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A rigid, self-exacting personality, whose uncompromising adherence to principles barred agreement on some of his most important political goals, he was a brilliant opportunist who won stunning electoral victories and led controversial laws through Congress.  He understood diplomacy and dometic affairs in depth, and was the first to recognize a solution that could satisfy most of the needs of the interested parties.  He was willing to negotiate endlessly, usually getting his way in the end, esopecially when his powerful rhetoric energized his backers.  A devout Presbyterian who studied the Bible every day, he elevated a religious style of idealism to the central place in American diplomacy. A lonely intellectual, he had few friends, and broke one-by-one with his closest advisors, until in his last two years in office he was an invalid controlled in large part by his wife.

A rigid, self-exacting personality, whose uncompromising adherence to principles barred agreement on some of his most important political goals, he was a brilliant opportunist who won stunning electoral victories and led controversial laws through Congress.  He understood diplomacy and dometic affairs in depth, and was the first to recognize a solution that could satisfy most of the needs of the interested parties.  He was willing to negotiate endlessly, usually getting his way in the end, esopecially when his powerful rhetoric energized his backers.  A devout Presbyterian who studied the Bible every day, he elevated a religious style of idealism to the central place in American diplomacy. A lonely intellectual, he had few friends, and broke one-by-one with his closest advisors, until in his last two years in office he was an invalid controlled in large part by his wife.

Wilson's idealistic foreign policy, called "Wilsonianism" sought to end militarism as a force in world affairs, vigorously promote national self determination, create international bodies to head off serious disputes, and use American resources to promote democracy. Wilsonianism (and "idealism" generally) is opposed to "realism" in foreign policy, which stresses a concern for American self-interest, especially in economic and military terms.  Wilsonianism reshaped the world in the aftermath of the Great War; its values lie at the core of the foreign policy of [[George W. Bush]] (2001-2009).

Wilson's idealistic foreign policy, called "Wilsonianism" sought to end militarism as a force in world affairs, vigorously promote national self determination, create international bodies to head off serious disputes, and use American resources to promote democracy. Wilsonianism (and "idealism" generally) is opposed to "realism" in foreign policy, which stresses a concern for American self-interest, especially in economic and military terms.  Wilsonianism reshaped the world in the aftermath of the Great War; its values lie at the core of the foreign policy of [[George W. Bush]] (2001-2009). [[File:Ww-sargent.jpg|thumb|350px|1917 portrait by [[John Singer Sargent]]]]

 

Wilson's grandfather (Joseph Wilson's father) was James Wilson, who immigrated to the United States from northern Ireland in 1807 and was first an editor of the [[Jeffersonian Republican]] newspaper the ''Aurora'' in Philadelphia, and later published Whig newspapers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Since his father had been ostracized by the northern relatives, Woodrow had no contact with his grandfather or uncles, who were active in antislavery Republican politics in Ohio and Pennsylvania.<ref>Francis P. Weisenburger, "The Middle Western Antecedents of Woodrow Wilson," ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review,'' Vol. 23, No. 3 (Dec., 1936), pp. 375-390 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1886371 in JSTOR]</ref>

Wilson's grandfather (Joseph Wilson's father) was James Wilson, who immigrated to the United States from northern Ireland in 1807 and was first an editor of the [[Jeffersonian Republican]] newspaper the ''Aurora'' in Philadelphia, and later published Whig newspapers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Since his father had been ostracized by the northern relatives, Woodrow had no contact with his grandfather or uncles, who were active in antislavery Republican politics in Ohio and Pennsylvania.<ref>Francis P. Weisenburger, "The Middle Western Antecedents of Woodrow Wilson," ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review,'' Vol. 23, No. 3 (Dec., 1936), pp. 375-390 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1886371 in JSTOR]</ref>

Woodrow grew up in the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction his father was a chaplain for the Confederate army. Woodrow saw the humiliation, economic ruin and shame that the loser of a war experiences and the hatred that grows from this, as well as the rampant corruption during Reconstruction in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. A victim of childhood dyslexia, he became an avid reader.  

Woodrow grew up in the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction his father was a chaplain for the Confederate army. Woodrow saw the humiliation, economic ruin and shame that the loser of a war experiences and the hatred that grows from this, as well as the rampant corruption during Reconstruction in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. A victim of childhood dyslexia, he became an avid reader.  His father imparted a love of literature and politics to his son; much family activity revolved around Bible readings, daily prayers, and worship services at the father's church.

In 1885 Wilson married Ellen Louise Axson (1860 – 1914), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister in Savannah, Georgia. She was an accomplished painter and a successful hostess; they had three daughters.<ref> See [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/ew28-1.html White House biography of Ellen Louise Axson Wilson]</ref>

In 1885 Wilson married Ellen Louise Axson (1860 – 1914), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister in Savannah, Georgia. She was an accomplished painter and a successful hostess; they had three daughters.<ref> See [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/ew28-1.html White House biography of Ellen Louise Axson Wilson]</ref>

==Education==

==Education==

Woodrow studied at Davidson College in North Carolina in 1873-1874 and at Princeton University from 1875 to 1879. he proved a exceptional student, primarily interested in debate and politics. He was an editor of the<I> Princetonian </I>and wrote his senior thesis on "Cabinet Government in the United States;" it was later published. The essay stressed the superior qualities of the British cabinet system and said it ought to be tried in the United States.<ref>Edward S. Corwin, "Woodrow Wilson and the Presidency," ''Virginia Law Review,'' Vol. 42, No. 6 (Oct., 1956), pp. 761-783 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1070269 in JSTOR]. It was published in a journal edited by [[Henry Cabot Lodge]], who became Wilson's bitter enemy in 1919.</ref> After graduation in 1879 he studied law at the University of Virginia; he was admitted to the bar and practiced in Atlanta, in 1882. Wilson's interest in scholarship led him in 1883 to enter the new Johns Hopkins University graduate school where he studied government and history, taking a PhD in 1885. Wilson is the only president to earn a PhD.  

Woodrow studied at Davidson College in North Carolina in 1873-1874 and at Princeton University from 1875 to 1879. he proved a exceptional student, primarily interested in debate and politics. His father always wanted him to be a minister; Wilson greatly admired the British Priome Minister [[William E. Gladstone]], a Christian in politics, and decided to emulate him. Wilson saw politics as a divine vocation--to be a statesman was an expression of Christian service, he believed, a use of power for the sake of principles or moral goals. Wilson saw the "key to success in politics" as "the pursuit of Perfection through hard work and the fulfillment of ideals." Politics would allow him to spread spiritual enlightenment to the American people.

 

He was an editor of the ''Princetonian'' and wrote his senior thesis on "Cabinet Government in the United States;" it was later published. The essay stressed the superior qualities of the British cabinet system and said it ought to be tried in the United States.<ref>Edward S. Corwin, "Woodrow Wilson and the Presidency," ''Virginia Law Review,'' Vol. 42, No. 6 (Oct., 1956), pp. 761-783 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/1070269 in JSTOR]. It was published in a journal edited by [[Henry Cabot Lodge]], who became Wilson's bitter enemy in 1919.</ref> After graduation in 1879 he studied law at the University of Virginia; he was admitted to the bar and practiced in Atlanta, in 1882. It was too boring.  Wilson's scholarship led him in 1883 to enter the new Johns Hopkins University graduate school where he studied government and history, taking a PhD in 1885. Wilson is the only president to earn a PhD.  

==Academic leader==

==Academic leader==

In 1885 Wilson was appointed instructor in in history at Bryn Mawr College, an elite Quaker school near Philadelphia, as a salary of $1500 a year (which was enough to hire a servant).  In 1888 he moved to Wesleyan University in Connecticut.  His reputation as an outstanding leader in political science brought him a professorship of jurisprudence and political economy at [[Princeton University]] in 1890. For the next twelve years he taught at Princeton, popular alike with students and faculty; he became the president of the school in 1902.<ref> Henry Wilkinson Bragdon, ''Woodrow Wilson: The Academic Years'' (1967)</ref>  

In 1885 Wilson was appointed instructor in in history at Bryn Mawr College, an elite Quaker school for women near Philadelphia, as a salary of $1500 a year (which was enough to hire a servant).  In 1888 he moved to Wesleyan University, a Methodist college in Connecticut.  His reputation as an outstanding leader in political science brought him a professorship of jurisprudence and political economy at [[Princeton University]] in 1890. For the next twelve years he taught at Princeton, popular alike with students and faculty; he became the president of the school in 1902.<ref> Henry Wilkinson Bragdon, ''Woodrow Wilson: The Academic Years'' (1967)</ref>  

Wilson soon emerged as the nation's foremost academic, in heavy demand in elite circle for his brilliant speeches.

Wilson soon emerged as the nation's foremost academic, in heavy demand in elite circle for his brilliant speeches.

At Princeton he rejected the Germanic model of the PhD-oriented research university in favor of the "Oxbridge" (Oxford and Cambridge) model of intense small group discussions and one-one-one tutorials. He hired 50 young professors, called preceptors, to meet with students in small conferences, grilling them about their reading.  He failed to get approval for his plan to build Oxford-style colleges where students and faculty would eat and talk together. Instead Princeton was dominated by "eating clubs" in which students ate with each other and ignored the professors.

At Princeton he created academic departments but otherwise downplayed the Germanic model of the PhD-oriented research university in favor of the "Oxbridge" (Oxford and Cambridge) model of intense small group discussions and one-one-one tutorials. He hired 50 young professors, called preceptors, to meet with students in small conferences, grilling them about their reading.  Complaining that Princeton was dominated by "eating clubs" in which students ate with each other and ignored the professors, he sought to build Oxford-style colleges where students and faculty would eat and talk together. He failed--the eating clubs are still there.<ref>Yale and Harvard later did adopt the college model for undergraduates, but not Princeton.</ref>

Wilson promote the leadership model, whereby the college focused on training a small cadre of undergraduates for national leadership, "the minority who plan, who conceive, who superintend," as he called them in his inaugural address as the university's president. "The college is no less democratic because it is for those who play a special part."

Wilson promote the leadership model, whereby the college focused on training a small cadre of undergraduates for national leadership, "the minority who plan, who conceive, who superintend," as he called them in his inaugural address as the university's president. "The college is no less democratic because it is for those who play a special part." He confronted the dean of the graduate school, who had the German research model in mind and outmaneuvered Wilson by obtaining outside funding for a graduate complex for serious scholarlhip that was well separated from the fun-loving undergraduates.

===Political theory===

===Political theory===

Wilson made significant contributions to political science.<ref> he also wrote popular history of high quality, including a five-volume history of the United States and a life of George Washington.</ref>  In 1885 he published his influential treatise ''Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics'', based on his PhD dissertation. It set a new standard in analyzing the actual workings of the federal government with striking clarity and thoroughness. Although Wilson had never visited Congress, his emphasis on the centrality of committees in Congress was a major contribution to the study of political science.  Noting how the Constitution's separation of powers had been eroded since the Civil War by the increasing power of Congress, he suggested a remedy for this in a cabinet-style government of the variety proposed by [[Walter Bagehot]] in Britain. By criticizing the Constitutionalist and Federalist traditions that had characterized American politics for a century, and showing their faults, Wilson sought to open a serious debate on the political changes in the United States in the intervening century and whether the Constitution remained an adequate regulator of these. By the time he wrote ''Constitutional Government in the United States'' (1908), Wilson was advocating the need for constitutional reform that would make Congress and president more representative and, above all, the need for a strong president who could influence Congress rather than submit to it.

Wilson made significant contributions to political science.<ref> he also wrote popular history of high quality, including a five-volume history of the United States and a life of George Washington.</ref>  In 1885 he published his influential treatise ''Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics'', based on his PhD dissertation. It set a new standard in analyzing the actual workings of the federal government with striking clarity and thoroughness. Although Wilson had never visited Congress, his emphasis on the centrality of committees in Congress was a major contribution to the study of political science.  Noting how the Constitution's separation of powers had been eroded since the Civil War by the increasing power of Congress, he suggested a remedy for this in a cabinet-style government of the variety proposed by [[Walter Bagehot]] in Britain. By criticizing the Constitutionalist and Federalist traditions that had characterized American politics for a century, and showing their faults, Wilson sought to open a serious debate on the political changes in the United States in the intervening century and whether the Constitution remained an adequate regulator of these. By the time he wrote ''Constitutional Government in the United States'' (1908), Wilson was advocating the need for constitutional reform that would make Congress and president more representative and, above all, the need for a strong president who could influence Congress rather than submit to it.

Wilson drew on Southern conservatism in the development of his political philosophy and identity as a politician from the 1890's to 1921. While Wilson forged a Progressive reformist outlook that encompassed limited government intervention in social and economic matters, he embraced a conservative, organic conception of social change drawn partially from the thought of Edmund Burke and partially from a mythical vision of the Old South as a model of social stability and integration. Deeply alarmed by labor and agrarian radicalism in the 1890s, Wilson resolved to cleanse the Democratic Party of Populist influence. His political vision ultimately sought to adapt American society to the new economic conditions of the 20th century, chiefly defined by the magnification of corporate power, while retaining the race and class hierarchies of tradition. Wilson's vision of Southern conservatism as a regenerative force set the precedent for the conservative ideology that dominated American politics since the 1980s.<ref> Michael Dennis, Woodrow Wilson and Southern Reform Conservatism  Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South; 2006 13(3-4): 1-28. </ref>

Wilson drew on Southern conservatism in the development of his political philosophy and identity as a politician from the 1890's to 1921. While Wilson forged a Progressive reformist outlook that encompassed limited government intervention in social and economic matters, he embraced a conservative, organic conception of social change drawn partially from the thought of Edmund Burke and partially from a mythical vision of the Old South as a model of social stability and integration. Deeply alarmed by labor and agrarian radicalism in the 1890s, Wilson resolved to cleanse the Democratic Party of Populist influence. His political vision ultimately sought to adapt American society to the new economic conditions of the 20th century, chiefly defined by the magnification of corporate power, while retaining the race and class hierarchies of tradition. Wilson's vision of Southern conservatism as a regenerative force set the precedent for the conservative ideology that dominated American politics since the 1980s.<ref> Michael Dennis, Woodrow Wilson and Southern Reform Conservatism  Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South; 2006 13(3-4): 1-28. </ref>

==Reform governor==

==Reform governor==

By 1910 when internal politics at Princeton meant that the research university became dominant. Frustrated, Wilson moved into state politics, winning the governorship of New Jersey as a Democrat in 1910, supported by the party bosses.  He immediately broke with the bosses and launched a reform administration that was a model of Progressive Era state government. Wilson by 1912 had emerged as the leader of the [[Progressive Movement]] in the Democratic Party.

As early as 1906 Wilson came under the influence of Colonel George Harvey (1864-1928), a conservative Democrat who owned a publishing empire that included the ''New York World'' and ''Harper's Weekly'' magazine, reaching the nation's intellectual elite. Harvey, with close ties to Wall Street and [[J. P. Morgan]], saw a future conservative president and promoted Wilson heavily. Wilson became the intellecual leader of the anti-Bryan, anti-Populist wing of the Democratic Party.  Harvey helped convince the old-fashioned bosses in New Jersey's cities to make Wilson the Democratic nominee for gobvernor in 1910, explaining this would bring in the mioddle class vote. Wilson, frustrated at Princeton, made the move and was elected.  Wilson then broke with the bosses, and Harvey, denounced Wall Street and the bosses, and electrified the nation with his Progressive reforms in the notoriously corrupt government of New Jersey. Wilson by 1912 had emerged as the cleanest, most religious, best known and most dynamic leader of the [[Progressive Movement]] in the Democratic Party.

==Election of 1912==

==Election of 1912==

====Russia====

====Russia====

Wilson's commitment to the principle of self-determination affected his decision to intervene in Russia in 1918, as the Bolsheviks (Communists) took power. Unswayed by British, French, and Japanese pressure, Wilson insisted that, unless the Russians invited them, the Allies should not interfere with Russia's internal affairs. In the summer of 1918, the president sent American troops into Siberia with the sole purpose of protecting Czechoslovak soldiers who had broken oujt of POW camps and were an independent force. Later Wilson realized that the other Allied nations were using the rescue mission as an 'anti-Bolshevik' crusade and for imperialistic motives. As a result, the president ordered US forces to withdraw.<ref> </ref> Wilson and subsequent presidents until 1933 refused to recognize the new Communist government, and Russia was not invited to the Paris Peace Conference.<ref> Betty Miller Unterberger, "Woodrow Wilson and the Bolsheviks: the 'Acid Test' of Soviet-American Relations," ''Diplomatic History'' 1987 11(2): 71-90,</ref>   

Wilson's commitment to the principle of self-determination affected his decision to intervene in Russia in 1918, as the Bolsheviks (Communists) took power. Unswayed by British, French, and Japanese pressure, Wilson insisted that, unless the Russians invited them, the Allies should not interfere with Russia's internal affairs. In the summer of 1918, the president sent American troops into Siberia with the sole purpose of protecting Czechoslovak soldiers who had broken oujt of POW camps and were an independent force. Later Wilson realized that the other Allied nations were using the rescue mission as an 'anti-Bolshevik' crusade and for imperialistic motives. As a result, the president ordered US forces to withdraw.<ref> </ref> Wilson and subsequent presidents until 1933 refused to recognize the new Communist government, and Russia was not invited to the Paris Peace Conference.<ref> Betty Miller Unterberger, "Woodrow Wilson and the Bolsheviks: the 'Acid Test' of Soviet-American Relations," ''Diplomatic History'' 1987 11(2): 71-90,</ref>   

====Versailles====

====Mideast====

 

=====Fight for the League=====

==Wilson and religion==

==Wilson and religion==