| − | Wilson as president of Princeton, and [[Theodore Roosevelt]] as president of the United States, took an intense interest in the controversy over the reform of college football. In the 1890s and early 1900s, college football faced sharp of criticism over injuries and the role of athletics in college life. Roosevelt and Wilson, loyal followers of Harvard and Princeton, had defended football in the 1890s. In the fall of 1905, however, President Roosevelt called a conference of football experts at the White House to discuss brutality and unsportsmanlike conduct. Thereafter, Roosevelt worked behind the scenes to bring about sufficient reform to preserve football and insure that it would continue to be played at Harvard. In the years 1909-10, when college football again faced an injury crisis, Wilson worked with the presidents at Harvard and Yale to make reasonable reforms. Both Roosevelt's and Wilson's approaches were consistent with their strategies for national political change. In the years that followed the reforms on the gridiron, football evolved rapidly into the 'attractive' game that Wilson had advocated and a far less brutal game than the unruly spectacle that Roosevelt had tried to control.<ref>John S. Watterson, III, "Political Football: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and the Gridiron Reform Movement," ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 1995 25(3): 555-564 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/27551467 in JSTOR]</ref> | + | Wilson as president of Princeton, and [[Theodore Roosevelt]] as president of the United States, took an intense interest in the controversy over the reform of college football. In the 1890s and early 1900s, college football faced sharp of criticism over injuries and the role of athletics in college life. Roosevelt and Wilson, loyal followers of Harvard and Princeton, had defended football in the 1890s. In the fall of 1905, however, President Roosevelt called a conference of football experts at the White House to discuss brutality and unsportsmanlike conduct. Thereafter, Roosevelt worked behind the scenes to bring about sufficient reform to preserve football and ensure that it would continue to be played at Harvard. In the years 1909-10, when college football again faced an injury crisis, Wilson worked with the presidents at Harvard and Yale to make reasonable reforms. Both Roosevelt's and Wilson's approaches were consistent with their strategies for national political change. In the years that followed the reforms on the gridiron, football evolved rapidly into the 'attractive' game that Wilson had advocated and a far less brutal game than the unruly spectacle that Roosevelt had tried to control.<ref>John S. Watterson, III, "Political Football: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and the Gridiron Reform Movement," ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 1995 25(3): 555-564 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/27551467 in JSTOR]</ref> |
| | Wilson was the first southerner elected president since [[Zachary Taylor]] in 1848, and much of his political base came from young progressives in that region, especially intellectuals, editors and lawyers.<ref>Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson: The American as Southerner," ''Journal of Southern History,'' Vol. 36, No. 1 (Feb., 1970), pp. 3-17 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2206599 in JSTOR] Andrew Johnson was not elected; he moved from vice president to president after Lincoln's death in 1865.</ref> | | Wilson was the first southerner elected president since [[Zachary Taylor]] in 1848, and much of his political base came from young progressives in that region, especially intellectuals, editors and lawyers.<ref>Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson: The American as Southerner," ''Journal of Southern History,'' Vol. 36, No. 1 (Feb., 1970), pp. 3-17 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2206599 in JSTOR] Andrew Johnson was not elected; he moved from vice president to president after Lincoln's death in 1865.</ref> |