rubber soul

28. WOODROW WILSON (PART ii)


Election of 1912: Wilson came into Baltimore as one of the two favorites at the Democratic Convention, the other being Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House. The machine politicians favored the moderate Judson Harmon of Ohio and it looked like a three-way race. The perennially popular Bryan was also a factor.

A two thirds majority was needed for nomination, and it promised to be a long convention. Clark was well ahead on the first fourteen ballots and the powerful Tammany Hall machine dropped Harmon to support Clark. This concerned Bryan, thinking that a deal had been cut with party bosses and Wall Street. As such, he threw his support to Wilson more or less thwarting a Clark nomination. As it turned out, Wilson wasn’t immune to deal making either. Another candidate, Oscar Underwood of Alabama, was about to withdraw in favor of Clark, but Wilson’s men convinced Underwood that he would get Wilson’s support if he (Wilson) dropped out. Underwood stayed in and Wilson was finally nominated on the forty-sixth ballot.

Wilson campaigned on campaign reform, tariff reductions, stronger anti-trust laws, independence for the Philippines, and most important, a breakup of all monopolies. He counteracted Roosevelt’s New Nationalism with what he called the New Freedom, which basically was a more extreme version of monopoly busting.

But realistically, Wilson could have ran on a platform of requiring all Americans to have their legs amputated, for the Republicans were spilt between President Taft and Roosevelt, who bolted to form the Bull Moose party. In the end, Wilson won with just 41% of the vote but with a large majority in the Electoral College.

First term: The first thing President Wilson did was to go after the tariffs. He believed that a lower tariff was necessary in order to narrow the disparities between rich and poor. This created a deficit in tax revenue so, after signing the Underwood-Simmons Act, which lowered the tariffs, he also implemented the income tax as the Constitution now allowed.

Next up was banking reform. Ever since Andrew Jackson torpedoed the Second National Bank, there wasn’t a real system of banking that could stabilize the market and there were too many periods of recessions and depressions, the most recent being the Panic of 1907. And by now, these financial panics were not only affecting the average person, but the bankers and corporations as well. This gave Wilson the impetus to push through the Federal Reserve Act which established a board that could control interest rates and the money supply. It also created twelve regional reserve banks where money would be minted and printed. I actually got to visit the Federal Reserve in Philadelphia as a kid. It was neat to see how money was printed. They wouldn’t give me any souvenirs though.

On the foreign front, Mexico became a hot issue. In 1913, Mexico was overthrown by the counterrevolutionary General Victoriano Huerta. Huerta was an authoritarian in the worst way and, while Europeans saw Huerta as a business opportunity, Wilson refused to recognize him calling his men a “government of butchers.” The next year, a few American soldiers were arrested, and Wilson had his excuse to send in the Navy, who occupied the port of Vera Cruz. Huerta fled and Venustiano Carranza, Huerta’s rival from the North, and supported by Wilson, took over Mexico.

The story wouldn’t end there though because, by 1916, the rebellion led by Pancho Villa had begun and President Wilson would have his hands full with the popular revolutionary throughout his second term.

There were even bigger fish to fry in Europe. Because of what seemed like umpteen alliances in Europe not to mention a slew of near wars over the past ten years, it was inevitable that something would trigger a major war.

And, on June 28, 1914, the straw that broke the camel’s back happened. On that day, the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by a Serbian National. This created tensions between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, who both had their allies that encompassed pretty much all of Europe. Within about six weeks, what became known as the Great War (later called World War I) would break out.

Both sides, now led by Germany and Britain, respectively, tried to draw the United States into the war but President Wilson agreed with the public outcry that the US should stay out of it only suggesting that both sides play nice when American shipping is involved.

A big controversy loomed in 1915 when the Germans sunk the luxury ship Lusitania, a British ship but not a military one by any means and also with Americans aboard. It was obvious now whose side the Americans would be on, and Germany appeased Wilson, knowing American involvement in the war would not be good for them. Wilson accepted the apology knowing the desire to go to war was small.

But Germany continued to push the envelope and began unrestricted submarine warfare. Their U-Boats would lead to the deaths of four American citizens. President Wilson protested again but this time Germany took a more arrogant stance. President Wilson ordered Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan to write a second note more or less threatening war against Germany. Bryan resigned instead feeling that there was no balance between the two major belligerents (Britain was pushing the envelope as well) and felt it would draw the US into the war. You see, besides being a creationist and an advocate for the poor (and maybe even a socialist), Bryan was also a pacifist.

Wilson drafted a third note, this time signed by the new Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, telling Germany that the sinking of another ship with American passengers would be an act of war. Things quieted down for a while after that.

There would be one more major act in Wilson’s first term when he appointed the liberal Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court. This is significant because Brandeis was Jewish and as such became the first Jewish member of the Supreme Court.

The Birth of a Nation Controversy: Woodrow Wilson may have been fine with Jews and immigrants (he vetoed an anti-immigration act in 1915 but it was overridden).

But when it came to African Americans, he was definitely a product of the old South. He curried their favor in 1912 and rewarded them by segregating the Federal departments.

The biggest controversy surrounding Wilson’s racism, however, came when famed movie director D.W. Griffith arranged a screening of A Birth of a Nation at the White House in 1915. Wilson was said to have praised the movie for its unflinching accuracy. This movie’s so-called accuracy depicted blacks as basically evil lazy buffoons that ate fried chicken and watermelon at legislative sessions (never mind they were all played by white men in black face), and they also liked to rape white women on the side. And thank God for the Ku Klux Klan for saving the pure white people from the scourge of black dominance. Yes, President Wilson, said quote, “unfortunately, this is all so very true.”

Of course, this was 1915, and even the Northerners weren’t thinking much about racism and Jim Crow in the South, nor did they really care.

But historians certainly took a look and, while the webpage I’m reading about Wilson seems to have him in the top five, other historians have condemned him to the middle of the pack. Two historians who I have been watching on YouTube in fact have him down as one of the worst Presidents in history and one of them calls himself a Christian Conservative.

So, yeah, he may have been one of the most progressive Presidents in history and he was the one who planted the seed for what would eventually become the United Nations.

But, like it or not, Woodrow Wilson was an unabashed racist.

https://www.thirteen.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_birth.html

https://www.history.com/news/woodrow...w-ku-klux-klan


Election of 1916: President Wilson came into the 1916 campaign looking fairly popular. His progressive agenda was certainly a hit with the public and, so far, we had stayed out of the conflict in Europe. The Women’s Suffrage movement was taking off and there was some hope Wilson would support that cause as well.

But the Republicans had gotten their act together. Roosevelt style progressivism was dead at this point. Roosevelt himself was still active within the party but now he was advocating going to war against Germany. But there was an isolationist mood within the GOP and there was a lot of resentment toward Roosevelt for splitting the party in 1912.

So, they went with Charles Evans Hughes, a Moderate Republican, and a justice on the Supreme Court. Roosevelt derided Hughes as a bearded iceberg but Hughes would win on the third ballot anyway.

The platforms were not all that different when it came to the Great War. Wilson was pushing for military preparedness while stressing neutrality. Indeed, his slogan was “He kept us out of war.” Hughes too advocated military preparedness which seemed less convoluted than Wilson’s plan. Also, the public was beginning to tire of the progressive reforms by 1916 and wanted to go in a new direction. So, Hughes’ chances looked fairly good.

Indeed, by the time Election Day rolled around, Hughes reportedly went to bed thinking he would win a close election. And it was a close election. Only problem was, the close election went to Wilson, with a plurality of 49% (Hughes pulled 46%) and a slim victory in a Electoral College.

So, Hughes went into obscurity until 1930 when he would succeed William Taft to become one of the best-known Chief Justices in history.

And the nation waited with bated breath to see if President Wilson would still keep us out of war.


Second Term: Before the second term even began, President Wilson tried in vain to suggest a peace without victory between the two belligerents. He also recalled General Pershing from Mexico after failing to capture Pancho Villa.

Germany notified the US that it would resume unrestricted submarine warfare and the US would sever diplomatic ties with Germany. The US was closer to war. A month later came the infamous Zimmerman telegram in which Germany was trying to persuade Mexico to war on the United States. Wilson had his smoking gun.

With the Zimmerman note released to the press, Americans were outraged, and Wilson was able to get Congress to declare war on Germany. The US was in the war. Laws were passed including the Selective Service Act that reinstituted the military draft, and the very controversial Espionage Act which limited the freedom of expression and called for a stiff fine and prison sentence for anyone who dared to criticize the military or the Government. It was far worse than Lincoln’s lifting of Habeas Corpus and made Adams’ Alien and Sedition Act look like the greatest Civil Rights act ever.

There was also an internal war against the International Workers’ Union, or the Wobblies for short. The Wobblies were a radical Union that argued mainly for socialism. And, yes, sometimes they would react with violence.

Wilson was not a fan of this group, or of any socialist/communist group for that matter, so he approved the first of many raids on this group in particular. By 1919, the raids had spread to any group deemed anti-American. The raids were led by Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, and they would become known as the Palmer Raids.

Women’s Suffrage was also on the table as was prohibition. Prohibition had been an issue for decades really and the push to make alcohol illegal in the United States was on the rise by 1917. Wilson himself never gave his opinion one way or the other, but Congress would submit the eighteenth Amendment for ratification by the end of 1917 that would prohibit the sale of alcohol.

As for women’s suffrage, Wilson, at best was unmoved by the protests led by suffragette Alice Paul; in fact, he was even bemused. Later, he would become angry having more protests broken up. Things got more violent, and women were convicted and sentenced to sixty days in prison where they suffered some considerably cruel conditions such as beatings, forced feedings, and unsanitary conditions.

Wilson was repelled by these militant women but with the US now in the Great War and sentiment beginning to favor the right to vote for women, President Wilson, after a plea from the more moderate Carrie Chapman Catt, introduced the nineteenth Amendment, which would give women the right to vote. And although the Amendment would fail in the Senate twice, the third time would be a charm in 1920.

As the Great War winded down in 1918, President Wilson introduced what he called his fourteen points. It was yet another attempt to end the war in Europe and he again called for peace without victory (whatever you thought of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, or Serbia, there really was no good guy in all this mess). Despite the rejection by England and France, Wilson’s document stands as one of the more historical and well-meaning documents of world history and it would be the blueprint in which the Armistice that ended the Great War would be drafted.

1917 was also the year of the Russian Revolution and, by 1918, the first of many Red scares would plague the United States. Socialism remained popular in some circles and Wilson, through Attorney General Palmer, were wanting to discourage the movement, thus the infamous Palmer raids. There was also a companion to the Espionage Act called the Sedition Act which permitted the Postmaster general to ban the mailing of anything deemed subversive. It also called for heavy penalties when criticizing the government or the war effort. Eugene Debs would soon be sentenced to ten years for violating the Espionage Act (later commuted by President Harding).

As the Great War was ending, a new war was blooming, and this was a medical emergency. For this was also the era of the Spanish Flu pandemic. It would be nice to say that Wilson tried to do something but, given his soon to be zeal for his League of Nations and then his subsequent stroke, he would end up doing even less than Trump. By the time it was over, 600,000 American were dead (and 20 million worldwide).

The Great War ended in November 1918 and President Wilson attended the Paris Peace Conference making him the first US President on European soil. He arrived to a hero’s welcome and became even more popular when he introduced his proposal for a League of Nations. The European nations liked the idea, and the Europeans would indeed form this organization, a precursor to what would become the United Nations.

But it didn’t prove to be as popular at home. The Republican Congress were in something of an isolationist mood and would spend over a year arguing about ratifying either the League of Nation or even the Treaty at Versailles.

Thus, Wilson set out on a League of Nations tour in the fall of 1919. His health wasn’t the greatest by then and doctors and some of his aides advised him against it, but he was determined to win public support. So, off he went, making forty addresses in twenty-nine cities. But he was unable to sway the likely indifferent public either. Suffering from exhaustion, he cut his tour short and a week later, on October 2, he suffered a debilitating stroke.

And Wilson would leave us with yet one more controversy. Since no one had any real faith in the Vice-President, Thomas Marshall, they kept the severity of Wilson’s stroke secret to the public (and to Marshall and the Congress) and Wilson’s wife, Edith Galt Wilson, more or less ran the White House, managing to get her husband to sign legislation as needed. She tried to stay as apolitical as possible but was influential in the firing of Robert Lansing when he held cabinet meetings behind the President’s back and wouldn’t accept a British ambassador’s credentials until he fired an aide that made unflattering comments about her. She is sometimes referred to (usually affectionately) as the first woman President.

With President Wilson more or less sidelined, 1920 would prove to be a quiet year in the White House despite the new Prohibition and the new right to vote for women. The Treaty of Versailles ratification failed as had the League of Nations proposal.

The United States was about to enter a new era.




Post Presidency: Still ill from his stroke, the last few years of Wilson’s life were rather quiet. He tried to form a law office with a partner but that fizzled when it was obvious Wilson was too ill. He fantasized about a third term in 1924 despite his paralysis and being nearly blind. He also still managed to publicly advocate for the League of Nations and managed a short Armistice Day address on a newfangled invention known as radio. This was in 1923.

Alas, Wilson would be unable to make a election bid as he died quietly on February 3, 1924.

Odd notes: Wilson kept a flock of sheep on the White House lawn (couldn’t afford a lawnmower I guess)

His parents were Confederate sympathizers during the Civil War

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...w-wilson-facts

Final Summary: Needless to say, Woodrow Wilson is one of the most complicated men ever to hold the Oval Office. On one hand, he made great strides in progressivism. He formed the Federal Reserve, he obviously supported immigrants given his several vetoes on anti-immigration legislation, and, despite his walk back on keeping the US out of war, he was, ultimately, a man of peace as he tried desperately tried to push the League of Nations, an organization that was, sadly, destined for failure. He even won the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

But he also had such a dark side, arguably evil even. He betrayed the blacks when he segregated the various departments and even encouraged laws that set back rights for blacks, especially in the South. And of course, there was the Birth of a Nation episode when his real feelings for blacks came out. That alone is damning, but then with the Espionage and Sedition acts which curtailed civil liberties to no end (and it was even upheld by the Supreme Court), well, needless to say I’m no fan of Wilson.

Still, he is remembered by historians (or at least some historians) as a great President for the things he did accomplish and at least had the foresight on such as the League of Nations.

As for me, I look at it as two Woodrow Wilsons. The good Woodrow, the progressive who advocated world peace and, eventually, women’s suffrage, I’d give an A to. But the bad Woodrow, the racist who didn’t believe in civil liberties gets an F.

So, I guess I average the grades out.


Overall rating: C

https://millercenter.org/president/wilson

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