended in landslide defeats -- and Wilson was seen as their man. That same year, the Republicans split apart when former President Roosevelt, after failing in his attempt to win the Republican Party's nomination from incumbent UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft, chose to run as a third-party candidate. Wilson ran on a platform of abolishing what he identified as the "triple wall of privilege" -- the banks, the tariffs, and the trusts. Whereas Taft and Roosevelt wanted to regulate businesses and only break up the corrupt trusts, Wilson said that this would get in the way of economic growth and the only acceptable solution was to break up ''all'' trusts. This way, all the new companies would even each other out and essentially leave the economy to regulate itself, small businesses would no longer be squished under the foot of the monopolies and the economy would be more competitive. Additionally, he wanted to weaken the power of Wall Street bankers, which had recently caused a stinging financial panic in 1907; lower the tariffs, which he said defended the trusts from foreign competition; and ultimately refused to accept any money from big business or from people involved in it while he was campaigning, saying that he was running for the people and not for the rich. He called his policies the "New Freedom." Wilson also criticized both of the two for making the federal government too powerful, and Wilson called for stronger states' rights. With the Republican vote split, Wilson easily won a landslide in the Electoral College despite only winning 41% of the popular vote. Wilson still likely would have won anyway, since Taft was really unpopular. The split in the Republican Party led to Taft's conservative wing taking over in the following years, while Wilson helped move what was traditionally the very conservative Democrats to the left and make them the party of reform.[[note]]It is worth noting, however, that while he made the Democrats less conservative on economic issues, he was not widely considered a "left-winger". In 1912 he actually ran as the centrist reformist candidate in-between Taft and Roosevelt and his "New Freedom" philosophy was more rooted in Jeffersonian classical liberalism than the social liberalism of many Democrats today (as UsefulNotes/HerbertHoover would later note). He was also rather socially conservative, either becoming more so or not changing his positions during his presidency. His Justice Department jailed many anti-war/anti-conscription protesters, among the most prominent of whom was perennial Socialist Party candidate UsefulNotes/EugeneVDebs, and he refused to pardon any of them. His economic reforms were more progressive, but many of them were a more moderate version of Teddy Roosevelt's New Nationalism.[[/note]]

Wilson's anti-Semitism didn't just impact his response to the '''Red''' Summer[[note]]it was believed that [[Literature/TheProtocolsOfTheEldersOfZion THE JEWS]] [ScareChord] were responsible for it, [[SarcasmMode because how could black people actually read readily available literature and come to their own conclusions? Scoff! It is to laugh.]][[/note]], but was also partly responsible for the formation of the League of Nations. While his stated goal was to prevent another such conflict as The Great War (remember, he both opposed the war and entering it), he also wanted to use it in exactly the same way the US would later use the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations, as a tool to attack, sorry, to defend against the new (and Jewish[[note]]Lenin, the first prominent leader of what would become the USSR, was Jewish, and Jews were heavily associated with communism, not merely because of figures like Karl Marx (raised Christian, but his parents had converted from non-religious Judaism and for some people it's in the blood), but also because communism appeals to oppressed and poverty stricken communities and, wouldn't you know it, a lot of communist activists were Jewish, and now black[[/note]]) communist nation of the Soviet Union. His anti-communism wasn't strictly anti-Semitic, though; he also ''hated'' communist activist Helen Keller (after she learned to talk, it turns out she had some shit to say). Unsurprisingly, Wilson's racism and anti-Semtism, and their impacts on some of the projects he pursued (or didn't pursue), don't typically make it into US textbooks. However, they ''are'' known, and help explain why "the president who won World War One!" aren't on any of the money[[note]]Wilson was on the $100,000 bill, but these have been discontinued since 1969. If you're wondering who would need $100,000 bills, the denomination was only ever used by banks[[/note]].

Wilson's anti-Semitism didn't just impact his response to the '''Red''' Summer[[note]]it was believed that [[TheProtocolsOfTheEldersOfZion THE JEWS]] [ScareChord] were responsible for it, [[SarcasmMode because how could black people actually read readily available literature and come to their own conclusions? Scoff! It is to laugh.]][[/note]], but was also partly responsible for the formation of the League of Nations. While his stated goal was to prevent another such conflict as The Great War (remember, he both opposed the war and entering it), he also wanted to use it in exactly the same way the US would later use the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations, as a tool to attack, sorry, to defend against the new (and Jewish[[note]]Lenin, the first prominent leader of what would become the USSR, was Jewish, and Jews were heavily associated with communism, not merely because of figures like Karl Marx (raised Christian, but his parents had converted from non-religious Judaism and for some people it's in the blood), but also because communism appeals to oppressed and poverty stricken communities and, wouldn't you know it, a lot of communist activists were Jewish, and now black[[/note]]) communist nation of the Soviet Union. His anti-communism wasn't strictly anti-Semitic, though; he also ''hated'' communist activist Helen Keller (after she learned to talk, it turns out she had some shit to say). Unsurprisingly, Wilson's racism and anti-Semtism, and their impacts on some of the projects he pursued (or didn't pursue), don't typically make it into US textbooks. However, they ''are'' known, and help explain why "the president who won World War One!" aren't on any of the money[[note]]Wilson was on the $100,000 bill, but these have been discontinued since 1969. If you're wondering who would need $100,000 bills, the denomination was only ever used by banks[[/note]].

* In 1974, {{Creator/CBS}} aired a MadeForTVMovie called ''The First Woman President'', focused on the period when Edith Wilson is alleged to have run the country. It starred Creator/EvaMarieSaint as Edith and Richard Basehart as Woodrow.

Following a close primary, the Democratic Party chose him to be their nominee in the 1912 presidential election. They needed a leader who could take them out of the 19th century and into the Progressive Era, and Wilson was seen as their man. That same year, the Republicans split apart when former President Roosevelt, after failing in his attempt to win the Republican Party's nomination from incumbent UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft, chose to run as a third-party candidate. Wilson ran on a platform of abolishing what he identified as the "triple wall of privilege" -- the banks, the tariffs, and the trusts. Whereas Taft and Roosevelt wanted to regulate businesses and only break up the corrupt trusts, Wilson said that this would get in the way of economic growth and the only acceptable solution was to break up ''all'' trusts. This way, all the new companies would even each other out and essentially leave the economy to regulate itself, small businesses would no longer be squished under the foot of the monopolies and the economy would be more competitive. Additionally, he wanted to weaken the power of Wall Street bankers, which had recently caused a stinging financial panic in 1907; lower the tariffs, which he said defended the trusts from foreign competition; and ultimately refused to accept any money from big business or from people involved in it while he was campaigning, saying that he was running for the people and not for the rich. He called his policies the "New Freedom." Wilson also criticized both of the two for making the federal government too powerful, and Wilson called for stronger states' rights. With the Republican vote split, Wilson easily won a landslide in the Electoral College despite only winning 41% of the popular vote. Wilson still likely would have won anyway, since Taft was really unpopular. The split in the Republican Party led to Taft's conservative wing taking over in the following years, while Wilson helped move what was traditionally the very conservative Democrats to the left and make them the party of reform.[[note]]It is worth noting, however, that while he made the Democrats less conservative on economic issues, he was not widely considered a "left-winger". In 1912 he actually ran as the centrist reformist candidate in-between Taft and Roosevelt and his "New Freedom" philosophy was more rooted in Jeffersonian classical liberalism than the social liberalism of many Democrats today (as UsefulNotes/HerbertHoover would later note). He was also rather socially conservative, either becoming more so or not changing his positions during his presidency. His Justice Department jailed many anti-war/anti-conscription protesters, among the most prominent of whom was perennial Socialist Party candidate UsefulNotes/EugeneVDebs, and he refused to pardon any of them. His economic reforms were more progressive, but many of them were a more moderate version of Teddy Roosevelt's New Nationalism.[[/note]]

The rise of lynching and the Red Summer was caused by a multitude of factors, almost none of which were Wilson. It was the combination of the first Great Migration out of the south as black families were recruited as scabs in response to union demands and decreased labor supply (armies need bodies), black soldiers returning from the war advocating for civil rights[[note]]The French ''didn't'' treat us like subhuman monsters! Our fellow soldiers did, though...[[/note]] and communism[[note]]Thick on the ground in the fields of France, not so much in Macon County, Georgia[[/note]], and the economic crash caused by the increase in labor supply and decrease in demand as the federal government stopped buying stuff for the war effort. That all of this occurred with the newly terrifying [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheUSSR Soviet Union]] rising to threaten rich people and Christians wasn't missed by anyone, hence the '''Red''' Summer. When people found themselves on the streets and hungry thanks to the wealthy and powerful[[note]]almost ''none'' of which were Wilson[[/note]] not anticipating what has happened after every major conflict at least since the end of the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession led to the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfPiracy, they naturally found themselves blaming a convenient, powerless, local victim. Again, Wilson didn't cause it, but a young lawyer working in the Department of Justice's Radical Division ([[IThoughtItMeant no, it meant]] [[TotallyRadical they targeted political "radicals"]]) targeted ''the victims'' of this violence for suppression, disruption, disinformation, entrapment, violence, and a false propaganda campaign in the press. That was J. Edgar Hoover. He was doing COINTELPRO in 1919, 37 years before it became official FBI policy.

For such an important President, you'd be surprised by how divisive he is. While he is still viewed highly by academics, who often rate him in the top ten presidents (albeit usually at around eighth place), the public is less keen on him. [[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/favorables/presidential_favorables A 2007 poll]] found that only 56% of Americans had a favorable impression of him, compared to 85% for Teddy Roosevelt and a surprisingly high 57% for the seemingly-forgotten Taft (though it's worth mentioning that 25% did not give an answer on Wilson).[[note]]To the extent that the one-percentage-point difference is significant at all, it might reflect a few people with the hazy recollection that after being President, Taft was actually quite well regarded as Chief Justice.[[/note]] [[PopularityPolynomial Wilson's reputation changes every few decades]], with some generations admiring him and others taking a much harsher view. It seems that his reputation is currently declining. More recent historians have criticized Wilson for his racism, the interventionist Latin American policies, his administration's record on civil liberties (probably the worst in American history, admittedly), and his [[StubbornMule stubborn refusal]] to compromise over the League. His post-stroke incapacity has also been a rough spot even if it wasn't his own fault; in 1967, the [[TwentyFifthAmendment 25th Amendment]] was passed to smooth over the presidential succession issues, with Wilson's stroke being an example of how it needed to be fixed. Still, Wilson's influence is a lasting one for his country. His New Freedom policies and his wartime mobilization were the groundwork for the programs of UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt's New Deal. The government took a greater role in managing the economy and protecting both consumers and workers from big business. He was (arguably) the first major world leader to fully recognize the need to help international stability and prevent major wars from breaking out, leading to today's UsefulNotes/UnitedNations to arbitrate disputes between world powers. Most importantly, his vision of the United States protecting democracy abroad has undeniably endured as the hallmark of American foreign policy.

Wilson is on the $100,000 bill, but these have been discontinued since 1969. If you're wondering who would need $100,000 bills, the denomination was only ever used by banks.

* Gus Dewar, [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters one of the main characters]] in Ken Follett's DoorStopper novel ''[[Literature/TheCenturyTrilogy Fall of Giants]]'', works for President Wilson.

* In the 2004 DocuDrama TV movie ''Film/TwelveDaysOfTerror'' which is about a series of shark attacks in jersey in July 1916, One scene sees him in the background giving a speech to a crowd about keeping the United States out of war.

Wilson is usually remembered as [[TheSpock a cold intellectual who used logic far more than feeling]] while he was in charge of the country. In truth, it would be closer to the truth to claim he was the opposite of those things. While Roosevelt had the image of a rough cowboy who always wanted to get what he wanted, he was actually a far more flexible man than many people realize, and he was willing to bend core beliefs if it benefited him. Wilson, however, usually had an "all or nothing" attitude towards politics and was convinced that he was always in the right. Supremely religious (so much so, in fact, that he believed in predestination, and that ''God placed him on the Earth to lead the country''), he did not doubt that God was on his side, and he {{demoniz|ation}}ed people who disagreed with him. While this energized him as a leader and helped him accomplish as many good things as he did, it also meant that he would rarely compromise with people whom he did not like. This would prove to be Wilson's downfall after years of political victories in the White House. On the other hand, Wilson was a sincere man who usually pursued power so he could do what he thought was in his country's interests. He was a steadfast defender of key American values and he believed that it was America's role in the world to defend and spread democracy throughout the world. Additionally, he only appeared cold and unfeeling when he was in public. In private, he was a warm friend and a loving father and husband. During his second year in office, Wilson's wife Ellen died. Incredibly shocked, he would spend his days walking around the White House simply whispering "...My God, what am I to do?" The next year, he was introduced to a beautiful widow named Edith Galt. There was mutual LoveAtFirstSight, and the two of them married a week before Christmas. They didn't marry in the White House because of the rumors going around.

American imperialism in Latin America was at its height when Wilson entered office. A devoted anti-imperialist, Wilson ended Taft's "dollar diplomacy" with Latin American countries (basically, the federal government does whatever it takes to protect the monetary interests of America's businessmen, including sending troops). He extended citizenship to the inhabitants of Puerto Rico and passed the Jones Act, which gave the Philippines a limited self-government and promised them eventual independence. The Virgin Islands were bought from Denmark (mostly to keep Germany from doing that first), and work on the Panama Canal was completed during Wilson's first term. Ironically, Wilson ended up intervening in America's southern neighbors [[NotSoDifferent just as much as Roosevelt and Taft did]], but for very different reasons. When Haiti, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic were on the verge of revolutions, he sent the Marines to those countries to restore peace and democratic order, but these occupations lasted for years. Meanwhile, Mexico was still going through UsefulNotes/TheMexicanRevolution, which resulted in numerous instances that nearly caused war with the United States. Wilson refused to recognize the government of General Victoriano Huerta after he seized power, and the United States Marines occupied the Mexican port city of Veracruz for six months to prevent a shipment of weapons from reaching the Mexican government (believed to be German, they were actually financed and sent [[{{Irony}} by Americans]]). This caused Huerta to lose power and he was replaced by Venustiano Carranza (Mexico's current constitution was drafted on his watch). Pancho Villa, one of Carranza's enemies, was unhappy with this and crossed the border to attack the New Mexico town of Columbus in an attempt to provoke an American declaration of war. In response to the first attack on American soil since the Civil War, Wilson ordered General John J. Pershing to capture Villa, leading to an ill-fated expedition through northern Mexico which ultimately failed to trap him. In the end, though, Wilson avoided mistakes that could have caused war, largely because of events going on in Europe. During the war, American troops occupied Cuba and Panama, both of which were already American protectorates.

Wilson had a much more difficult job winning reelection than he did first getting into the White House. He simultaneously had to advocate both remaining neutral and building up the military in case the United States was drawn into the war. The Democratic campaign slogan that year, "He Kept Us Out of War," referred to both the war in Europe as well as the war in Mexico, which is often forgotten by many people today. The Republicans reunited and nominated Charles Evans Hughes, a former Supreme Court Justice who previously taught, hilariously, at New York Law School alongside Wilson. However, Hughes was equally bad at creating a coherent message, and he made different promises at different campaign rallies, leading the Democrats to label him "Charles Evasive Hughes." It also helped that many of Hughes' policies were just slightly different than those that Wilson was also running on, such as an end to child labor, worker safety laws, and minimum wage laws. Still, though it was clear that the race would be a close one, Wilson went to bed on election night thinking that he was going to lose. After a few days of closely counting the votes in swing states, many were surprised to hear that Wilson won. The incumbent's campaign slogan in the shadow of a destructive war in Europe appealed to enough voters, and Hughes made the mistake of insulting a California Senator, which convinced enough people there to vote Democrat. Wilson once again did not win over 50% of the popular vote, giving him the dubious honor of being one of two 20th-century Presidents to win twice with only a plurality. The other was UsefulNotes/BillClinton, who went up against a major third-party ticket ''both'' times. Interestingly, Wilson had a plan if he lost reelection where both the Vice President and the Secretary of State would resign, and Wilson would appoint Hughes as Secretary of State.[[note]]Interestingly enough, Wilson's successor Warren Harding would appoint Hughes his Secretary of State.[[/note]] Wilson himself would then resign, and, by the presidential succession laws of the time, Hughes would now be President. Concerned with the rapid progress of events in Europe, he reasoned that a four-month lame duck period would not at all be desirable and worried that something terrible could happen before Hughes was sworn in.

The battle in the Senate continued, and it soon became clear that Lodge had firmly gained the upper hand. He announced 14 reservations over the Treaty, including the League. The stroke had a huge effect on Wilson's psyche, too, and he became unreasonable and lost his touch with reality. Days before the vote over the Treaty in the Senate, Wilson told fellow Democrats to vote against it. In the end, America never ratified that Treaty of Versailles and never joined the League of Nations. Additionally, as millions of soldiers returned from Europe, it became clear that Wilson put little thought into post-war planning. As economic problems started to escalate and unions which piped down for the war began striking once more, Wilson had his stroke, and the strong leadership needed to pull the country away from a downturn was lost. A stinging recession began, with high unemployment (above 12% when he left office) and runaway inflation (it peaked at an unfathomable '''18%''' in the year after fighting ended) haunting the country just in time for the 1920 election. Unsurprisingly, Republican nominee UsefulNotes/WarrenHarding, running on a platform of a "Return to normalcy," easily won the White House. A peace treaty with Germany would eventually be negotiated after Wilson left office. The Eighteenth Amendment was also passed in 1919, banning alcohol throughout the country and starting the Prohibition era. Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act enacted to give the federal government the power to enforce the amendment, but it was passed over his veto. After years of political victories and nationwide popularity, Woodrow Wilson left office both crippled by his stroke and in the shadow of his greatest defeat. He would die just three years later. Since America never joined, the League ended up being a powerless, toothless organization that was unprepared to resolve any diplomatic disputes or prevent another war. Thus, just as Wilson predicted, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII another war broke out]], and the Great War would become known as World War I. While nobody can ever know for sure what would have happened if America had joined the League of Nations and if the tensions and conflicts that eventually led to another world war could have been prevented by the United States, everyone knows what happened when the U.S. failed to join the League.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 28th President of the United States, serving from [[TheGildedAge 1913]] to [[TheRoaringTwenties 1921]], and the ninth from the Democratic Party. He immediately followed UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft and preceded UsefulNotes/WarrenHarding. The only President with a doctorate, Wilson is most well-known for his domestic reforms as well as his leadership during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

'''Thomas Woodrow Wilson''' (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 28th President of the United States, serving from [[TheGildedAge 1913]] to [[TheRoaringTwenties 1921]], and the ninth from the Democratic Party. He immediately followed UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft and preceded UsefulNotes/WarrenHarding. The only President with a doctorate, Wilson is most well-known for his domestic reforms as well as his leadership during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 28th President of the United States, serving from [[TheGildedAge 1913]] to [[TheRoaringTwenties 1921]], and the ninth from the Democratic Party. He immediately followed UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft and preceded UsefulNotes/WarrenHarding. The only President with a doctorate, Wilson is most well-known for his domestic reforms as well as his leadership during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.

He was born in Virginia just a few years before [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the Civil War]], and his exposure to the destruction of the war fueled his desire for peace later in life. After overcoming possible dyslexia as a child, he proved to be an excellent student. Wilson briefly flirted with practicing law, but he switched career choices and instead chose the study of politics. He went to [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Princeton]] as an undergraduate and eventually earned a [=PhD=] in history and political science at Johns Hopkins University in 1886, making him the only President with a doctorate so far ([=JDs=] don't count).[[note]]A century later, Jill Biden became the first ''First Lady'' to have one.[[/note]] Despite this, he was never actually referred to anyone as a doctor, in part because America had already spent 124 years simply calling the chief executive officer of the country "'''Mr.''' President," and wasn't about to change that now[[note]]the title of "Mr. President" was introduced as a way of making the position appear more humble compared to the prior "your majesty," "my liege," and all that other flowery stuff that came with monarchy; as cool as "Dr. President" sounds, it likely seemed a bit too pompous by comparison[[/note]]. Wilson was arguably the first President who was a trained politician, since he was educated in diplomacy, governance, and statecraft. Many Presidents practiced ''law'', but only Wilson studied actual government for a living. He wrote numerous books about political science during the first several decades of his life, and his works are considered foundational to the establishment of political science as a separate and well-respected academic discipline. His most important work as a scholar was his doctoral dissertation, ''Congressional Government'' (1885), which studied how political power in TheGildedAge was in the hands of congressional committees, not in a strong leader in TheWhiteHouse. He predicted that the Constitution's checks-and-balances system would inevitably lead to a situation where [[VindicatedByHistory the executive branch and the legislative branch are each controlled by different parties who won't agree on anything, and this will cause a deadlock and prevent any bills from getting passed]]. In fact, he initially thought that America should adopt a parliamentary government like those in Europe, but he was later impressed by the leadership of UsefulNotes/GroverCleveland and UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt and changed his mind about that last point. His work studying public administration was also very important, and he published a popular biography of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.

He was born in Virginia just a few years before [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the Civil War]], and his exposure to the destruction of the war fueled his desire for peace later in life. After overcoming possible dyslexia as a child, he proved to be an excellent student. Wilson briefly flirted with practicing law, but he switched career choices and instead chose the study of politics. He went to [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Princeton]] as an undergraduate and eventually earned a [=PhD=] in history and political science at Johns Hopkins University in 1886, making him the only President with a doctorate so far ([=JDs=] don't count).[[note]]A century later, Jill Biden became the first ''First Lady'' to have one.[[/note]] Wilson was arguably the first President who was a trained politician, since he was educated in diplomacy, governance, and statecraft. Many Presidents practiced ''law'', but only Wilson studied actual government for a living. He wrote numerous books about political science during the first several decades of his life, and his works are considered foundational to the establishment of political science as a separate and well-respected academic discipline. His most important work as a scholar was his doctoral dissertation, ''Congressional Government'' (1885), which studied how political power in TheGildedAge was in the hands of congressional committees, not in a strong leader in TheWhiteHouse. He predicted that the Constitution's checks-and-balances system would inevitably lead to a situation where [[VindicatedByHistory the executive branch and the legislative branch are each controlled by different parties who won't agree on anything, and this will cause a deadlock and prevent any bills from getting passed]]. In fact, he initially thought that America should adopt a parliamentary government like those in Europe, but he was later impressed by the leadership of UsefulNotes/GroverCleveland and UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt and changed his mind about that last point. His work studying public administration was also very important, and he published a popular biography of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.

Following a close primary, the Democratic Party chose him to be their nominee in the 1912 presidential election. They needed a leader who could take them out of the 19th century and into the Progressive Era, and Wilson was seen as their man. That same year, the Republicans split apart when former President Roosevelt, after failing in his attempt to win the Republican Party's nomination from incumbent UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft, chose to run as a third-party candidate. Wilson ran on a platform of abolishing what he identified as the "triple wall of privilege" -- the banks, the tariffs, and the trusts. Whereas Taft and Roosevelt wanted to regulate businesses and only break up the corrupt trusts, Wilson said that this would get in the way of economic growth and the only acceptable solution was to break up ''all'' trusts. This way, all the new companies would even each other out and essentially leave the economy to regulate itself, small businesses would no longer be squished under the foot of the monopolies and the economy would be more competitive. Additionally, he wanted to weaken the power of Wall Street bankers, which had recently caused a stinging financial panic in 1907, and lower the tariffs, which he said defended the trusts from foreign competition. He called his policies the "New Freedom." Wilson also criticized both of the two for making the federal government too powerful, and Wilson called for stronger states' rights. With the Republican vote split, Wilson easily won a landslide in the Electoral College despite only winning 41% of the popular vote. Wilson still likely would have won anyway, since Taft was really unpopular. The split in the Republican Party led to Taft's conservative wing taking over in the following years, while Wilson helped move what was traditionally the very conservative Democrats to the left and make them the party of reform.[[note]]Interestingly, Wilson refused to accept any money from big business or from people involved in it while he was campaigning, saying that he was running for the people and not for the rich. Ahh, if only things were still like that.[[/note]][[note]]It is worth noting, however, that while he made the Democrats less conservative on economic issues, he was not widely considered a "left-winger". In 1912 he actually ran as the centrist reformist candidate in-between Taft and Roosevelt and his "New Freedom" philosophy was more rooted in Jeffersonian classical liberalism than the social liberalism of many Democrats today (as UsefulNotes/HerbertHoover would later note). He was also rather socially conservative, either becoming more so or not changing his positions during his presidency. His Justice Department jailed many anti-war/anti-conscription protesters, among the most prominent of whom was perennial Socialist Party candidate UsefulNotes/EugeneVDebs, and he refused to pardon any of them. His economic reforms were more progressive, but many of them were a more moderate version of Teddy Roosevelt's New Nationalism.[[/note]]

He was born in Virginia just a few years before [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the Civil War]], and his exposure to the destruction of the war fueled his desire for peace later in life. After overcoming possible dyslexia as a child, he proved to be an excellent student. Wilson briefly flirted with practicing law, but he switched career choices and instead chose the study of politics. He went to [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Princeton]] as an undergraduate and eventually earned a [=PhD=] in history and political science at Johns Hopkins University in 1886, making him the only President with a doctorate so far.[[note]][=JDs=] don't count.[[/note]][[note]]A century later, Jill Biden became the first ''First Lady'' to have one.[[/note]] Wilson was arguably the first President who was a trained politician, since he was educated in diplomacy, governance, and statecraft. Many Presidents practiced ''law'', but only Wilson studied actual government for a living. He wrote numerous books about political science during the first several decades of his life, and his works are considered foundational to the establishment of political science as a separate and well-respected academic discipline. His most important work as a scholar was his doctoral dissertation, ''Congressional Government'' (1885), which studied how political power in TheGildedAge was in the hands of congressional committees, not in a strong leader in TheWhiteHouse. He predicted that the Constitution's checks-and-balances system would inevitably lead to a situation where [[VindicatedByHistory the executive branch and the legislative branch are each controlled by different parties who won't agree on anything, and this will cause a deadlock and prevent any bills from getting passed]]. In fact, he initially thought that America should adopt a parliamentary government like those in Europe, but he was later impressed by the leadership of UsefulNotes/GroverCleveland and UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt and changed his mind about that last point. His work studying public administration was also very important, and he published a popular biography of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.

He was born in Virginia just a few years before [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the Civil War]], and his exposure to the destruction of the war fueled his desire for peace later in life. After overcoming possible dyslexia as a child, he proved to be an excellent student. Wilson briefly flirted with practicing law, but he switched career choices and instead chose the study of politics. He went to [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Princeton]] as an undergraduate and eventually earned a [=PhD=] in history and political science at Johns Hopkins University in 1886, making him the only President with a doctorate so far.[[note]][=JDs=] don't count.[[/note]] Wilson was arguably the first President who was a trained politician, since he was educated in diplomacy, governance, and statecraft. Many Presidents practiced ''law'', but only Wilson studied actual government for a living. He wrote numerous books about political science during the first several decades of his life, and his works are considered foundational to the establishment of political science as a separate and well-respected academic discipline. His most important work as a scholar was his doctoral dissertation, ''Congressional Government'' (1885), which studied how political power in TheGildedAge was in the hands of congressional committees, not in a strong leader in TheWhiteHouse. He predicted that the Constitution's checks-and-balances system would inevitably lead to a situation where [[VindicatedByHistory the executive branch and the legislative branch are each controlled by different parties who won't agree on anything, and this will cause a deadlock and prevent any bills from getting passed]]. In fact, he initially thought that America should adopt a parliamentary government like those in Europe, but he was later impressed by the leadership of UsefulNotes/GroverCleveland and UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt and changed his mind about that last point. His work studying public administration was also very important, and he published a popular biography of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington.