Changes

Jump to navigation Jump to search
592 bytes added ,  06:14, November 27, 2009
add
Line 17: Line 17:  
}}
 
}}
   −
'''Woodrow Wilson''' (born Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 1856 - 1924), a Democrat, was elected as the 28th [[President of the United States of America]], and reelected in 1916, serving from 1913 to 1921.  An intellectual leader of the [[Progressive Movement]], Wilson demonstrated his mastery over Congress by creating the [[Federal Reserve System]], lowering the tariff, and revising the [[antitrust]] laws.  Trying repeatedly and failing to broker peace during [[World War I]], Wilson in 1917 led the United States into the war. He set up a draft and trained millions of soldiers, sending the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] to France under the command of General [[John J. Pershing]]. Wilson played a dominant role in ending the war with his [[Fourteen Points]] and played the central role at the Versailles Conference that set the peace terms in 1919. He failed to obtain Senate approval for the Versailles treaty because it required American entry into the [[League of Nations]].
+
'''Woodrow Wilson''' (born Thomas Woodrow Wilson, 1856 - 1924), a Democrat, was elected as the 28th [[President of the United States of America]], and reelected in 1916, serving from 1913 to 1921.  An academic who became an intellectual leader of the [[Progressive Movement]], Wilson demonstrated his mastery over Congress by creating the [[Federal Reserve System]], lowering the tariff, and revising the [[antitrust]] laws in a way that ended most of the "trustbusting" and drew clear lineson what was allowed. In general these policies would be in line with conservative recommendations in 2009.  He supported liberal policies such as raising wages of railroad workers when they threatened a nationwide strike in 1916.
 +
 
 +
Trying repeatedly and failing to broker peace during [[World War I]], Wilson in 1917 led the United States into the war. He set up a draft and trained millions of soldiers, sending the [[American Expeditionary Forces]] to France under the command of General [[John J. Pershing]]. Wilson played a dominant role in ending the war with his [[Fourteen Points]] and played the central role at the Versailles Conference that set the peace terms in 1919. He failed to obtain Senate approval for the Versailles treaty because it required American entry into the [[League of Nations]] and a possible loss of control over the war-making power. Wilson refused to involve the Republicans in the peace-making, even though they controlled Congress, and refused the GOP compromise that would have allowed American entry into the League without giving up sovereignty.
    
Wilson was a very complex man filled with paradox. He was a southern conservative--an elitist with a profound distrust of radical ideas and such left-wing populists as [[William Jennings Bryan]], but became the Democratic Party's most effective advocate of advanced progressivism.  His progressivism in 2009 terms is a mix of liberal and conservative ideas, with a much deper religious underpining than is seen today. He ranks with Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan as the nation's most active and dominant chief executives. He ranks with Abraham Lincoln and Reagan as the most articulate spokesman for national values.  He was a war president who largely ignored military affairs and focused on very complex diplomatic issues.  He won his war, reshaped the world at the peace conference, and saw his nation reject his idealist League of Nations because he refused to work with republicans on its mechanics.   
 
Wilson was a very complex man filled with paradox. He was a southern conservative--an elitist with a profound distrust of radical ideas and such left-wing populists as [[William Jennings Bryan]], but became the Democratic Party's most effective advocate of advanced progressivism.  His progressivism in 2009 terms is a mix of liberal and conservative ideas, with a much deper religious underpining than is seen today. He ranks with Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan as the nation's most active and dominant chief executives. He ranks with Abraham Lincoln and Reagan as the most articulate spokesman for national values.  He was a war president who largely ignored military affairs and focused on very complex diplomatic issues.  He won his war, reshaped the world at the peace conference, and saw his nation reject his idealist League of Nations because he refused to work with republicans on its mechanics.   
17,394

edits

Navigation menu