Woodrow Wilson

As the old present fades into the status of history and the future fills up the gap, thus becoming the new present, many monumental figures and essential leaders we've formed adamant opinions about are given a second look. In many cases, these new investigations can acquit these figures of charges previously levied against them. This is the case with Ulysses S. Grant. Once demonized as a corrupt buffoon who didn't understand a word of the oath he took for his inauguration, Grant has been exonerated, as his noble efforts to advance the rights of black people and Native Americans have recently been highlighted. Warren G. Harding has enjoyed a similar second glance, though he is still considered a below-average president. Woodrow Wilson, the subject of this article, however, has experienced the opposite results stemming from his re-analysis. Once glorified as a rational man of morality and learned historian who tried to bring freedom to all nations, Wilson is now seen by many as a racist tyrant worthy of being listed with James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson. Scholars still hold him in high esteem, but he has the privilege of having his name written in gold, frankincense, and myrrh alongside George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the Roosevelts.

Wilson has recently begun to receive a far worse, more scrutinizing treatment from historians and laymen alike. However, I would argue that, though Wilson was a very flawed man with a problematic presidency, the good easily outweighs the bad. Wilson, I think, was one of the greatest presidents America ever had. As previously mentioned, Wilson is often accused of being a mean-spirited racist who brought race relations back about 50 years. This characterization, though not without some foundational truth, is hyperbolic and mostly inaccurate. Many claim that Wilson resurrected the Ku Klux Klan by broadcasting The Birth of A Nation in the White House. Since The Birth of A Nation portrayed the KKK in a glamorous and heroic manner, Wilson is held responsible for the movement's revival. Wilson, however, had no idea that the movie displayed the KKK in such a positive way. While it was very irresponsible for him to still show the film without a thorough understanding of its message, his ignorance still must be mentioned. He also denounced the movie when he learned this.

Furthermore, Wilson is accused of having re-segregated employees of federal agencies. This is also false. Early into his tenure, many of Wilson's cabinet members requested permission to segregate the employees of their respective departments. Wilson obliged. While he did enable the re-segregation of federal institutions and deserves harsh criticism for that, he never vocally fought for or endorsed such a policy. Ironically, one of Wilson's most egregious actions in regard to civil rights is the one that is mentioned the least: He ignored a major spike in lynchings that occurred under his watch. I actually consider this Wilson's worst deed. While he did denounce lynchings in a presidential proclamation, he does not get the criticism he deserves for his inaction. The rest of Wilson's civil rights record, although, was very positive. He appointed the first Jewish member of the Supreme Court - Louis Brandeis - and opposed a California state law barring ethnic Japanese from owning land. He also signed a law giving citizenship to Puerto Ricans and convinced numerous Congressmen to vote in favor of the 19th Amendment, which required all states to give women the right to vote. When Congress drafted the Immigration Act of 1917 - banning most immigration from Asia and requiring immigrants to pass a "literacy test" - Wilson vetoed it. His veto, sadly, was overridden.

Regarding economics, Wilson did a ton of wonderful things to help poor people and the working class. He founded the Federal Reserve, which enforces financial and banking regulations. This, coupled with the Federal Reserve's control over monetary policy, has helped stabilize the economy and thus prevent recessions. Recessions still take place, for sure, but not to the extent they did before Wilson. As a protectionist, I oppose Wilson's reduction in tariffs, but I support his extension of the income tax to private citizens. Wilson also signed the Clayton Antitrust Act. This law helps fight the growth of monopolies by banning corporations from merging for solely anti-competitive reasons and requires that prices be based fully on quality, rather than a desire to suppress rivals. The law did exempt farms from antitrust suits, a bizarre choice in need of criticism, but it also helped workers by exempting labor unions from antitrust suits. To enforce the Clayton Antitrust Act and other statutes designed to fight monopolies, Wilson founded the Federal Trade Commission.

Though he may have let some federal departments segregate their employees, he also made history by providing financial reimbursement to any government employee injured on the job. Wilson's economic and financial reforms - known collectively as the New Freedom - also included the first system of economic aid for farmers and the Adamson Act, which said that no railroad employee could be forced to work more than 8 hours a day. The Adamson Act also mandated that when conducting overtime work, railroad employees receive a higher wage than they do for their regular hours. The crown jewel of the New Freedom was, by far, the Keating-Owen Act. The very first regulation against child labor ever passed, the Keating-Owen Act said that no item made with child labor could be sold outside of the state it was produced in. For example, a desk built by a child worker in New Hampshire could not be sold in Arizona, California, Iowa, or any state other than New Hampshire. Wilson also expanded conservation and established the National Park Service.

However impactful or positive his domestic reforms were, foreign policy was the centerfold upon which the majority of Wilson's legacy hinges. Here, Wilson deserves criticism for sending troops to occupy Haiti and the Dominican Republic. However, he also signed the Philippine Autonomy Act. Under William McKinley, the US fought and won the Spanish-American War. In the agreement ending that war - the Treaty of Paris - Spain was required, among other things, to cede the Philippines to the US. With the Philippine Autonomy Act, Wilson not only set up the first legislature that Filipinos could directly elect members for but also promised the nation its much-deserved independence as soon as it set up a stable government. It was because of Wilson that, under Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, the Philippines became a full-fledged, sovereign nation.

Latin America and the Philippines, though, are not what most people remember Wilson's foreign policy for. Instead, they remember that during Wilson's tenure, the biggest war in human history - up until that point, at least - began. On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand became the first victim of that war when Gavrilo Princip shot and killed him in Sarajevo, Bosnia (then a colony of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and Princip, though born in Bosnia and a Bosnian his whole life, was a high schooler with Serbian ancestry. Princip also wanted Bosnia to become part of Serbia, had ties to a Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand, had traveled to and studied in Serbia, and used a gun produced in Serbia to kill Franz Ferdinand. For these reasons, Austria-Hungary accused Serbia of being involved in or behind the assassination. As a result, Austria-Hungary began preparing for war with Serbia.

However, Serbia was a strong ally of Russia, so war with the former would likely mean war with the latter as well. Austria-Hungary, being notoriously inept and neglectful with its military, was not prepared for such a situation. So, on July 5, 1914, a group of Austro-Hungarian officials met with Kaiser Wilhelm II, the king of Germany. At the conference, Vienna asked for a pledge from the Kaiser that he would support Austria-Hungary in any action it took against Serbia, regardless of whether or not Russia became involved. The Kaiser agreed to these terms. On July 23, 1914, the July Ultimatum - a collection of demands that, if fulfilled within 48 hours, would allow Serbia to avoid war with Austria-Hungary - arrived in Belgrade. Since Austria-Hungary had always been looking for an excuse to annex Serbia, the July Ultimatum was purposefully unrealistic. It demanded, among other things, the dissolution of an anti-Vienna group called the People's Defense, the removal of all newspapers criticizing Austria-Hungary, and the dismissal of any Serbian government employees who disliked Austria-Hungary. Because the July Ultimatum was so unrealistic, the deadline of July 25, 1914, came and went with the orders left unfulfilled. As a result, on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, beginning World War 1.

Only a few hours later, Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary in support of Serbia. On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Serbia and Russia in support of Austria-Hungary. Montenegro then declared war on Austria-Hungary and Germany in support of Serbia and Russia on August 2, 1914. Owing to its alliance with Russia, France, on August 3, 1914, declared war on Austria-Hungary and Germany in support of Serbia, Russia, and Montenegro. This placed the Central Powers - i.e. Austria-Hungary and its allies - in a very difficult position: They now faced a war with two fronts, with an enemy in Russia off to the east and an enemy in France off to the west. Luckily, they had a plan for such a crisis, known as the Schlieffen Plan. Through this strategy, Germany would take advantage of the time Russia spent training soldiers, gathering revenue for the war, etc., to direct almost all of its resources to knocking France out of the war. Then, they could allocate all energy, time, and money to fighting Russia.

The next day, on August 4, 1914, German forces invaded France through Belgium, provoking declarations of war against Austria-Hungary and Germany in support of Serbia, Russia, Montenegro, and France by Belgium and its ally Britain. As this was all going on, Wilson was wise enough to realize how unnecessary and costly US involvement would be, thus ensuring his desire to stay out of the war. He was determined to sustain neutrality. He did this even as millions of Americans demanded entry into the war (generally on the side of the Entente, i.e. Serbia and its allies). Theodore Roosevelt himself urged Wilson to join the war on multiple occasions. Sadly, neutrality would not be possible forever. On November 3, 1914, Britain stationed bombs and naval vessels alongside Germany's northern coast, thus reducing its ability to trade and putting pressure on it to surrender. In retaliation, Germany launched unrestricted submarine warfare on February 11, 1915, threatening to attack any neutral or Entente ship spotted off the coast of Britain and its then-colony Ireland.

Americans were shocked by the brutality of unrestricted submarine warfare. They also disliked Britain's blockade, but since Germany was mostly landlocked, they could still access goods through other routes. The same was not true about unrestricted submarine warfare, as Britain is an island. American anger was amplified when ships boarded by United States citizens were also destroyed. When the RMS Lusitania was sunk in 1915, for instance, 128 Americans were killed. On March 24, 1916, a ship called the Sussex was sunk by German naval forces. Wilson considered this the last straw. On April 19, 1916, he appeared before Congress and gave a speech threatening to cut off diplomatic ties with Germany if unrestricted submarine warfare continued. Scared that the end of diplomatic ties would place them one step closer to war with the US, Germany signed the Sussex Pledge on May 4, 1916, saying they'd only search neutral and Entente ships seen near Britain and Ireland. The ship would only be attacked if German naval troops discovered weapons there. And even then, the ship would be destroyed only after all the passengers and crew were evacuated. Wilson was appeased and maintained diplomatic ties.

Sadly, this new peace would not exist forever. On February 1, 1917, Germany resumed the use of unrestricted submarine warfare. While Wilson didn't allow this to spiral into war between the US and the Central Powers and merely severed diplomatic ties on February 3, 1917, the circumstances surrounding Berlin's decision would spiral into war. On January 12, 1917, Arthur Zimmermann - the German minister of foreign affairs - sent a telegram to the German ambassador to Mexico. In the telegram, Zimmermann describes both the plans to resume the use of unrestricted submarine warfare and the subsequent fear that war with the US was imminent. From there, he tells the diplomat exactly what to do if the US joined the Entente: Propose a deal in which Mexico would join the Central Powers and try to convince Japan to do the same. In exchange, Mexico, after the war, would receive German economic aid and assistance in invading the US and capturing the lost territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. On January 16, 1917, British spies uncovered the Zimmermann Telegram and sent it to Wilson on February 22. On March 1, 1917, Wilson leaked the Zimmermann Telegram to the press, reluctantly asking Congress for a declaration of war about a month later. The US was now trapped in the carnage and misery of WW1.

Many people criticize Wilson for the fact that, during America's involvement in WWI, he signed the Espionage and Sedition Acts, banning all criticism of the war effort. I agree that this was an awful law and is something that Wilson needs to lose points for, but I do not think he is uniquely heinous here. John Adams served as president during the Quasi-War when the United States' decision to establish an alliance with Britain threatened to provoke war with France. As a result, Adams signed the Sedition Act, suspending the First Amendment until March 3, 1801. Andrew Jackson censored abolitionists by prohibiting the post office from giving anti-slavery texts to clients in southern states. Abraham Lincoln also censored Confederate sympathizers during the civil war. Do the censorship policies of Adams, Jackson, and Lincoln justify the censorship perpetrated by the Wilson Administration? Absolutely not. But these policies do show that Wilson was not especially immoral, at least not in this regard. Wilson's pro-war propaganda arm - the Committee on Public Intelligence - also contributed to the harassment of German-Americans, which further damages his score.

On January 8, 1918, Wilson gave a speech in which he outlined the 14 Points, the set of geopolitical principles that he wanted to define the postwar peace treaty. They were as follows:

1. Open knowledge of all future geopolitical agreements
2. Free navigation of the Ocean by all countries
3. The abolition of tariffs
4. A reduction in the size of all militaries to the smallest size still capable of defending their home countries from attacks
5. Unbiased resolutions to colonial disputes based on the actual will of the real people living in the territories being quarreled over
6. The return of land lost by Russia during the war to its authority
7. The restoration of Belgian independence
8. The transfer of Alsace-Lorraine from Germany to France
9. The expansion of Italy's borders to include all ethnic Italians in southern Europe
10. Self-determination for all Austro-Hungarian colonies
11. Self-determination for all Balkan nations
12. Self-determination for all Ottoman colonies
13. The restoration of Polish independence
14. The creation of an international organization tasked with resolving geopolitical disputes before they can spiral into armed conflicts

Unlike other Entente leaders, Wilson wasn't interested in punishing Germany. Of the 14 Points, only 1 is actually punitive in its treatment of Germany: No. 8, with its call for the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France. But even then, everyone knew that an Entente victory would mean such a concession. Instead, Wilson wanted to reorganize the international order based on principles like international cooperation, local sovereignty, armament reductions, and free travel between countries. Sadly, Georges Clemenceau of France and David Lloyd George weren't interested in these principles, with only Points 8, 13, and 14 making their way into the Treaty of Versailles that followed WW1. Instead, the Treaty of Versailles was a gross smorgasbord of bizarre measures meant solely to attack Germany even though other countries, such as Russia and Austria-Hungary, played a role in starting the war. Germany was formally blamed for WW1, had to dissolve its military, lost control of Alsace-Lorraine, was stripped of all its colonies, and had to pay off any debt stemming from the war. These conditions, which Wilson hoped to prevent, contributed to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the start of WW2.

There are other aspects of the Wilson presidency that I must discuss before closing this article. One of Wilson's most disgusting actions as president was censoring news articles about the Spanish flu pandemic, which led to an uncountable supply of deaths and a vast wave of misery. In fact, the Spanish flu originated in the US and not Spain. It only received that name because Spain had a free enough press to actually report on the crisis, meaning that Spain was the first country to learn about the new virus. Due to the stress of WW1, the peace conference at Versailles, and a national tour Wilson embarked on in the summer of 1919, Wilson had a stroke on October 2, 1919. Yet, he refused to resign, instead letting his cabinet govern the country in secret. However, there were also amazing accomplishments that I have yet to cover. Chief among these is the American Relief Administration. Founded by Wilson in February 1919, the ARA helped Europe recover from WW1 by setting up soup kitchens, providing medical supplies to hospitals, conducting 4,000,000 vaccinations, and helping schools pay their teachers.