Woodrow Wilson

president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

Woodrow Wilson was an American politician who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. He was a progressive Democrat who previously served as the governor of New Jersey and the president of Princeton University. As president, Wilson changed the nation’s economic policies and led the U.S. into World War I, while also being the leading architect of the League of Nations.

Table of Contents

Family Info

Siblings

Joseph Ruggles Wilson Jr.

Marion Morton Wilson

Annie Josephine Wilson

Spouses

Edith Bolling Galt Wilson

Ellen Axson Wilson

Children

Margaret Woodrow Wilson

Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre

Eleanor Wilson McAdoo

About the Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilsonwas an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. He was a progressive Democrat who previously served as the governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913 and as the president of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910. As president, Wilson changed the nation’s economic policies and led the United States into World War I. He was the leading architect of the League of Nations, and his progressive stance on foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonianism.

Born in Staunton, Virginia, Wilson grew up in the Southern United States during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. After earning a Ph.D. in history and political science from Johns Hopkins University, Wilson taught at several colleges prior to being appointed president of Princeton University, where he emerged as a prominent spokesman for progressivism in higher education. Wilson served as governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913, during which he broke with party bosses and won the passage of several progressive reforms. Wilson defeated incumbent Republican William Howard Taft and third-party nominee Theodore Roosevelt to easily win the 1912 presidential election, becoming the first Southerner to do so since 1848.

During his first year as president, Wilson authorized the widespread imposition of segregation inside the federal bureaucracy and his opposition to women’s suffrage drew protests. His first term was largely devoted to pursuing passage of his progressive New Freedom domestic agenda. His first major priority was the Revenue Act of 1913, which began the modern income tax, and the Federal Reserve Act, which created the Federal Reserve System. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the U.S. declared neutrality as Wilson tried to negotiate a peace between the Allied and Central Powers. He narrowly won re-election in 1916 against Charles Evans Hughes. In April 1917, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany in response to its policy of unrestricted submarine warfare that sank American merchant ships. Wilson concentrated on diplomacy, issuing the Fourteen Points that the Allies and Germany accepted as a basis for post-war peace. He wanted the off-year elections of 1918 to be a referendum endorsing his policies, but instead, the Republicans took control of Congress. After the Allied victory in November 1918, Wilson attended the Paris Peace Conference. Wilson successfully advocated for the establishment of a multinational organization, the League of Nations, which was incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles that he signed, but back home he rejected a Republican compromise that would have allowed the Senate to ratify the Versailles Treaty and join the League.

Wilson had intended to seek a third term in office but had a stroke in October 1919 that left him incapacitated. His wife and his physician controlled Wilson, and no significant decisions were made. Meanwhile, his policies alienated German- and Irish-American Democrats and the Republicans won a landslide in the 1920 presidential election. Scholars have generally ranked Wilson in the upper tier of U.S. presidents, although he has been criticized for supporting racial segregation. His liberalism nevertheless lives on as a major factor in American foreign policy, and his vision of national self-determination resonates globally to this day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. He was a progressive Democrat who previously served as the governor of New Jersey and the president of Princeton University.

Woodrow Wilson was born on December 28, 1856, and died on February 3, 1924.

As president, Woodrow Wilson changed the nation’s economic policies, led the United States into World War I, and was the leading architect of the League of Nations.

Woodrow Wilson was a progressive Democrat who pursued a progressive domestic agenda, known as the New Freedom, and took a progressive stance on foreign policy, which came to be known as Wilsonianism.

As president, Woodrow Wilson led the United States into World War I in 1917 in response to Germany’s policy of unrestricted submarine warfare that sank American merchant ships.

At the Paris Peace Conference, Woodrow Wilson successfully advocated for the establishment of the League of Nations, which was incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles that he signed.

Woodrow Wilson had a stroke in October 1919 that left him incapacitated, and his wife and physician controlled the government, with no significant decisions being made during this time.

66 Quotes by Woodrow Wilson

  1. 1.

    The world is not looking for servants, there are plenty of these, but for masters, men who form their purposes and then carry them out, let the consequences be what they may.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  2. 2.

    As compared with the college politician, the real article seems like an amateur.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  3. 3.

    If you think too much about being re-elected, it is very difficult to be worth re-electing.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  4. 4.

    I will not speak with disrespect of the Republican Party. I always speak with respect of the past.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  5. 5.

    You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  6. 6.

    Neutrality is a negative word. It does not express what America ought to feel. We are not trying to keep out of trouble; we are trying to preserve the foundations on which peace may be rebuilt.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  7. 7.

    America is not anything if it consists of each of us. It is something only if it consists of all of us.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  8. 8.

    He is not a true man of the world who knows only the present fashions of it.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  9. 9.

    The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  10. 10.

    The question of armaments, whether on land or sea, is the most immediately and intensely practical question connected with the future fortunes of nations and of mankind.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  11. 11.

    By ‘radical,’ I understand one who goes too far; by ‘conservative,’ one who does not go far enough; by ‘reactionary,’ one who won’t go at all.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  12. 12.

    I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  13. 13.

    A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States helpless and contemptible.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  14. 14.

    In the Lord’s Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  15. 15.

    Interest does not tie nations together; it sometimes separates them. But sympathy and understanding does unite them.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  16. 16.

    There can be no equality or opportunity if men and women and children be not shielded in their lives from the consequences of great industrial and social processes which they cannot alter, control, or singly cope with.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  17. 17.

    When I give a man an office, I watch him carefully to see whether he is swelling or growing.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  18. 18.

    America lives in the heart of every man everywhere who wishes to find a region where he will be free to work out his destiny as he chooses.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  19. 19.

    I am not sure that it is of the first importance that you should be happy. Many an unhappy man has been of deep service to himself and to the world.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  20. 20.

    Property as compared with humanity, as compared with the red blood in the American people, must take second place, not first place.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  21. 21.

    If you want to make enemies, try to change something.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  22. 22.

    The method of political science is the interpretation of life; its instrument is insight, a nice understanding of subtle, unformulated conditions.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  23. 23.

    Absolute identity with one’s cause is the first and great condition of successful leadership.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  24. 24.

    The only use of an obstacle is to be overcome. All that an obstacle does with brave men is, not to frighten them, but to challenge them.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  25. 25.

    The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  26. 26.

    Never attempt to murder a man who is committing suicide.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  27. 27.

    Golf is a game in which one endeavors to control a ball with implements ill adapted for the purpose.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  28. 28.

    The government, which was designed for the people, has got into the hands of the bosses and their employers, the special interests. An invisible empire has been set up above the forms of democracy.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  29. 29.

    Caution is the confidential agent of selfishness.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  30. 30.

    If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  31. 31.

    Democracy is not so much a form of government as a set of principles.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  32. 32.

    At every crisis in one’s life, it is absolute salvation to have some sympathetic friend to whom you can think aloud without restraint or misgiving.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  33. 33.

    If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  34. 34.

    There are blessed intervals when I forget by one means or another that I am President of the United States.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  35. 35.

    The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  36. 36.

    What we seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  37. 37.

    The American Revolution was a beginning, not a consummation.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  38. 38.

    Generally young men are regarded as radicals. This is a popular misconception. The most conservative persons I ever met are college undergraduates. The radicals are the men past middle life.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  39. 39.

    The seed of revolution is repression.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  40. 40.

    It is like writing history with lightning and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  41. 41.

    My dream of politics all my life has been that it is the common business, that it is something we owe to each other to understand and discuss with absolute frankness.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  42. 42.

    Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  43. 43.

    America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal – to discover and maintain liberty among men.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  44. 44.

    So far as the colleges go, the sideshows are swallowing up the circus.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  45. 45.

    I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  46. 46.

    Prosperity is necessarily the first theme of a political campaign.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  47. 47.

    Politics I conceive to be nothing more than the science of the ordered progress of society along the lines of greatest usefulness and convenience to itself.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  48. 48.

    A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  49. 49.

    You cannot, in human experience, rush into the light. You have to go through the twilight into the broadening day before the noon comes and the full sun is upon the landscape.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  50. 50.

    A conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  51. 51.

    Business underlies everything in our national life, including our spiritual life. Witness the fact that in the Lord’s Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  52. 52.

    That a peasant may become king does not render the kingdom democratic.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  53. 53.

    One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels. The thing to do is to supply light and not heat.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  54. 54.

    Liberty has never come from Government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  55. 55.

    The history of liberty is a history of resistance.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  56. 56.

    There is little for the great part of the history of the world except the bitter tears of pity and the hot tears of wrath.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  57. 57.

    Tell me what is right and I will fight for it.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  58. 58.

    There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  59. 59.

    We have not given science too big a place in our education, but we have made a perilous mistake in giving it too great a preponderance in method in every other branch of study.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  60. 60.

    I have come slowly into possession of such powers as I have. I receive the opinions of my day. I do not conceive them. But I receive them into a vivid mind.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  61. 61.

    Every man who takes office in Washington either grows or swells, and when I give a man an office, I watch him carefully to see whether he is growing or swelling.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  62. 62.

    The awakening of the people of China to the possibilities under free government is the most significant, if not the most momentous, event of our generation.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  63. 63.

    My own ideals for the university are those of a genuine democracy and serious scholarship. These two, indeed, seem to go together.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  64. 64.

    I would rather lose in a cause that will some day win, than win in a cause that will some day lose.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  65. 65.

    I have long enjoyed the friendship and companionship of Republicans because I am by instinct a teacher, and I would like to teach them something.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921

  66. 66.

    Princeton is no longer a thing for Princeton men to please themselves with. Princeton is a thing with which Princeton men must satisfy the country.

    Woodrow Wilson

    president of the United States from 1913 to 1921