Woodrow Wilson

· Sold by Vintage
2.3
3 reviews
Ebook
720
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

The first major biography of America’s twenty-eighth president in nearly two decades, from one of America’s foremost Woodrow Wilson scholars.

A Democrat who reclaimed the White House after sixteen years of Republican administrations, Wilson was a transformative president—he helped create the regulatory bodies and legislation that prefigured FDR’s New Deal and would prove central to governance through the early twenty-first century, including the Federal Reserve system and the Clayton Antitrust Act; he guided the nation through World War I; and, although his advocacy in favor of joining the League of Nations proved unsuccessful, he nonetheless established a new way of thinking about international relations that would carry America into the United Nations era. Yet Wilson also steadfastly resisted progress for civil rights, while his attorney general launched an aggressive attack on civil liberties.

Even as he reminds us of the foundational scope of Wilson’s domestic policy achievements, John Milton Cooper, Jr., reshapes our understanding of the man himself: his Wilson is warm and gracious—not at all the dour puritan of popular imagination. As the president of Princeton, his encounters with the often rancorous battles of academe prepared him for state and national politics. Just two years after he was elected governor of New Jersey, Wilson, now a leader in the progressive movement, won the Democratic presidential nomination and went on to defeat Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft in one of the twentieth century’s most memorable presidential elections. Ever the professor, Wilson relied on the strength of his intellectual convictions and the power of reason to win over the American people.

John Milton Cooper, Jr., gives us a vigorous, lasting record of Wilson’s life and achievements. This is a long overdue, revelatory portrait of one of our most important presidents—particularly resonant now, as another president seeks to change the way government relates to the people and regulates the economy.

Ratings and reviews

2.3
3 reviews
A Google user
May 3, 2011
The author reveals in page 52 that Wilson did not like women teaching at colleges or even to be admitted. Interestingly his wife seems to be as chauvinistic as he was. Sadly the goodness of the book stops there. Perhaps the lack of passion for the humanity is the greatest problem of this book. The two crucial exuberant characteristics of Wilsons' personality are passingly dealt with as if the author is out of wall space to hang the rest of his portraits. Wilson was undoubtedly the worst president of the United States as far as infringing the political rights of people in the country. He imprisoned about 50,000 political dissidents. Only one of whom was Eugene .V. Debs, his political rival in the presidential campaign. But this very important issue is only dealt with in passing and no great insight is given to this important subject. The author is also almost silent about the crushing of the worker's union and masses by Wilson's Department of Justice which was a great tragedy. In the tradition the postmodern biographies, race is a central question in the book but despite providing his personal views, Cooper is unable to provide a satisfactory picture of why he thinks Wilson was not as racist as he is thought to be. In this area Cooper does not completely fail since he does draw our attention to his appointment of Black and Jewish Judges. But even in this part the author forgets the role of the lion of Idaho in appointing the first Jew to the court. Wilson's views on race perhaps more closely resembled men of the 17 century, like Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, whom he greatly admired. In this respect he was even more backward than some 18th century people of enlightenment. He had studied the founding generation closely and tried to mimic them instead of learning from their mistakes and flaws. He most likely thought a handful of Black people were capable men but generally did not imagine the entire mixed race as equals to himself. He did also admire the racist movie "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) and the racist director of the film was his friend.
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About the author

John Milton Cooper, Jr., is professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of Breaking the Heart of the World: Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations and The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, among other books. He was recently a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

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