Woodrow Wilson
In 1856, Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born to
Joseph Wilson and Janet Woodrow. Because
he was the son of a Presbyterian
minister, the moral ideology of Woodrow Wilson
had its foundation early in
his life. It is this moral approach to politics that
shaped American foreign
policy for a great part of the twentieth century. Wilson
was elected
president in 1910, as a result of Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose
split from
the Republican Party. The idealistic governor from New Jersey
believed that
the time had come for him to instate moral politics on the
American
people. Wilson had little experience in the arena of international
politics,
this is quite ironic of Wilson’s presidency because, Wilson himself
would be
chiefly remembered as a world diplomat, and, his domestic policy would
not be
long cherished. To understand Woodrow Wilson’s take on politics, one
must
first review his childhood and background. Born in the age of
slavery,
Wilson grew up as a racist. His parents both came from families
of strong
Presbyterian influence. Growing up his father would quiz him on
the Bible as
well as the orations of men such as Daniel Webster and Charles
Lamb. It was also
a result of his Scottish-Irish ancestry that Wilson began
to inspect the British
form of government, a government from which he would
later try to incorporate
ideas into American democracy. It was here, in his
childhood, which the
brickwork was laid for America’s leader in World War I.
(Walworth 14) After
attending Princeton University, Wilson became the
president of the University.
He instituted many reforms including the
defeat of the quadrangle system and a
development of a graduate school. His
belief was that Princeton was to transform
boys performing meaningless tasks
into thinking men. This goal was to be
achieved by using the British model of
the preceptorial program . After hearing
about this new method of
instruction, many vigorous young teachers flocked to
Wilson praising his
method. Wilson had now become the university’s Pastor.
(Walworth 89) When a
new contract concerning the new graduate school was
adopted, the pastor was
asked to leave the university life, he was now ready to
enter the political
arena. Many politicians in the state of New Jersey were
eager to have Wilson,
a democrat, become involved in politics. Muckrakers had
introduced New Jersey
as a state conducive to corporations and the political
machines they
controlled, and the need for an honest politician was greater than
ever. At
the time when Wilson began his political career, the New Jersey machine
was
lacking a democratic candidate that could take the place of
strong
progressive reformers. In the 1906 election for New Jersey’s senator,
Wilson
had all but conceded defeat, since the democrats had no viable chance
of winning
the election, or so he thought. After conversing with a Princeton
classmate,
Edwin Stevens, he realized that the bosses were trying to
place Wilson as a
candidate to cover up the real problems of the machines.
(Walworth 145) George
Brinton McClellan Harvey was the editor of Harper’s
Weekly Magazine during the
latter part of Wilson’s tenure at Princeton.
Harvey is largely responsible for
the governorship of New Jersey. It was
Harvey that made a deal with James Smith
Jr. Harvey guaranteed that
Wilson would accept the nomination if Smith used his
pull in the Democratic
Party to make Wilson the president of the United States
(Walworth 151).
Wilson reluctantly accepted the proposal from Harvey and Smith
and began the
march toward the presidency. As soon as Wilson was elected
governor of New
Jersey, he was seen as the man who would lead the Democratic
Party
towards a more righteous end. As governor, Wilson turned and fought
the
machines that had, unbeknownst to Wilson, in effect put him in office.
When
Smith learned of Wilson’s alleged betrayal, he announced his
candidacy for
re-election to the United States Senate, Wilson publicly
denounced this campaign
and had once and for all, ended the reign of the New
Jersey Machine. The time
for the 1912 election was near and a reluctant
Woodrow Wilson accepted the
challenge and the Democratic nomination. This was
largely due to the crises that
were blooming in the Mediterranean.
Nevertheless, Wilson campaigned and toured
the country giving the speeches,
which he had become famous for. Wilson then
secured the democratic nomination
when he earned the support of the influential
William Jennings Bryan .
Bryan had respected Wilson and had followed him since
the time of his
presidential reforms at Princeton, admired and congratulated him
on his quest
for governor and now supported him on his campaign for the
presidency,
(Walworth 203) The election of 1912 was one of great significance.
The
Bull Moose split of Theodore Roosevelt splintered the republican bloc,
and
Eugene V. Debbs would run under the Socialist ticket. The timing was
right for a
democrat to usurp the presidency and enter into a new era.
Despite the lack of a
strong republican candidate, Taft posed little threat;
democrats still pressed
toward the voters with vigor. After many speeches and
tours around the nation,
Wilson’s campaign treasury had run dry. Senator
Champ Clark of Missouri now
posed as Wilson’s greatest threat for the
Democratic choice, and the support
of William Jennings Bryan waned. (Walworth
228) The Machine politics of Kansas
City and New York’s Tamanny Hall, put
the partisan Clark ahead of Wilson at
the Democratic National Convention.
Clark reached 556 votes; a mark that for the
past 68 years meant the
candidate received the nomination (Walworth 230). In n
odd turn of events,
after New York delegates pledged to Clark, Wilson wrote a
message to be
delivered to Bryan stating that he would not accept a nomination
donated to
him by the state of New York. Bryan then swayed the Nebraska
delegates, as
well as much of the West, toward Wilson with the provision that he
would
withdraw his support if New York pledged to Wilson. After intensely
swaying
votes, Wilson received the democratic nomination for the office of
the
president of the United States. (Walworth 234) In the first election
since
Lincoln, and only the second since Jefferson, the United States had
a serious
third party candidate. As a result of the split in the opposite
party, Wilson
triumphed and led the Democratic Party to its first presidency
of the century.
Now that the turmoil of the domestic election was over,
Wilson could aim his
efforts at the reforms he hoped to impose, as well as
the growing tensions in
Europe. Wilson was a progressive and his domestic
policy reflected that fact. A
champion of the people and their democracy,
Wilson fought against "Big
Business" and the political influence they
had. Wilson wanted to end the
era of special treatment of "Big Business". One
example of this was
Wilson’s sought repeal of tariffs, which he believed
created trusts through
government. One such tariff was the Payne-Aldrich
Tariff. (Diamond 46) Wilson
also sought to reform the banking system. He
wanted to end the reign of New York
bankers like J.P. Morgan. His Federal
reserve bill allowed the national banking
system to be governed by an
altruistic public board, and not by the bankers
themselves. J.P Morgan
announced, only after the passing of the bill, that he
would give up some of
his banking dictatorships. (Diamond 104). Perhaps
Wilson’s greatest
triumph as a champion for the common man was his reworking
and passing of the
Clayton anti-trust act, a bill that Samuel Gompers called the
"Magna Carta of
labor." This, in effect prohibited the justice
department from prosecuting
labor unions under the anti-trust laws. (Diamond
118) As Wilson’s fight
against the abuses of business continued, he began his
pastoral role over the
American people. This leadership towards righteousness
culminated in the
passing of the18th amendment to the constitution. Prohibition
of the
production and sale of alcohol was Wilson’s greatest achievement in the
area
of moral legislation. This along, with his economic reforms, was part
of
Wilson’s plan to create a better society, a more moral and free
society. Along
with this new morality came a war in Europe, this would be
Wilson’s finest
hour. (Diamond 127) Wilson was an optimist of morality from
the south. Always on
the forefront of his agenda was domestic policy. It just
so happened that due to
circumstances beyond his control Wilson would have to
shift from domestic pastor
to the world’s priest. Europe was engaged in a
bloody war that soon would
involve the United States for a number of economic
and ethical reasons. It was
because of this war that Woodrow Wilson faced a
far more complicated foreign
situation than any president had before him. As
the war came to an end, the
chancellor of Germany had asked Wilson to
negotiate a treaty amongst the major
powers. Wilson agreed and, The Treaty of
Versailles was on the horizon. The
treaty was more than just the ideological
rhetoric of Wilson, but to the
European heads it was a revenge document
for ravaging their homes. Wilson was
treated as an outsider and often was not
taken seriously. It was at this
conference that Wilson presented his fourteen
points, and the infamous League of
Nations was set up. (Link 109) Among
Wilson’s foreign policy, the key message
was the issue of self-determination.
Wilson once said, "We must protect the
rights of those that cannot protect
themselves." This became the basis of
American foreign policy for the
next twenty years. Wilson believed that it was
the duty of the United States
to intervene in areas where the people were
fighting for their freedom from
an unjust government. By U.S. intervention the
peoples of this foreign land
would gain their freedom and set up a new
democratic government. Wilson,
however, contradicted himself with this policy.
In Mexico, the U.S.
intervened to protect it’s own interests and prevent a
Mexican
revolution. The justification for this was that, "Some
peoples," Wilson
believed, "were not fit to govern themselves
properly" and they must be shown
how to do so. (Link 24) The League of
Nations was also a product of
Wilson at Versailles. His dream of a union of
nations devoted to help each
other in times of crisis and protect world order
became somewhat of a
reality. This league would become a failure in great part
because the United
States failed to join. The league was set up to protect the
democratic
countries from invasion, but was not able to form its own army. The
reason
that the United States failed to join the league was not that it
viewed
Wilson’s self-determination as an ideal unworthy of pursuit, but
rather
because of American pride. The United States did not believe that it
should be
responsible to an outside force. American sovereignty was supreme
and no one,
including Wilson, could say otherwise. (Link 115) Woodrow Wilson
had an
interesting climb to the top of the political ladder. The professor
from
Princeton became the proctor of America. Through his valiant
speeches about
moral legislature and his shrewd attempts at negotiating on
the international
level, Woodrow Wilson created an American form of democracy
not only run by
dollars and cents, but also held accountable by morals. It is
for this reason
that Wilson is revered as one of the greatest presidents in
this country’s
history. Though much of Wilson’s ideology has washed away,
much abides. Be it
in Vietnam or the Persian Gulf, the idea of
self-determination has influenced
United States intervention (along with
other factors). Looking back on the
Wilson administration, one must ask,
"Why was the president of the United
States so involved in the freedom of
others?" The answer is quite simple:
The United States is a country
founded by men revolting against a great power,
fighting for freedom, and the
chance to govern themselves. They fought not only
for their economic
interests, but for the right bestowed on them as men, the
right to be
free.