Who Is Woodrow Wilson?

Woodrow Wilson is a well-known American politician and statesman. As President of the United States, he was responsible for a host of reforms. His book, The New Freedom, laid out the reforms that he advocated, and his administration successfully put many of them into practice. These reforms included a new tariff, revision of the banking system, and rules against unfair business practices.

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson’s early education

Woodrow Wilson began his formal education at an early age. At the University of Virginia, he headed the Jefferson Literary Society, participated in the campus glee club, and sang in the college quartet. In college, he taught a variety of subjects, including political economy and comparative government. After graduating from the university, he worked as a teacher in a variety of different settings and published numerous books.

Wilson’s first term as President was spent implementing a progressive domestic agenda. He enacted several important federal laws, including the Revenue Act of 1913, which lowered tariffs and instituted the modern income tax. Wilson also negotiated the passage of the Clayton Antitrust Act, which was intended to promote business competition.

After taking the oath of office, Wilson moved to the White House with his wife Ellen and daughters. His wife was a strong supporter of Wilson’s political career. She was committed to improving conditions for the poor, many of them African-Americans. She also supervised the renovation of family quarters in the White House and redesigned the East and West gardens close to the Executive Mansion. She was also a talented artist in the American Impressionist style. She had her own studio in the White House and often found time to paint in her spare time.

Wilson had little political experience when he became president, serving as governor of New Jersey in 1910 and as president of the United States in 1912. In spite of his lack of political experience, he managed to win the Electoral College and the popular vote against divided factions in both parties. Wilson won the presidency with 42 percent of the vote, which was the third-lowest winning percentage in history.

His political career

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson previously held the position of Princeton University president and governor of New Jersey prior to the 1912 presidential election. He was born in Newark and grew up in Queens.

Wilson launched his political career as a college professor and university president before becoming governor of New Jersey. As a governor, he pursued a progressive reform agenda that included the creation of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission. His peacemaking efforts earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. His political career was not without controversy.

Although Wilson had a successful academic career before entering politics, his progressive agenda resulted in many of his accomplishments being criticized. For example, he re-segregated many federal agencies, including the Post Office and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. This effectively reversed the hard-fought economic progress that had been achieved by Black Americans since Reconstruction.

In addition to establishing the Federal Reserve and establishing a new foreign policy, Wilson passed several important pieces of legislation during his presidency. In 1914, he signed the Underwood-Simmons Act, which reduced the tariff on imports and imposed a federal income tax. In 1916, he passed new laws against child labor and limited railroad workers to an eight-hour work day.

His Nobel Prize

Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Prize for his work on radio astronomy. He studied radio emissions in the ring of gas surrounding our Milky Way galaxy. In addition, he contributed to several scientific journals. He also studied the CO molecule in the Orion nebula. Afterward, he became an adjunct professor at State University of New York and was involved in various scientific organizations.

Wilson went on to earn a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University. He later published his dissertation titled “Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics.” Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, and raised in South Carolina and Georgia during the Civil War. His early life was influenced by the Presbyterianism of his father, who was a minister. He later acted as a college professor and wrote a book about peace.

Although the United States did not join the League of Nations until 1945, Wilson was awarded the prize despite his dissatisfaction with the peace negotiations in Paris. He had worked on drafting the treaty that ended World War I, but the U.S. Senate did not vote to accept the treaty. As a result, he did not attend the ceremony in Oslo. The Nobel Committee decided to give him the prize, even though he argued against it.

Although President Obama has endured a rough couple of months in office, his popularity at home and abroad is still quite high. And his Nobel Prize has added some significant prestige to his legacy.

His marriages

President Woodrow Wilson married Edith Bolling Galt on December 18, 1915, in Washington, D.C. The ceremony was celebrated under a green canopy banked with orchids, Scotch heather, and ferns. The ceremony was officiated by Rev. James H. Taylor, the pastor of the bride’s church.

Wilson’s first marriage was to Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. The couple met in 1883 and married in Savannah, Georgia. Their marriage was warm and happy, though it was marked by bouts of depression. During the marriage, Wilson had an extramarital affair with Mary Allen Peck. Ellen Wilson died in August 1914, and soon afterward, Wilson met and courted Edith Bolling Galt, a widow from Washington, D.C. The couple had three daughters together.

The wedding ceremony was intimate. The couple was surrounded by immediate family members and a few close friends. There were no swords or military braids present, and the ceremony was reportedly very informal. The wedding was planned for a Saturday evening, so no press or photos were allowed. After the ceremony, the newlyweds headed off for a two-week honeymoon in Hot Springs, Va.

The marriage was secret, but the two were closely linked. Before their marriage, Wilson trusted Edith with sensitive and confidential information. He often asked her to sit next to him when reading important documents and was often present at meetings with his advisers. Edith was protective of Wilson and would not consider taking over the presidency if her husband were ill. She also took on the role of a “steward” for Wilson during his recovery from a stroke in 1919.

His New Freedom platform

Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom platform called for the destruction of all trusts to promote economic competition. While Wilson was supportive of worker benefits, he never pushed legislation to make them universal or created a national health insurance system, as Roosevelt had proposed. Nevertheless, the platform was a major step forward in advancing the free enterprise system.

Wilson had an extensive legislative record, but his most notable accomplishment was the passage of the graduated federal income tax, which involved the federal government in the economy on an ongoing basis. This legislation marked a turning point in the governmental regulation of the economy. In addition, Wilson demonstrated his ability to balance the principles of New Nationalism and New Freedom, which culminated in the progressive movement of the early 20th century.

Although Wilson’s New Freedom platform was progressive and liberal, many of his policies disadvantaged working class people, women, and immigrants. He endorsed anti-monopoly laws and appointed the first Jewish justice to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also championed new technologies like the Panama Canal and the air mail service. He also vetoed the 1917 Immigration Law, which would have significantly restricted immigration to the country.

When Wilson became president in 1913, he felt the need to do more, but he had to do so while ensuring his reelection. He also signed many of the Bull Moose campaign’s policy proposals. He supported the creation of the federal trade commission, agreed to limit the hours of work for railroad workers, and signed the federal farm loan act.

His post-war peace treaty with Germany

Woodrow Wilson’s post-war peace plan for Europe outlined 14 principles that he believed would help in building a better world. These included abolition of secret treaties, disarmament, freedom of the seas, and national self-determination. The plan became the basis of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I in 1919. Unfortunately, the treaty did not go far enough to convince the Allied powers to pursue peace without achieving victory.

To begin the post-war peace process, Wilson travelled to Paris in December 1918, where representatives from France, Britain, and Italy met with German officials. The two sides agreed to a peace treaty and the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28. On July 8, Wilson submitted the treaty to the Senate for ratification. The treaty faced an uphill battle in the Senate, which was skeptical of the League of Nations Covenant. In addition, Republican control of the U.S. Senate had recently been achieved, which made the treaty even more receptive to Republican voters.

Nevertheless, Wilson did not give up and resisted signing the treaty, despite widespread opposition from his supporters. He undertook a speaking tour against the advice of his doctors, hoping to persuade the Senate to accept the treaty. He delivered forty speeches, covering almost 10,000 miles. He believed that most of the country supported the peace treaty, but he collapsed in Pueblo, Colorado.