During Woodrow Wilson's two terms in office he
showed to be a great democratic leader in many areas. He managed to accomplish a lot, despite his
poor health that he had to deal with since his childhood. Wilson always had a strong interest in
government and was always looking for changes and improvements. As president he
was never afraid to show a bit of a radical side when it came to making
changes. He was constantly pushing for
world peace and the avoidance of World War I.
Even though he was unsuccessful in avoiding the war he showed to be a
great leader during it. He never gave up
on anything he was trying to do. His
last years of his life were dedicated to convincing the U.S. to join his League
of Nations.
Woodrow Wilson was born December 28, 1856. Through his childhood he was often sick. This did not keep him from building an
interest in education. His father and
him would read out loud to each other and discuss the books. If they were not reading often the two would
sit and talk about recent events. He
later moved onto college and studied American and British political history,
public speaking, and law. After college
he set up a law practice with Edward Renick.
Because he had not learned the field of law thorough while in school, he
showed a poor ability to be a lawyer.
During this time he was in and out of sickness.
( 2 )
Wilson did not
really want to be a lawyer. His main
area of interest was in politics. His
first taste of politics was during his term as Governor of New Jersey. He took this seat in office with sites of
presidency two years later. He let this
be known in a
letter he wrote
to a friend in June of 1910. In the
letter he said this "It is immediately, as you know, the question of my nomination for the
governorship of New Jersey; but that it is the mere preliminary of a plan to
nominate me in 1912 for presidency."(Encarta 5).
During his years
as governor he showed that he could change his political attitudes. He learned to be a little more patient with
other people. Before he found it
"very difficult to work with people who opposed him, and was not receptive
to the suggestions of friends who approved his ideals but trusted in slower or
modified processes"(Encarta 4).
This was shown more during his time of presidency at Princeton
University. Wilson's more conservative student body and faculty showed a
dislike towards his radical ideas. They
did not like the ideas of changing the teaching style and living style. Because of this many of his ideas were turned
down.
When he first
became president he pushed for equality of opportunity for all men, no matter
if they were rich or poor (Collier's 509).
He presented many new proposals to congress and often he presented these
new proposals in person. Wilson also
created new agencies such as the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade
Commission. He was also responsible for
the ratification of the 18th Amendment.
In 1920 during his second
( 3 )
term, he passed the 19th Amendment which allowed women
to vote. During this time he was also
pressured by the southerners to allow segregation in Washington D.C. He said that this would be in the best
interests of the blacks.
Woodrow Wilson did how ever show weaknesses
during his presidency. During World War
I he often took his time in making decisions.
He wanted to make sure that there wasn't any other way to avoid the
war. This was good that he was looking
out after the interest of the country, but it could also have made the war
worse. Wilson also was thought to be a
weak president by ex-president Roosevelt (Encarta 6). During Roosevelt's time in office he helped
Panama succeed from Colombia in return for rights to build the Panama Canal
through their country. He thought it was
very unnecessary to apologies to Colombia for helping the succession of Panama. Roosevelt believed that it showed Wilson's
weaker side.
Wilson did show a strong side in one area,
world peace. All through his first term
he aimed to prevent World War I. This
was the war that was known as "the ware that would end all
wars". He kept the U.S. neutral and
often visited other countries trying to get them to agree on peace. Keeping the U.S. out of war was a great
accomplishment and helped him win the 1916 election. But during his second term he found that he
could not avoid the war any longer. The
German's had said that they would attack any ship at sea.
( 4 )
It was only a
matter of time until the German's attacked a passenger boat carrying war
weapons. In this sinking 1100 civilians
died, and in that eleven hundred 128 were
Americans. Even though he believed war was wrong he
could not let his personal feelings influence his decisions. He knew that this is what America had to do,
and with this decision he addressed the people and gave his sympathies out to
the families who had son's going to war (Collier's 510). On April 2, 1917 the United States went to
war.
The U.S. was not
involved in the war that long on November 11, 1918 peace was signed and the war
was over. The president was quite happy
with this and presented a proposal that would help prevent war in the
future. This proposal was called
Wilson's 14 Points. In these 14 points
he suggests that a League of Nations be formed.
The League of Nations would have members from several countries come
together and discuss problems in the world.
Many countries liked the idea of a group who would try and prevent wars
from happening. Wilson pushed the United
States to join but because congress did not want to get involved in current
affairs, they did not. Not giving up
Wilson set out across the U.S. to tell everyone about the League of Nations and
his 14 points. During this time he
fought sickness, his wife continuously begged him to not travel anymore and to
go home and rest. But despite his poor
health he continued to travel America letting everyone learn more about the
League of Nations. Soon though his
health finally diminished so badly that he went back to Washington. After a few days he seemed to be okay, but
then he passed out. When he came back
around he was
( 5 )
paralyzed. He remained in bed for half a year. When he finally became well again it was too
late, his health was to poor and he had become to weak. People did not see
Wilson as the
same man he used to be he was weak mentally and physically. He fell into his last illness and died
February 3, 1924.
Wilson was a very good leader during his terms
of presidency. He showed great
enthusiasm to stay out of the war and to create world peace. He showed that he cared for the people and
that he would do just about anything to help them. Wilson learned to except other peoples
opinions and to be open to new ideas from others. Even though war was not avoided he learned
much from the experience and helped to create the League of Nations. With the creation of the League of Nations
the United Nations was formed to take it's place. Wilson helped to create many new amendments,
policies and agencies. All of his idea's
were strong and even though some of them did work out, they helped to created
stepping-stones for the presidents that followed. Without Woodrow Wilson we may not be the
country that we are today.
Works Cited
1. Colleir's
Encyclopedia, Vol. 23. Ed. Bernard Johnston. 1994.
509-510
2. Microsoft
Encarta '97 Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition.
Subject Search: Woodrow
Wilson. 1-15.
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