Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)

"[Wilson] was rapidly nearing that psychic land from which few travelers return, the land in which facts are the products of wishes, in which friends betray and in which an asylum chair may be the throne of God. ... He had promised [his countrymen] and the enemy and, indeed, all mankind a peace of absolute justice based upon his Fourteen Points." ~Sigmund Freud

Every American loves Woodrow Wilson. Why does every American love him? Well because every American loves April 15th, of course! That's right, Woodrow Wilson first instituted the income tax!

But that's really not what I want to talk about. It just came out sounding really good in my mind. That was probably one of my favorite paragraphs I've written lately. But I digress...

On August 6, 1914, Wilson's wife died of Bright's Disease. This is also what killed Chester A. Arthur. However I'm going on a tangent again. I just do so love being able to connect things to him.

Wilson followed his predecessors' (Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft) Trustbusting theory, but went about it in a new way. Instead of going to court, he worked to pass the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, called the Magna Carta of labor. He also passed other legislation that increased wages and cut working hours. So he did some good things for America. (Assuming you don't believe monopolies help America.)

Wilson also strongly supported segregation. DC streetcars and federal agencies were segregated, and mixing of races was completely outlawed within the nation's capital. Yeah, I didn't believe that the first time I learned it either. Mixing of races became ILLEGAL within the borders of Washington, DC.

However, Wilson was extremely good at being neutral when World War I broke out in Europe. For instance, when Great Britain decided to blockade Germany by making vast areas of water unsafe for not only beligerant ships, but also neutral ships, and also to fly the flags of neutral countries on its ships so Germany wouldn't attack them, Wilson let it slide, despite being against international agreements. However, when Germany decides to torpedo a beligerant ship with a few Americans on it, oh dear Jesus step out of Wilson's way, because he is coming for you.

The RMS Lusitania was such a beligerant ship. There were sufficient warnings to citizens by Germany to not board the ship because it could be torpedoed. Guess what happened next. Americans got on anyway and the ship was torpedoed. Wilson reacted by stubbornly asserting that Americans have the right to sail on ships of whatever country they want, regardless of its being in a war.

Imagine for a moment that two girls are feuding. One allegedly was the cause of the other's boyfriend breaking up with them or something like that. So the two girls are arguing. If you were to step in at this point and make a point for one girl, the other girl will clearly verbally assault you in return. This is the same principle. If you associate yourself with Britain as it fights Germany, Germany will assault you. Though physically. And lethally.

Later, after the Zimmermann telegram and German unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson declared "a war to end all wars" and came up with his idealistic Fourteen Points. One Allied Power (and the technically non-Allied Power United States) victory later, Wilson compromises a few of his Points in the treaty talks, but still gets his main points through, including the League of Nations.

All's fine and dandy. But wait! He pulled an Andrew Johnson! He did something that Congress didn't at all like! His plan doesn't correlate with what they want! A Democrat put forth an uncompromising plan that a Republican Congress would not approve! (How this applies to Andrew Johnson as well is another blog.)

Wilson won the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts with the Fourteen Points, but peace negotiation had been solely his baby. The Republicans of Congress had other ideas that Wilson would not adapt the treaty to. As a result, the League of Nations that Wilson had worked so hard to create was never joined by the USA. And World War I never really ended for us either.

Woodrow Wilson. He kept us out of war.
















All the mothers of America probably love him for starting Mother's Day though. *Cue groans of men across the country*