Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson, a former Princeton University president and New Jersey governor, served as president from 1913 to 1921. He entered office with a domestic reform program but increasingly sought to shape an international order based on rules, national self-government, and collective security. His administration’s coercive interventions and racial policies often conflicted with those declared principles. ¹

Wilson initially proclaimed neutrality in the First World War. German submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram contributed to his request for a declaration of war in April 1917. American military and economic power supported the Allied victory. Wilson’s Fourteen Points outlined aims including more open diplomacy, freedom of navigation, territorial adjustments, and a general association of nations. ²

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Wilson secured inclusion of the League of Nations in the Treaty of Versailles but accepted compromises on other questions. The Senate refused consent to the treaty, divided over collective security obligations and the president’s unwillingness to accept some reservations. A severe stroke during his campaign for ratification further impaired his ability to govern. The United States remained outside the League. ^{2, 1}

In Latin America, Wilson ordered the occupation of Veracruz, sent troops into Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa, and began occupations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. These actions extended American intervention even as he criticized earlier forms of financial diplomacy. ²

His domestic program established the Federal Reserve and Federal Trade Commission and strengthened antitrust law. His administration also permitted expanded segregation in federal offices. During the war, the government mobilized industry and manpower while the Espionage and Sedition Acts enabled severe restrictions on dissent. Women won constitutional voting rights near the end of his presidency, but racial violence and political repression exposed deep limits to the democratic claims of the wartime government. ³