The life of Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic. He was the 28th President of the United States. Woodrow Wilson served as the President of Princeton University and as the Governor of New Jersey. He led the United States into World War 1 in 1917. After earning a Ph.D. from Princeton University, he taught in several schools before emerging as Princeton University president.

Early life

Woodrow Wilson was born into a family of Scottish descent. He was born into the family of Joseph and Janet Wilson. Woodrow Wilson was the third of four children. He grew up in a home where slave labor was utilized.

His grandfather James Wilson was the publisher of a newspaper that voiced out against slavery. Wilson’s family moved to Georgia before he was two years old. Wilson’s earliest memory was playing in his yard and standing in front of the gate at age three. He heard a passerby announce that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and the war was coming.

In 1861, both of his parents had identified with the Southern U.S., and they supported the Confederacy during the American civil war.

Woodrow Wilson’s father was one of the Southern Presbyterian Church’s founders in the U.S. He became minister of the First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, where the family lived until 1870.

After the civil war, Wilson attended school with Joseph Rucker Lamar and A. Stovall. Though Wilson’s parents valued education, he struggled with reading and writing until age thirteen. Possibly he had developmental dyslexia.

In 1870, Woodrow Wilson moved to South Carolina, where his father was a theology professor at the Theological Seminary. In 1873, Wilson became a member of the First Presbyterian Church and remained there throughout his life.

Woodrow Wilson attended Davidson College, North Carolina, in 1873. He transferred as a freshman to the college of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University). He studied political philosophy and was active in the Literary and debating society. He was also active in sports. He was president of the school’s baseball association. He also edited the school’s magazine.

In the presidential election of 1876, Wilson declared support for the Democratic party. The nominee of the party was Samuel Tiden.

Politics

Influenced by the declining power of the presidency after the civil war, Woodrow Wilson developed a plan to reform the government similar to the British government style. He wrote an essay on governmental reform. This was published in the international review.

After graduation from Princeton in 1879, Woodrow Wilson attended the University of Virginia Law School. He served as president of the Jefferson Literary and debating society. However, poor health forced him to withdraw from the University. Notwithstanding, he continued self-study while living with his parents in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Woodrow Wilson was called to the bar in Atlanta in 1882. After practicing for less than a year, he abandoned legal practice to study political science and history.

Woodrow Wilson married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister from Georgia. They got married in 1885. She strongly supported his career and learned German to help translate works relevant to his research.

Academic Career

Woodrow Wilson wrote many works of history and political science. He became a regular contributor to an academic journal known as Political Science Quarterly. In his first book on politics, “Congressional Government” in 1885, Wilson described the U.S. government system and suggested reforms. He advocated that the government should be changed to a parliamentary system similar to that of Britain. He believed the constitution was defective because it did not establish a government branch that had authoritative decisions.

During his time at John Hopkins, Woodrow Wilson took up Herbert Baxter’s courses, Richard Ely and Franklin Jameson. Wilson wrote many books. He also wrote a series of essays in which he examined the dynamics of American politics. He received a Ph.D. in 1886 from John Hopkins University.

In 1885, Woodrow Wilson took a teaching position at Bryn Mawr College, where he taught from 1885 to 1888. He taught ancient Greek, Roman history, and Political Science. His teaching style was to inspire interest in the subject of study. He encouraged his students to look into the ancient times as though they experienced it.

In 1890, Woodrow Wilson was elected by the Princeton University Board of Trustees to the Jurisprudence Chair. He had a reputation for being a compelling speaker. One of his students described him as his greatest lecturer ever.

Wilson was primarily elected to Reform National politics and initiated a new progressive Washington. Spent the majority of his time as president dealing with foreign policy. Wilson’s predecessors saw the U.S as an emerging power that needed to extend its influence worldwide to serve its interests.

It was America’s duty as a Christian republic to spread democracy throughout the world. Woodrow Wilson’s predecessors McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Taft significantly expanded America’s influence abroad.

Woodrow Wilson was a devoted student of classical liberal arts; he was a member of the Radical Liberal Club and the National Academy of Sciences before winning the presidential race against James K. Polk for the presidential seat. Woodrow Wilson lost the election to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Woodrow Wilson served two terms as President of the United States of America, beginning his first term following Andrew Johnson’s death. He was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt, who was running against Johnson for the United States’ leadership. Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt is considered as one of the greatest US presidents of all time. As a result of his political views, he was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize but was denied the honor. Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Prize for his contribution to the study of international affairs.

Presidential Election of 1916

At the 1916 democratic national convention, Woodrow Wilson was nominated without opposition. He called for legislation to provide for an eight-hour day and 6-day work week to win over progressives. He also advocated health and safety measures and the prohibition of child labor.

The campaign slogan of the Democrats, “He kept us out of the war,” suggested that if the Republicans won, America would be heading to war with Germany. However, the Republicans campaigned against Wilson’s new policies. They maintained that it emphasized a distribution of the society into classes. Majorly their campaign centered around domestic affairs.

Foreign Policy

Woodrow Wilson did have some positive foreign policy achievements during his term as President of the USA. He helped create the League of Nations and helped in promoting international trade. However, many people were disappointed with Woodrow Wilson’s diplomacy as he often tried to isolate himself from world affairs. In fact, he kept the country isolated from the world when it came to trade until after the First World War.

Woodrow Wilson did help bring America into the First World War, but he failed to do so properly. Many Americans died in the war, as they did not have access to the world wide web or wireless phones. Woodrow Wilson also changed America’s policy on many occasions, such as establishing the Office of the War Secretary and the Department of War. His immigration policies made him popular with the left-wing of the party, but his overall record as President was fairly poor. Many people question his commitment to civil rights and question his commitment to world peace.

Nationalistic Views

Woodrow Wilson also had extreme nationalistic views about race and immigration. He believed in the white race’s superiority and wanted the United States that was exclusively for whites. He opposed any immigration laws and created the Tariff of Voluntary Negotiation, which greatly affected foreign trade. Despite this, America remained at the forefront of world trade until the First World War broke out. During this time, America’s economy suffered badly; but Woodrow Wilson did come up with the idea of a National Industrial Enterprise Commission, which later became the modern Department of Labor.

Woodrow Wilson also did little to improve relations with Britain and Germany. During the First World War, Germany and England became openly hostile countries, and the US was politically and economically isolationist. Woodrow Wilson also failed to protect the United States economically from the First World War. This resulted in millions of American soldiers being killed. He was also wildly unpopular among Americans for his handling of the Irish crisis. Finally, during World War Two, many Americans found sympathy for Germany due to the experience of suffering during the previous war.

During the war, Woodrow Wilson also failed to protect the United States against the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor. Many Americans were also not interested in fighting the Japanese because of their views on racial issues and their military inexperience. Most of the Americans who fought in World War Two were veterans of the Civil War and regarded the Japanese as ‘savages.’ On the other hand, many Japanese soldiers of the Japanese military proved themselves to be much better than ordinary soldiers.

Some say that Woodrow Wilson failed to lead his country into the First World War because he was unwilling to sacrifice his principles for the expediency of a particular war. He did, however, lead his country into two more wars in the next decades. He also tried to bring America into the First World War but was unsuccessful. In fact, he never had any high political positions before he became President of the United States.

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