Thomas Woodrow Wilson and Warren Gamaliel Harding
Thomas Woodrow Wilson and Warren Gamaliel Harding
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 28th President of the United States, in office from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913. Running against Republican incumbent William Howard Taft, Socialist Party of America candidate Eugene V. Debs, and former President Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. Sony SVS131A11L Battery
In his first term as President, Wilson persuaded a Democratic Congress to pass major progressive reforms. Historian John M. Cooper argues that, in his first term, Wilson successfully pushed a legislative agenda that few presidents have equaled, remaining unmatched up until the New Deal.[1
Sony PCG-41414L Battery] This agenda included the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act and an income tax. Child labor was curtailed by the Keating–Owen Act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918.
Sony PCG-41413L Battery Wilson also had Congress pass the Adamson Act, which imposed an 8-hour workday for railroads.[2] Wilson, at first unsympathetic, became a major advocate for women's suffrage after public pressure convinced him that to oppose women's suffrage was politically unwise.
Although Wilson promised African Americans "fair dealing...in advancing the interests of their race in the United States", the Wilson administration implemented a policy of racial segregation for federal employees.[3]
Sony PCG-41411L Battery Although considered a modern liberal visionary giant as President, in terms of implementing domestic race relations, however, Wilson was "deeply racist in his thoughts and politics, and apparently was comfortable being so."[4] Sony SVS131B11L Battery
Narrowly re-elected in 1916, he had full control of American entry into World War I, and his second term centered on World War I and the subsequent peace treaty negotiations in Paris. He based his re-election campaign around the slogan, Sony SVS151A11L Battery
"He kept us out of war", but U.S. neutrality was challenged in early 1917 when the German Empire began unrestricted submarine warfare despite repeated strong warnings and tried to enlist Mexico as an ally. In April 1917, Sony SVS151B11L Battery
Wilson asked Congress to declare war. During the war, Wilson focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war itself primarily in the hands of the Army. On the home front in 1917,
Sony PCG-41218L Battery he began the United States' first draft since the American Civil War; borrowed billions of dollars in war funding through the newly established Federal Reserve Bank and Liberty Bonds;
Sony PCG-41217L Batteryset up the War Industries Board; promoted labor union cooperation; supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act; took over control of the railroads; and suppressed anti-war movements. Sony SVS151G1GL Battery
Sony PCG-41216L BatteryDuring his term in office, Wilson gave a well-known Flag Day speech that fueled the wave of anti-German sentiment sweeping the country in 1917–18.[5] Sony PCG-4121DL Battery
In the late stages of the war, Wilson took personal control of negotiations with Germany, including the armistice. In 1918, he issued his Fourteen Points, his view of a post-war world that could avoid another terrible conflict. In 1919, Sony PCG-4121EL Battery
he went to Paris to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. In 1919, Sony PCG-4121FL Battery
Sony PCG-41215L Battery Wilson engaged in an intense fight with Henry Cabot Lodge and the Republican-controlled Senate over giving the League of Nations power to force the U.S. into a war. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke that left his wife in control until he left office in March 1921.
Sony PCG-41214L BatteryThe Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles, the U.S. never joined the League, and the Republicans won a landslide in 1920 by denouncing Wilson's policies.
An intellectual with very high writing standards, Wilson was a highly effective partisan campaigner as well as legislative strategist. Sony PCG-4121GL Battery
Sony PCG-41213L Battery A Presbyterian of deep religious faith, Wilson appealed to a gospel of service and infused a profound sense of moralism into his idealistic internationalism, now referred to as "Wilsonian". Sony PCG-41211L Battery
Sony PCG-41212L BatteryWilsonianism calls for the United States to enter the world arena to fight for democracy, and has been a contentious position in American foreign policy.[6] Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery
Sony PCG-61913L Battery [7][8] For his sponsorship of the League of Nations, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.[9]
Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, on December 28, 1856, the third of four children of Joseph Ruggles Wilson (1822–1903) and Jessie Janet Woodrow (1826–1888).[10Sony SVS131C1DL Battery
] His ancestry was Scottish and Scots-Irish. His paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ireland (now Northern Ireland), Sony SVS131C24L Battery
in 1807. His mother was born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England, the daughter of Rev. Dr. Thomas Woodrow, born in Paisley, Scotland, and Marion Williamson from Glasgow.[11] His grandparents' whitewashed house has become a tourist attraction in Northern Ireland.[12]
Wilson c. 1880s
Wilson's father was originally from Steubenville, Ohio, where his grandfather published a newspaper, The Western Herald and Gazette, which was pro-tariff and anti-slavery.[13] Wilson's parents moved south in 1851 and identified with the Confederacy. His father defended slavery, owned slaves and set up a Sunday school for them. Sony SVS131G1DL Battery
They cared for wounded soldiers at their church. The father also briefly served as a chaplain to the Confederate Army.[14Sony SVS151C1GL Battery
] Woodrow Wilson's earliest memory, from the age of three, was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. Wilson would forever recall standing for a moment at Robert E. Lee's side and looking up into his face.[14] Sony SVS151C2DL Battery
Wilson's father was one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) after it split from the northern Presbyterians in 1861. Joseph R. Wilson served as the first permanent clerk of the southern church's General Assembly, Sony PCG-61A11L Battery
was Stated Clerk from 1865 to 1898 and was Moderator of the PCUS General Assembly in 1879. Wilson spent the majority of his childhood, up to age 14, in Augusta, Georgia, where his father was minister of the First Presbyterian Church.[15][15] Sony PCG-61A13L Battery
Wilson was over ten years of age before he learned to read. His difficulty reading may have indicated dyslexia,[16
Sony PCG-61813L Battery] but as a teenager he taught himself shorthand to compensate.[17] He was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline. He studied at home under his father's guidance and took classes in a small school in Augusta.[18] During Reconstruction,
Sony PCG-61714L Battery Wilson lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital, from 1870 to 1874, where his father was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary.[19] Sony PCG-71C11L Battery
Wilson attended Davidson College in North Carolina for the 1873–1874 school year.[20] After medical ailments kept him from returning for a second year, he transferred to Princeton as a freshman when his father took a teaching position at the university. Graduating in 1879, Wilson became a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Sony PCG-71614L Battery
Sony SVE171G112 BatteryBeginning in his second year, he read widely in political philosophy and history. Wilson credited the British parliamentary sketch-writer Henry Lucy as his inspiration to enter public life.
Sony SVE171E12L Battery He was active in the undergraduate American Whig-Cliosophic Society literary and debating society, serving as speaker of the Whig Party and writing for the Nassau Literary Review,[21] organized a separate Liberal Debating Society,[22] and later coached the Whig-Clio Debate Panel.[23][24] Sony PCG-71713L Battery
In 1879, Wilson attended law school at the University of Virginia for one year. Although he never graduated, during his time at the university he was heavily involved in the Virginia Glee Club and the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, serving as the society's president.[25Sony PCG-71811L Battery
] His frail health dictated withdrawal, and he went home to Wilmington, North Carolina, where he continued his studies.[26] Sony PCG-71911L Battery
In January 1882, Wilson started a law practice in Atlanta. One of his University of Virginia classmates, Edward Ireland Renick, invited him to join his new law practice as partner and Wilson joined him in May 1882. Sony PCG-71912L Battery
He passed the Georgia Bar. On October 19, 1882, he appeared in court before Judge George Hillyer to take his examination for the bar, which he passed easily. Competition was fierce in a city with 143 other lawyers, and he found few cases to keep him occupied.[2Sony PCG-71913L Battery
Sony SVE171E11L Battery7] Nevertheless, he found staying current with the law obstructed his plans to study government to achieve his long-term plans for a political career. In April 1883, Wilson applied to the Johns Hopkins University to study for a doctorate in history and political science and began his studies there in the fall.[27] Sony PCG-71914L Battery
Personal life
Wilson's mother was possibly a hypochondriac and Wilson himself seemed to think that he was often in poorer health than he really was. He suffered from hypertension at a relatively early age and may have suffered his first stroke when he was 39.[28] Sony PCG-91211L Battery
In 1885, he married Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a minister from Savannah, Georgia, during a visit to her relatives in Rome, Georgia. They had three daughters: Margaret Woodrow Wilson (1886–1944); Jessie Wilson (1887–1933); Sony PCG-91311L Battery
and Eleanor R. Wilson (1889–1967).[29] Ellen Axson Wilson died in 1914, and in 1915 Wilson married Edith Galt, a direct descendant of the Native American woman Pocahontas.[30] Wilson is one of only three presidents to be widowed while in office.[31]
Wilson's Pierce Arrow, which is on display in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia.
Wilson was an early automobile enthusiast, and he took daily rides while he was President. His favorite car was a 1919 Pierce-Arrow, in which he preferred to ride with the top down.[32] His enjoyment of motoring made him an advocate of funding for public highways.[33] Sony SVE141C11L Battery
Wilson was an avid baseball fan. In 1915, he became the first sitting president to attend a World Series game. Wilson had been a center fielder during his Davidson College days. When he transferred to Princeton, he was unable to make the varsity team and so became the team's assistant manager.
Sony SVE151J11L BatteryHe was the first President to throw out a first ball at a World Series game.[34]
He cycled regularly, including several cycling vacations in the English Lake District.[35] Unable to cycle around Washington, D.C., as President, Wilson took to playing golf, although he played with more enthusiasm than skill.[36] Sony SVE141D11L Battery
Sony SVE151G13L BatteryWilson holds the record of all the presidents for the most rounds of golf,[36] over 1,000, or almost one every other day. During the winter, the Secret Service would paint golf balls with black paint so Wilson could hit them around in the snow on the White House lawn.[37]
Academic career
Wilson began his graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University in 1883 and three years later completed his doctoral dissertation, "Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics"[38Sony SVE141L11L Battery
Sony SVE151E11L Battery] and received a Ph.D. in history and political science. For his doctorate, Wilson had to learn German.[39]
During the academic year 1886–1887, Wilson was a visiting lecturer at Cornell University, but failed to gain a permanent position. However, he was tapped into the Irving Literary Society by the brothers of his fraternity,
Sony PCG-61317L BatteryPhi Kappa Psi. He joined the faculty of Bryn Mawr College (1885–88) and then Wesleyan University (1888–90),[40] where he also coached the football team and founded the debate team – still called the T. Woodrow Wilson debate team. Sony PCG-61713L Battery
In 1890, Wilson joined the Princeton faculty as professor of jurisprudence and political economy. While there, he was one of the faculty members of the short-lived coordinate college, Evelyn College for Women.
Sony PCG-61316L BatteryAdditionally, Wilson became the first lecturer of Constitutional Law at New York Law School where he taught with Charles Evans Hughes.[41] Representing the American Whig Society,
Wilson delivered an oration at Princeton's sesquicentennial celebration (1896) entitled "Princeton in the Nation's Service". This phrase became the motto of the University, later expanded to "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations".[4Sony PCG-91111L Battery
2][43] In this speech, he outlined his vision of the university in a democratic nation, calling on institutions of higher learning "to illuminate duty by every lesson that can be drawn out of the past".[44] Sony PCG-91112L Battery
Wilson was annoyed that Princeton was not living up to its potential, complaining "There's a little college down in Kentucky which in 60 years has graduated more men who have acquired prominence and fame than has Princeton in her 150 years."[45] Sony PCG-71312L Battery
Writings on government and politics
Government systems
Under the influence of Walter Bagehot's The English Constitution, Wilson saw the United States Constitution as pre-modern, cumbersome, and open to corruption. An admirer of Parliament, Wilson favored a parliamentary system for the United States. Writing in the early 1880s:
I ask you to put this question to yourselves, should we not draw the Executive and Legislature closer together? Should we not, on the one hand, give the individual leaders of opinion in Congress a better chance to have an intimate party in determining who should be president,
Sony PCG-61311L Battery and the president, on the other hand, a better chance to approve himself a statesman, and his advisers capable men of affairs, in the guidance of Congress
Wilson started Congressional Government, his best-known political work, as an argument for a parliamentary system, but he was impressed by Grover Cleveland, Sony PCG-71218L Battery
Sony PCG-61215L Battery and Congressional Government emerged as a critical description of America's system, with frequent negative comparisons to Westminster. He said, "I am pointing out facts—diagnosing, not prescribing remedies."[47][48] Sony PCG-71217L Battery
Wilson believed that America's intricate system of checks and balances was the cause of the problems in American governance. He said that the divided power made it impossible for voters to see who was accountable. If government behaved badly, Wilson asked:[49] Sony PCG-71313L Battery
How is the schoolmaster, the nation, to know which boy needs the whipping? ... Power and strict accountability for its use are the essential constituents of good government... It is, therefore, manifestly a radical defect in our federal system that it parcels out power and confuses responsibility as it does.
Sony PCG-71215L BatteryThe main purpose of the Convention of 1787 seems to have been to accomplish this grievous mistake. The "literary theory" of checks and balances is simply a consistent account of what our Constitution makers tried to do; and those checks and balances have proved mischievous just to the extent which they have succeeded in establishing themselves.
Wilson singled out the United States House of Representatives for particular criticism:[50]
... divided up, as it were, into forty-seven seignories, in each of which a Standing Committee is the court-baron and its chairman lord-proprietor. Sony PCG-71315L Battery
Sony PCG-71211L Battery These petty barons, some of them not a little powerful, but none of them within reach [of] the full powers of rule, may at will exercise an almost despotic sway within their own shires, and may sometimes threaten to convulse even the realm itself. Sony PCG-71316L Battery
Wilson said that the Congressional committee system was fundamentally undemocratic in that committee chairs, who ruled by seniority, determined national policy although they were responsible to no one except their constituents; and that it facilitated corruption.[51] Sony PCG-71317L Battery
When William Jennings Bryan captured the Democratic nomination from Cleveland's supporters in 1896, Wilson refused to support the ticket. Instead, he cast his ballot for John M. Palmer, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Party, or Gold Democrats, Sony PCG-3B1L Battery
a short-lived party that supported a gold standard, low tariffs, and limited government.[52]
In his last scholarly work in 1908, Constitutional Government of the United States, Wilson said that the presidency "will be as big as and as influential as the man who occupies it". By the time of his presidency,
Sony PCG-3H4L BatteryWilson hoped that Presidents could be party leaders in the same way British prime ministers were. Wilson also hoped that the parties could be reorganized along ideological, not geographic, lines. He wrote, "Eight words contain the sum of the present degradation of our political parties: No leaders, no principles; no principles, no parties."[53] Sony PCG-3B2L Battery
Public administration
Wilson also studied public administration, which he called "government in action; it is the executive, the operative, the most visible side of government, and is of course as old as government itself".[54] He believed that by studying public administration governmental efficiency could be increased.[55] Sony PCG-3B3L Battery
Wilson was concerned with the implementation of government. He faulted political leaders who focused on philosophical issues and the nature of government and dismissed the critical issues of government administration as mere "practical detail". Sony PCG-3B4L Battery
He thought such attitudes represented the requirements of smaller countries and populations. By his day, he thought, "it is getting to be harder to run a constitution than to frame one."[56] He thought it time "to straighten the paths of government, Sony PCG-3C2L Battery
to make its business less unbusinesslike, to strengthen and purify its organization, and it to crown its dutifulness".[57]
Sony PCG-3H2L BatteryHe complained that studies of administration drew principally on the history of Continental Europe and an American equivalent was required. He summarized the growth of such foreign states as Prussia, France, and England, highlighting the events that led to advances in administration.
By contrast, he thought the United States required greater compromise because of the diversity of public opinion and the difficulty of forming a majority opinion. Thus practical reform to the government is necessarily slow. Yet Wilson insisted that "administration lies outside the proper sphere of politics"[
Sony PCG-3G5L Battery58] and that "general laws which direct these things to be done are as obviously outside of and above administration."[5Sony PCG-3C3L Battery
Sony PCG-3G3L Battery9] He likens administration to a machine that functions independent of the changing mood of its leaders. Such a line of demarcation is intended to focus responsibility for actions taken on the people or persons in charge. Sony PCG-3D3L Battery
Sony PCG-3B1L BatteryAs Wilson put it, "public attention must be easily directed, in each case of good or bad administration, to just the man deserving of praise or blame. There is no danger in power, if only it be not irresponsible. If it be divided, dealt out in share to many, it is obscured..."[60
Sony PCG-3F4L Battery] Essentially, the items under the discretion of administration must be limited in scope, as to not block, nullify, obfuscate, or modify the implementation of governmental decree made by the executive branch. Sony PCG-3D4L Battery
President of Princeton University
Wilson in 1902, newly appointed as president of Princeton
Prospect House, located in the center of Princeton's campus, was Wilson's home during his term as president of the university.
The trustees promoted Professor Wilson to president of Princeton in 1902, replacing Francis Landey Patton, whom the Trustees perceived to be an inefficient administrator. Although the school's endowment was barely $4 million, Sony PCG-3E3L Battery
Sony PCG-3F3L Battery Wilson sought $2 million for a preceptorial system of teaching, $1 million for a school of science, and nearly $3 million for new buildings and salary increases. As a long-term objective, Wilson sought $3 million for a graduate school and $2.5 million for schools of jurisprudence and electrical engineering, as well as a museum of natural history.[6Sony PCG-3F1L Battery
Sony PCG-3F2L Battery1] He was also able to increase the faculty from 112 to 174, most of whom he selected himself on the basis of their records as outstanding teachers. The curriculum guidelines he developed proved important progressive innovations in the field of higher education.[
62] On February 8, 1903, Wilson used a crude racial joke in attacking federal appointments of blacks by President Theodore Roosevelt. Addressing a meeting of Princeton alumni, Wilson joked, in Edmund Morris's telling, that "..Sony PCG-5N4L Battery
Sony PCG-9Z1L Battery.this year's groundhog had returned to its burrow [because it] was afraid that Theodore Roosevelt would put a 'coon' in."[63] Sony PCG-5P2L Battery
To emphasize the development of expertise, Wilson instituted academic departments and a system of core requirements where students met in groups of six with preceptors, followed by two years of concentration in a selected major. Sony PCG-5R1L Battery
He tried to raise admission standards and to replace the "gentleman's C" with serious study. Wilson aspired, as he told alumni, "to transform thoughtless boys performing tasks into thinking men".[64]
In 1906–10, he attempted to curtail the influence of social elites by abolishing the upper-class eating clubs and moving the students into colleges, also known as quadrangles. Wilson's Quad Plan was met with fierce opposition from Princeton's alumni, most importantly Moses Taylor Pyne,
Sony PCG-5T1L Battery the most powerful of Princeton's Trustees. Wilson held his position, saying that giving in "would be to temporize with evil".[6Sony PCG-5R2L Battery
Sony PCG-5S3L Battery5] In October 1907, due to the intensity of alumni opposition, the Board of Trustees withdrew its support for the Quad Plan and instructed Wilson to withdraw it.[66]
Late in his tenure,
Sony PCG-5S2L Battery Wilson confronted Andrew Fleming West, Dean of the graduate school, and West's ally former President Grover Cleveland who was a trustee. Wilson wanted to integrate the proposed graduate building into the same area with the undergraduate colleges. West wanted them to remain separate.
Sony PCG-5S1L BatteryWhen West obtained outside funding, the trustees rejected Wilson's plan for colleges in 1908, and then endorsed West's alternative in 1909. The national press covered the confrontation as a battle of the elites represented by West versus democracy represented by Wilson.[67
Sony PCG-5P4L Battery] It was this confrontation that led to his decision to leave Princeton for politics. He later commented that politics was less brutal than university administration.[68] Wilson was elected president of the American Political Science Association in 1910, Sony PCG-3J1L Battery
Sony PCG-5N2L Battery but soon decided to leave his Princeton post and enter New Jersey state politics.[69] Wilson left academe with an outstanding reputation as educator and reformer, having set Princeton on the path to becoming one of America's great universities.[70] Sony PCG-7142L Battery
Governor of New Jersey
In 1910, Wilson ran for Governor of New Jersey against the Republican candidate Vivian M. Lewis, the State Commissioner of Banking and Insurance. Wilson's campaign focused on his independence from machine politics, and he promised that if elected he would not be beholden to party bosses.
Sony PCG-8151L Battery Wilson soundly defeated Lewis in the general election by a margin of more than 49,000 votes, although Republican William Howard Taft had carried New Jersey in the 1908 presidential election by more than 80,000 votes.[7Sony PCG-7151L Battery
1] Historian and Teddy Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris called Wilson in the Governor's race a "dark horse" and attributed his and others' success against the Taft Republicans in 1910 in part to the emergent national progressive message enunciated by Roosevelt in his post-presidency.[72] Sony PCG-7152L Battery
In the 1910 election, the Democrats also took control of the General Assembly. The State Senate, however, remained in Republican control by a slim margin. After taking office, Wilson set in place his reformist agenda, Sony PCG-7153L Battery
ignoring the demands of party machinery. While governor, in a period spanning six months, Wilson established state primaries. This all but took the party bosses out of the presidential election process in the state. He also revamped the public utility commission and introduced worker's compensation.[73]
Election of 1912
Main article: United States presidential election, 1912
Wilson's popularity as governor and his status in the national media gave impetus to his presidential campaign in 1912. He chose Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall as his running mate[74]
Sony PCG-813L Battery and selected William Frank McCombs, a New York lawyer and a friend from college days, to manage his campaign. Much of Wilson's support came from the South, especially from young progressives in that region, Sony PCG-7161L Battery
especially intellectuals, editors and lawyers. Wilson managed to maneuver through the complexities of local politics. For example, in Tennessee the Democratic Party was divided on the issue of prohibition. Wilson was progressive and sober, but not a dry, Sony PCG-7171L Battery
and appealed to both sides. They united behind him to win the presidential election in the state, but divided over state politics and lost the gubernatorial election.[75] Sony PCG-7172L Battery
The convention deadlocked for more than 40 ballots as no candidate could reach the two-thirds vote required to win the nomination. A leading contender was House Speaker Champ Clark, a prominent progressive strongest in the border states. Sony PCG-7173L Battery
Sony PCG-7185L Battery Other contenders were Governor Judson Harmon of Ohio, and Representative Oscar Underwood of Alabama. They lacked Wilson's charisma and dynamism. Publisher William Randolph Hearst, a leader of the left wing of the party, supported Clark. William Jennings Bryan,
Sony PCG-7184L Batterythe nominee in 1896, 1900 and 1908, played a critical role in opposition to any candidate who had the support of "the financiers of Wall Street". He finally announced for Wilson, who won on the 46th ballot.[76] Sony PCG-7174L Battery
In the campaign Wilson promoted the "New Freedom", emphasizing limited federal government and opposition to monopoly powers, often after consultation with his chief advisor Louis D. Brandeis.
Sony PCG-7183L BatteryIn the contest for the Republican nomination, President William Howard Taft defeated former president Theodore Roosevelt, who then ran as a Bull Moose Party candidate, which assisted in Wilson's success in the electoral college. Wilson took 41.8% of the popular vote and won 435 electoral votes from 40 states.[ Sony PCG-7181L Battery
Sony PCG-7182L Battery77] It is not clear if Roosevelt cost fellow Republican Taft, or fellow progressive Wilson more support.[78]
Presidency, 1913–1921
First term, 1913–1917
Woodrow Wilson sworn in as the 28th President of the United States March 4, 1913
Wilson was the first Southerner in the White House since 1869 and worked closely with Southern leaders. Since 1856, he and Grover Cleveland were the only Democrats elected president, so he felt a need to appoint Democrats to all federal positions.[79] Sony PCG-21313L Battery
Wilson addressing the U.S. Congress, April 8, 1913
In resolving economic policy issues, he had to manage the conflict between two wings of his party: the agrarian wing led by Bryan and the pro-business wing. With large Democratic majorities in Congress and a healthy economy, he promptly seized the opportunity to implement his agenda.[80Sony PCG-31311L Battery
] Wilson experienced early success by implementing his "New Freedom" pledges of antitrust modification, tariff revision, and reform in banking and currency matters.[81] He held the first modern presidential press conference, on March 15, 1913, Sony PCG-41112L Battery
in which reporters were allowed to ask him questions.[82] In 1913, he also became the first president to deliver the State of the Union address in person since 1801 when Thomas Jefferson discontinued this practice. Sony PCG-51111L Battery
Wilson's first wife Ellen died on August 6, 1914, casting him into a deep depression. In 1915, he met Edith Galt. They married later that year on December 18.
Federal Reserve 1913
Wilson secured passage of the Federal Reserve Act in late 1913. He had tried to find a middle ground between conservative Republicans, led by Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, and the powerful left wing of the Democratic party, led by William Jennings Bryan, Sony PCG-51113L Battery
who strenuously denounced private banks and Wall Street. The latter group wanted a government-owned central bank that could print paper money as Congress required. The compromise, based on the Aldrich Plan but sponsored by Democratic Congressmen Carter Glass and Robert Owen, Sony PCG-51211L Battery
Sony PCG-81411L Battery allowed the private banks to control the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, but appeased the agrarians by placing controlling interest in the System in a central board appointed by the president with Senate approval. Sony PCG-51311L Battery
Sony PCG-81314L Battery Moreover, Wilson convinced Bryan's supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan met their demands for an elastic currency. Having 12 regional banks was meant to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, a key demand of Bryan's allies in the South and West. Sony PCG-51312L Battery
Sony PCG-81313L BatteryThis decentralization was a key factor in winning Glass' support.[83] The final plan passed in December 1913. Some bankers felt it gave too much control to Washington, and some reformers felt it allowed bankers to maintain too much power. Several Congressmen claimed that New York bankers feigned their disapproval.[84] Sony PCG-51411L Battery
Wilson named Paul Warburg and other prominent bankers to direct the new system. While power was supposed to be decentralized, the New York branch dominated the Fed as the "first among equals".[85]
Sony PCG-81311L BatteryThe new system began operations in 1915 and played a major role in financing the Allied and American war effort.[86] The strengthening of the Federal Reserve was later a major accomplishment of the New Deal.[87] Sony PCG-51412L Battery
Economic legislation
The Democrats lowered tariffs with the Underwood Tariff in 1913, though its effects were soon overwhelmed by the changes in trade caused by World War I.[88Sony PCG-51511L Battery
Sony PCG-81214L Battery] Wilson proved especially effective in mobilizing public opinion behind tariff changes by denouncing corporate lobbyists, addressing Congress in person in highly dramatic fashion, and staging an elaborate ceremony when he signed the bill into law.[89] The revenue lost by a lower tariff was replaced by a new federal income tax, Sony PCG-51513L Battery
Sony PCG-81114L Batteryauthorized by the 16th Amendment. Wilson managed to bring all sides together on the issues of money and banking by the creation in 1913 of the Federal Reserve System,
Sony PCG-81112L Battery a complex business-government partnership that to this day dominates the financial world.[90] With the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, Wilson helped end the long battles over the trusts.[91]
With the President reaching out to new constituencies, a series of programs were targeted at farmers. The Smith–Lever Act of 1914 created the modern system of agricultural extension agents sponsored by the state agricultural colleges. Sony PCG-61412L Battery
Sony PCG-81111L BatteryThe agents taught new techniques to farmers. The 1916 Federal Farm Loan Act provided for issuance of low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers.[92]
Child labor was curtailed by the Keating–Owen Act of 1916, but the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1918. No major child labor prohibition would take effect until the 1930s.[93]
In the summer of 1916, the railroad brotherhoods threatened to shut down the national transportation system. Wilson tried to bring labor and management together, but when management refused, Sony VPCF115FM battery
Sony VPCF114FX batteryhe had Congress pass the Adamson Act in September 1916, avoiding the strike by imposing an 8-hour workday in the industry (at the same pay as before). Passage of this act helped Wilson gain union support for his reelection; the act was approved by the Supreme Court.[2] Much of this agenda would later serve as an example or a basis of support for the New Deal.[1] Sony VPCF11JFX battery
Wilson uses tariff, currency and anti-trust laws to prime the pump and get the economy working in a 1913 political cartoon
Antitrust
Wilson broke with the big lawsuit tradition of his predecessors Taft and Roosevelt as Trustbusters, finding a new approach to encouraging competition through the Federal Trade Commission, which stopped perceived unfair trade practices. Sony VPCF11MFX battery
In addition, he pushed through Congress the Clayton Antitrust Act making certain business practices illegal (such as price discrimination, agreements prohibiting retailers from handling other companies' products, Sony VPCF11FGX battery
Sony VPCF113FX battery
and directorates and agreements to control other companies). The power of this legislation was greater than that of previous anti-trust laws because individual officers of corporations could be held responsible if their companies violated the laws. More importantly, the new laws set out clear guidelines that corporations could follow, Sony VPCF11LFX battery
a dramatic improvement over the previous uncertainties. This law was considered the "Magna Carta" of labor by Samuel Gompers because it ended union liability antitrust laws. In 1916, under threat of a national railroad strike, Wilson approved legislation that increased wages and cut working hours of railroad employees; there was no strike.[94] Sony VPCF11DGX battery
War policy – World War I
Main article: American entry into World War I
Wilson spent 1914 through to the beginning of 1917 trying to keep America out of the war in Europe. He offered to be a mediator, but neither the Allies nor the Central Powers took his requests seriously. Republicans, Sony VPCF117FX battery
led by Theodore Roosevelt, strongly criticized Wilson's refusal to build up the U.S. Army in anticipation of the threat of war. Sony VPCF112FX battery
Sony VPCF11PFX battery Wilson won the support of the peace element (especially women and churches) by arguing that an army buildup would provoke war. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, whose pacifist recommendations were ignored by Wilson, resigned in 1915.[95]
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On December 18, 1916, Wilson unsuccessfully offered to mediate peace. As a preliminary, he asked both sides to state their minimum terms necessary for future security. Sony VPCF11KFX battery
Sony VPCF11BFX battery The Central Powers replied that victory was certain, and the Allies required the dismemberment of their enemies' empires. No desire for peace or common ground existed, and the offer lapsed.[96]
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While German submarines were killing sailors and civilian passengers, Wilson demanded that Germany stop, but he kept the U.S. out of the war. Britain had declared a blockade of Germany to prevent neutral ships from carrying contraband goods to Germany. Sony VPCF11CGX battery
Sony VPCF1190X battery Wilson protested some British violation of neutral rights, where no one was killed. His protests were mild, and the British knew America would not see it as a casus belli.[95]
Election of 1916
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Main article: United States presidential election, 1916
In the 1916 presidential election Colonel House declined any public role, but was Wilson's top campaign advisor. Hodgson says, "he planned its structure; set its tone; guided its finance; chose speakers, tactics, and strategy; and, not least, Sony VPCF116FX battery
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handled the campaign's greatest asset and greatest potential liability: its brilliant but temperamental candidate."[97]
Renominated without opposition, Wilson used as a major campaign slogan "He kept us out of war", referring to his avoiding open conflict with Germany or Mexico while maintaining a firm national policy. Wilson, however, Sony VPCF11GGX battery
Sony VPCF11NFX battery never promised to keep out of war regardless of provocation. In his acceptance speech on September 2, 1916, Wilson pointedly warned Germany that submarine warfare that took American lives would not be tolerated, Dell Latitude E5500 Battery
Dell Latitude E6330 Battery saying "The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own."[98]
Wilson narrowly won the election, defeating Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes. As governor of New York from 1907 to 1910, Hughes had a progressive record strikingly similar to Wilson's as governor of New Jersey.
Dell Latitude E6220 BatteryTheodore Roosevelt would comment that the only thing different between Hughes and Wilson was a shave. However, Hughes had to try to hold together a coalition of conservative Taft supporters and progressive Roosevelt partisans and so his campaign never seemed to take a definite form. Dell Latitude E5400 Battery
Dell Latitude E6120 Battery Wilson ran on his record and ignored Hughes, reserving his attacks for Roosevelt. When asked why he did not attack Hughes directly, Wilson told a friend to "Never murder a man who is committing suicide."[99] Dell Latitude E5510 Battery
The result was exceptionally close and the outcome was in doubt for several days. The vote came down to several close states. Wilson won California by 3,773 votes out of almost a million votes cast and New Hampshire by 54 votes. Dell latitude e6400 Battery
Hughes won Minnesota by 393 votes out of over 358,000. In the final count, Wilson had 277 electoral votes vs. Hughes's 254. Wilson was able to win by picking up many votes that had gone to Teddy Roosevelt or Eugene V. Debs in 1912.[100] Dell latitude e6500 Battery
Second term, 1917–1921
Main article: American entry into World War I
Decision for war, 1917
The U.S. had made a declaration of neutrality in 1914. Wilson warned citizens not to take sides in the war for fear of endangering wider U.S. policy. Dell Latitude E6400 ATG Battery
In his address to Congress in 1914, Wilson stated, "Such divisions amongst us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might seriously stand in the way of the proper performance of our duty as the one great nation at peace, Dell Latitude E6410 Battery
the one people holding itself ready to play a part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of peace and accommodation, not as a partisan, but as a friend."[101] Dell Latitude E6400 XFR Battery
The U.S. maintained neutrality despite increasing pressure placed on Wilson after the sinking of the British passenger liner RMS Lusitania with arms and American citizens on board. Wilson found it increasingly difficult to maintain U.S. neutrality after Germany, Dell Latitude E6410 ATG Battery
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Dell Latitude E6420 Batterydespite its promises in the Arabic pledge and the Sussex pledge, initiated a program of unrestricted submarine warfare early in 1917 that threatened U.S. commercial shipping. Following the revelation of the Zimmermann Telegram, Germany's attempt to enlist Mexico as an ally against the U.S., Dell Precision M2400 Battery
Wilson took America into World War I to make "the world safe for democracy." The U.S. did not sign a formal alliance with the United Kingdom or France but operated as an "associated" power.
Dell Latitude E5520 BatteryThe U.S. raised a massive army through conscription and Wilson gave command to General John J. Pershing, allowing Pershing a free hand as to tactics, strategy and even diplomacy.[
Wilson had decided by then that the war had become a real threat to humanity. Unless the U.S. threw its weight into the war, as he stated in his declaration of war speech on April 2, 1917,[103] western civilization itself could be destroyed. 102Dell Precision M4400 Battery
His statement announcing a "war to end war" meant that he wanted to build a basis for peace that would prevent future catastrophic wars and needless death and destruction.
Dell Latitude E4300 Battery This provided the basis of Wilson's Fourteen Points, which were intended to resolve territorial disputes, ensure free trade and commerce, and establish a peacemaking organization. Included in these fourteen points was the proposal for the League of Nations.[104]
War Message
President Wilson delivering his war message before Congress. April 2, 1917.
Woodrow Wilson delivered his War Message to Congress on the evening of April 2, 1917. Introduced to great applause, he remained intense and almost motionless for the entire speech, only raising one arm as his only bodily movement.[105] Dell Precision M4500 Battery
Wilson announced that his previous position of "armed neutrality" was no longer tenable now that the Imperial German Government had announced that it would use its submarines to sink any vessel approaching the ports of Great Britain, Dell Precision M6400 Battery
Ireland or any of the Western Coasts of Europe. He advised Congress to declare that the recent course of action taken by the Imperial German Government constituted an act of war. He proposed that the United States enter the war to "vindicate principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power".Dell Precision M6500 Battery
Dell Latitude E4310 Battery He also charged that Germany had "filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our peace within and without our industries and our commerce". Furthermore, Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Battery
the United States had intercepted a telegram sent to the German ambassador in Mexico City that evidenced Germany's attempt to instigate a Mexican attack upon the U.S. The German government, Wilson said, "means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors".
Dell Latitude E5420M BatteryHe then warned that "if there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with a firm hand of repression."[106] Wilson closed with the statement that the world must be again safe for democracy.[107]
With 50 Representatives and 6 Senators in opposition, the declaration of war by the United States against Germany was passed by the Congress on April 4, 1917, and was approved by the President on April 6, 1917.
The Fourteen Points
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Fourteen Points
Main article: Fourteen Points
Image of Wilson created by 21,000 soldiers at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, 1918
"Address to the American Indians"
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("The great white father now calls you his brothers"), an address given in 1913
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In a speech to Congress on January 8, Dell Latitude E6430 Battery
Dell Latitude E6520N Battery 1918, Wilson articulated America's war aims. It was the clearest expression of intention made by any of the belligerent nations. The speech, authored principally by Walter Lippmann, expressed Wilson's progressive domestic policies into comparably idealistic equivalents for the international arena: self-determination, open agreements, international cooperation.
Dell Latitude E6430-XFR BatteryPromptly dubbed the Fourteen Points, Wilson attempted to make them the basis for the treaty that would mark the end of the war. They ranged from the most generic principles like the prohibition of secret treaties to such detailed outcomes as the creation of an independent Poland with access to the sea.[108] Dell Latitude E6430-ATG Battery
Home front
Main article: United States home front during World War I
To counter opposition to the war at home, Wilson pushed through Congress the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 to suppress anti-British, pro-German, or anti-war opinions.[106] While he welcomed socialists who supported the war, Dell XPS 14 Battery
Dell Inspiron 15R Batteryhe pushed at the same time to arrest and deport foreign-born radicals.[109] Citing the Espionage Act, the U.S. Post Office, following the instructions of the Justice Department, refused to carry any written materials that could be deemed critical of the U.S. war effort.[10
Dell Inspiron 17R Battery9] Some sixty newspapers judged to have revolutionary or antiwar content were deprived of their second-class mailing rights and effectively banned from the U.S. mails.[109][110Dell XPS 14D Battery
Dell Inspiron N7010 Battery] Mere criticism of the Wilson administration and its war policy became grounds for arrest and imprisonment.[109] A Jewish immigrant from Germany, Robert Goldstein, was sentenced to ten years in prison for producing The Spirit of '76, a film that portrayed the British, now an ally, in an unfavorable light.[111] Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery
Wilson's domestic economic policies were strongly pro-labor, but this favorable treatment was extended to only those unions that supported the U.S. war effort, such as the American Federation of Labor (AFL).[111][11Dell XPS 15 Battery
Dell Inspiron N4010D Battery2] Antiwar groups, anarchists, communists, Industrial Workers of the World members, and other radical labor movements were regularly targeted by agents of the Department of Justice; many of their leaders were arrested on grounds of incitement to violence, espionage, or sedition.[109][11Dell XPS 15D Battery
Dell Inspiron N4010 Battery3] By 1918, the ranks of those arrested included Eugene Debs, the mild-mannered Socialist Party leader and labor activist, after he gave a speech opposing the war.[109][11
Dell Inspiron N3010 Battery4] Debs' opposition to the Wilson administration and the war earned the undying enmity of President Wilson, who later called Debs a "traitor to his country".[111] Many recent foreign immigrants, Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery
resident aliens who opposed America's participation in World War I, were eventually deported to Soviet Russia or other nations under the sweeping powers granted in the Immigration Act of 1918, which had actually been drafted by Wilson administration officials at the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Immigration.[10Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery
Dell Inspiron N3010R Battery9][114] Even after the war ended in November 1918, the Wilson administration's attempts to silence radical political opponents continued, culminating in the Palmer Raids, a mass arrest and roundup of some 10,000 anarchists and labor activists, raids led by Wilson's Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer.[1Dell XPS 15Z Battery
Dell Inspiron N5010R Battery15] The investigations and prosecutions of antiwar activists by the Department of Justice were heavily criticized by prominent lawyers and law professors of the day, including Felix Frankfurter and Roscoe Pound.[11Dell XPS 17 Battery
Dell Inspiron N5030 Battery6] The Palmer Raids were eventually stymied in June 1920 by Massachusetts District Court Judge George Anderson, who ordered the discharge of 17 arrested aliens and publicly denounced the Department of Justice's actions.[117][11Dell XPS L702X Battery
y
Dell Inspiron N5110 Battery8] He wrote that "a mob is a mob, whether made up of Government officials acting under instructions from the Department of Justice, or of criminals and loafers and the vicious classes."[
Dell Inspiron N7010D Batter117][118] Judge Anderson's decision effectively prevented any renewal of the raids.[117][118] Of the 10,000 persons arrested in the Palmer raids, 3,500 were held in detention, of whom 556 were eventually deported to other countries.[119] Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery
In October 1917, President Wilson and Congress created the Office of the Alien Property Custodian; and A. Mitchell Palmer, prior to being appointed Attorney General, was appointed by Wilson to head this agency.[1
Dell Inspiron N7110 Battery20] On July 15, 1918, President Wilson gave Palmer the power to sell enemy-owned property worth less than $10,000 privately without public auction.[120] Palmer's sale manager, Joseph Guffy, was later indicted on 12 counts for embezzlement of the sale funds, although Guffy was never brought to trial.[12Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery
0] In the Philippines, transactions of German property sales were rigged for sale to private friends of the local manager. Although Palmer revoked the sales under President Wilson's support, he appointed a new agent who then resold the properties to the original purchasers.[12Dell XPS L501X Battery
Dell Inspiron N4020 Battery1] In December 1918, Palmer was under suspicion that the sale of Bosch Magneto Company had been rigged, when the firm was sold to Palmer's friend who owned a truck manufacturing business.[122] Dell XPS L502X Battery
According to his biographer, Stanley Coben, Palmer lied before the Senate committee about this transaction during his nomination hearings for the appointment of Attorney General.[122] Palmer also was criticized in 1920 for having sold 5,000 German chemical patents too cheaply.[122] Dell XPS L701X Battery
Dell Inspiron 14V Battery Although President Wilson may have been unaware of any illicit transactions, he warned Palmer in a letter, dated September 4, 1918, to use his power sparingly when no other sale was possible.[123
During the war, Wilson worked closely with Samuel Gompers and the AFL, the railroad brotherhoods, and other 'moderate' unions, which saw enormous growth in membership and wages during Wilson's administration. As there was no rationing, consumer prices soared. As income taxes increased, ]
Dell Inspiron 13R Batterywhite-collar workers suffered. Despite this, appeals to buy war bonds were highly successful. The purchase of wartime bonds had the result of shifting the cost of the war to the affluent 1920s.[110]
Wilson set up the first western propaganda office, the United States Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel (thus its popular name, Creel Commission), which filled the country with patriotic anti-German appeals and conducted various forms of censorship.[124] In 1917, Dell Inspiron N5010D Battery
Congress authorized ex-President Theodore Roosevelt to raise four divisions of volunteers to fight in France--Roosevelt's World War I volunteers; Wilson refused to accept this offer from his political enemy.
Sony PCG-41414L BatteryOther areas of the war effort were incorporated into the government along with propaganda. The War Industries Board headed by Bernard Baruch set war goals and policies for American factories. Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
Sony PCG-41413L BatteryFuture President Herbert Hoover was appointed to head the Food Administration which encouraged Americans to participate in "Meatless Mondays" and "Wheatless Wednesdays" to conserve food for the troops overseas. Sony SVS131A11L Battery
Sony PCG-41412L Battery The Federal Fuel Administration run by Henry Garfield introduced daylight saving time and rationed fuel supplies such as coal and oil to keep the U.S. military supplied. These and many other boards and administrations were headed by businessmen recruited by Wilson for a-dollar-a-day salary to make the government more efficient in the war effort.[11
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In an effort at reform and to shake up his Mobilization program, Wilson removed the chief of the Army Signal Corps and the chairman of the Aircraft Production Board on April 18, 1918.[125] On May 16, the President launched an investigation, Sony SVS131B11L Battery
Sony PCG-41218L Batteryheaded by Republican Charles Evans Hughes, into the War Department and the Council of Defense.[126] The Hughes report released on October 31 found no major corruption violations or theft in Wilson's Mobilization program, although the report found incompetence in the aircraft program.[127] Sony SVS151A11L Battery
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Other foreign affairs
President and Mrs Woodrow Wilson arriving in a horse drawn carriage at the Mansion House, London in 1918
In anticipation of the opening of the Panama Canal, Britain protested that U.S. plans to exempt from tolls all U.S. vessels traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the U.S. in accordance with the Panama Canal Act of 1912, Sony SVS151B11L Battery
Sony PCG-41216L Battery violated the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. On March 5, 1914, Wilson sent a message to Congress strongly urging the repeal of the exemption. He regarded the exemption as a plain breach of the Treaty and proposed a "voluntary withdrawal from a position everywhere questioned and misunderstood."
Sony PCG-41215L BatteryIn spite of strong opposition within his own party, he forced Democrats in Congress to support a repeal of the exemption.[128]
For more details on this topic, see Latin America–United States relations.
Wilson frequently intervened in Latin American affairs, saying in 1913: "I am going to teach the South American republics to elect good men."[12Sony SVS151G1GL Battery
9] These interventions included Mexico in 1914, Haiti, Dominican Republic in 1916, Cuba in 1917, and Panama in 1918. The U.S. maintained troops in Nicaragua throughout the Wilson administration and used them to select the president of Nicaragua and then to force Nicaragua to pass the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty. Sony PCG-4121DL Battery
Sony PCG-41214L Battery American troops in Haiti, under the command of the federal government, forced the Haitian legislature to choose as Haitian president the candidate Wilson selected. American troops occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934.[1Sony PCG-4121EL Battery
Sony PCG-41213L Battery30] Wilson ordered the military occupation of the Dominican Republic shortly after the resignation of its President Juan Isidro Jimenes Pereyra in 1916. The U.S. military worked in concert with wealthy Dominican landowners to suppress the gavilleros, a campesino guerrilla force fighting the occupation. Sony PCG-4121FL Battery
Sony PCG-41212L Battery The occupation lasted until 1924, and was notorious for its brutality against those in the resistance.[131] Wilson also negotiated with Colombia a treaty in which the U.S. apologized for its role in the Panama Revolution of 1903–1904.[132] Sony PCG-4121GL Battery
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Main articles: American Expeditionary Force Siberia and Polar Bear Expedition
After Russia left World War I following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Allies sent troops there to prevent a German or Bolshevik takeover of allied-provided weapons, munitions and other supplies previously shipped as aid to the pre-revolutionary government.[133]
Sony PCG-61913L BatteryWilson sent armed forces to assist the withdrawal of Czechoslovak Legions along the Trans-Siberian Railway, and to hold key port cities at Arkangel and Vladivostok. Though not sent to engage the Bolsheviks, the U.S. forces engaged in several armed conflicts against forces of the new Russian government. Revolutionaries in Russia resented the American intrusion. As Robert Maddox puts it, Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery
Sony PCG-61911L Battery "The immediate effect of the intervention was to prolong a bloody civil war, thereby costing thousands of additional lives and wreaking enormous destruction on an already battered society."[134] Wilson withdrew most of the soldiers on April 1, 1920, though some remained until as late as 1922. Sony SVS131C1DL Battery
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In 1919, Wilson guided American foreign policy to "acquiesce" in the Balfour Declaration without supporting Zionism in an official way. Wilson expressed sympathy for the plight of Jews, especially in Poland and in France.[135] Sony SVS131E1DL Battery
In May 1920, Wilson finally sent a long-deferred proposal to Congress to have the U.S. accept a mandate from the League of Nations to take over Armenia.[136] Bailey notes that the scheme was strongly opposed by American public opinion,[13Sony SVS131G1DL Battery
Sony PCG-61714L Battery7] while Richard G. Hovannisian states that Wilson "made all the wrong arguments" for the mandate and focused less on the immediate policy than on how history would judge his actions: "[he] wished to place it clearly on the record that the abandonment of Armenia was not his doing."[13Sony SVS151C1GL Battery
8] The resolution won the votes of only 23 senators.
Peace Conference 1919
Main article: Paris Peace Conference, 1919
After World War I, Wilson participated in negotiations with the stated aim of assuring statehood for formerly oppressed nations and an equitable peace. On January 8, 1918, Wilson made his famous Fourteen Points address, Sony SVS151C2DL Battery
Sony PCG-71C12L Batteryintroducing the idea of a League of Nations, an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike.[139]
Sony PCG-71C11L BatteryWilson intended the Fourteen Points as a means toward ending the war and achieving an equitable peace for all the nations. He spent six months in Paris for the Peace Conference (making him the first U.S. president to travel to Europe while in office).
Sony PCG-61A14L Battery He was not well-regarded at the Conference. As John Maynard Keynes observed: "He not only had no proposals in detail, but he was in many respects, perhaps inevitably, ill-informed as to European conditions. And not only was he ill-informed—that was true of Mr. Lloyd George also—but his mind was slow and unadaptable.. Sony SVS151E1GL Battery
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Sony PCG-61A13L Battery.There can seldom have been a statesman of the first rank more incompetent than the President in the agilities of the council chamber."[140] He worked tirelessly to promote his plan. The charter of the proposed League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles.[ Sony PCG-71614L Battery
Sony PCG-91311L Battery141] Japan proposed that the Covenant include a racial equality clause. Wilson was indifferent to the issue, but acceded to strong opposition from Australia and Britain.[142]
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When Wilson traveled to Europe to settle the peace terms, he visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, making Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office.[143]
Wilson returning from the Versailles Peace Conference, 1919.
For his peace-making efforts, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.[9]
Treaty fight, 1919
The next question was whether the United States Senate would approve the treaty by the required two-thirds vote. On September 3, 1919, Wilson embarked on a cross-country speaking tour in an attempt to rally the nation to his support, despite the intense opposition from Irish Catholics and Germans,
Sony PCG-71913L Battery most of them Democrats. Wilson had a series of debilitating strokes and had to cancel his trip on September 26, 1919. He became an invalid in the White House, closely monitored or controlled by his wife. Republicans under Senator Lodge controlled both houses of Congress after the 1918 elections. Sony PCG-71713L Battery
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The key point of disagreement was whether the League would diminish the power of Congress to declare war.
The Senate was divided into a crazy quilt of positions on the Versailles question.[144] It proved possible to build a majority coalition, but impossible to build the two-thirds coalition needed to pass a treaty.[145] Sony PCG-71911L Battery
Sony PCG-71912L BatteryOne block of Democrats strongly supported the Versailles Treaty. A second group of Democrats supported the Treaty but followed Wilson in opposing any amendments or reservations. The largest bloc, led by Senator Lodge, comprised a majority of the Republicans. They wanted a treaty with reservations, Sony SVE141C11L Battery
Sony PCG-71216L Battery especially on Article X, which involved the power of the League of Nations to make war without a vote by the United States Congress. Finally, a bipartisan group of 13 "irreconcilables" opposed a treaty in any form.[14Sony SVE141D11L Battery
Sony PCG-71215L Battery6] The closest the Treaty came to passage came in mid-November 1919 when Lodge and his Republicans formed a coalition with the pro-Treaty Democrats, and were close to a two-thirds majority for a Treaty with reservations, Sony SVE141L11L Battery
Sony PCG-71212L Battery but Wilson rejected this compromise and enough Democrats followed his lead to end permanently the chances for ratification. Cooper and Bailey suggest that Wilson's stroke on September 25, 1919, Sony SVE151E11L Battery
Sony PCG-71211L Batteryhad so altered his personality that he was unable to negotiate effectively with Lodge. Cooper says the psychological effects of a stroke were profound: "Wilson's emotions were unbalanced, and his judgment was warped....Worse, his denial of illness and limitations was starting to border on delusion."[147] Sony SVE151G11L Battery
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During this period, Wilson became less trustful of the press and stopped holding press conferences for them, preferring to use his propaganda unit, the Committee for Public Information, instead.[82]
Sony PCG-71317L Battery A poll of historians in 2006 cited Wilson's failure to compromise with the Republicans on U.S. entry into the League as one of the 10 largest errors on the part of an American president.[148] Sony SVE151G13L Battery
Post war: 1919–1920
Wilson's administration did not plan for the process of demobilization at the war's end. Though some advisers tried to engage the President's attention to what they called "reconstruction", his tepid support for a federal commission evaporated with the election of 1918. Sony SVE151J11L Battery
Sony PCG-71316L Battery Republican gains in the Senate meant that his opposition would have to consent to the appointment of commission members. Instead, Wilson favored the prompt dismantling of wartime boards and regulatory agencies.[149] Sony SVE171C11L Battery
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Demobilization proved chaotic and violent. Four million soldiers were sent home with little planning, little money, and few benefits. A wartime bubble in prices of farmland burst, leaving many farmers bankrupt or deeply in debt after they purchased new land. Major strikes in the steel, coal, and meatpacking industries followed in 1919.[1Sony SVE171E11L Battery
50] Serious race riots hit Chicago, Omaha, and two dozen other cities.[151]
As the election of 1920 approached, Wilson imagined that a deadlocked Democratic convention might turn to him as the only candidate who would make U.S. participation in the League of Nations the dominant issue. Sony SVE171E12L Battery
Sony PCG-71313L Battery He imagined and sometimes pretended he was healthy enough for the effort, but several times admitted that he knew he could not survive a campaign. No one around the President dared tell him that he was incapable and that the campaign for the League was already lost.
Sony PCG-71217L BatteryAt the Convention in late June 1920, some Wilson partisans made efforts on his behalf and sent Wilson hopeful reports, but they were quashed by Wilson's wiser friends.[152]
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Incapacity
Woodrow Wilson's first posed photograph after his stroke. He was paralyzed on his left side, so his wife Edith holds a document steady while he signs. June 1920.
Wilson suffered from a bout of influenza early in 1919.[153] The immediate cause of his incapacitation was the physical strain of the public speaking tour he undertook to obtain support for ratification of the Covenant of the League of Nations. In Pueblo, Colorado, on September 25, 1919,[154] he collapsed.[155] Sony SVE171G112 Battery
Then, on October 2, 1919, he suffered a serious stroke that almost totally incapacitated him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye.[156] He was confined to bed for weeks, sequestered from nearly everyone except his wife and his physician, Dr. Cary Grayson.[157] For at least a few months, Sony PCG-61713L Battery
Sony PCG-71311L Batteryhe used a wheelchair. Later, he could walk only with the assistance of a cane. His wife and his chief of staff helped a journalist, Louis Seibold, present a false account of an interview with the President.[158] Sony PCG-91111L Battery
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With few exceptions, Wilson was kept out of the presence of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, his cabinet, and Congressional visitors to the White House for the remainder of his term. His wife served as his steward,
Sony PCG-71312L Batteryselecting issues for his attention and delegating other issues to his cabinet heads. Eventually, Wilson resumed his attendance at cabinet meetings, but his input there was perfunctory at best.[159]
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This was one of the most serious cases of presidential disability in American history and was later cited as an argument for the 25th Amendment, which deals with succession to the presidency.[160] The full extent of his disability was kept from the public until after his death on February 3, 1924.
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Administration and Cabinet
Wilson's chief of staff ("Secretary") was Joseph Patrick Tumulty from 1913 to 1921, but he was largely upstaged after 1916 when Wilson's second wife, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, assumed full control of Wilson's schedule. The most important foreign policy advisor and confidant was "Colonel" Edward M. House until Wilson broke with him in early 1919.[1Sony PCG-61211L Battery
Sony PCG-61315L Battery61]
Wilson appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
James Clark McReynolds in 1914. He served more than 26 years and established a consistent record in opposition to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal programs, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, the National Industrial Recovery Act, and the Social Security Act. Sony PCG-3B1L Battery
Louis Dembitz Brandeis in 1916. He served almost 23 years and wrote landmark opinions in cases respecting free speech and the right to privacy.
John Hessin Clarke in 1916. He served just 6 years on the Court before resigning. He thoroughly disliked his work as an Associate Justice. Sony PCG-3B2L Battery
Other courts
Along with his Supreme Court appointments, Wilson appointed 75 federal judges, including three Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States, 20 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 52 judges to the United States district courts.
Retirement, death and personal affairs
The final resting place of Woodrow Wilson at the Washington National Cathedral
In 1921, Wilson and his wife Edith retired from the White House to an elegant 1915 town house in the Embassy Row (Kalorama) section of Washington, D.C.[16Sony PCG-3B3L Battery
Sony PCG-9Z1L Battery2] Wilson continued going for daily drives, and attended Keith's vaudeville theatre on Saturday nights. Wilson was one of only two Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to have served as president of the American Historical Association.[163] Sony PCG-3B4L Battery
Wilson attended only two state occasions in his retirement: the ceremonies preceding the burial of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, on Armistice Day (November 11), 1921; Sony PCG-3C2L Battery
and President Warren G. Harding's state funeral in the U.S. Capitol on August 8, 1923. On November 10, 1923, Wilson made a short Armistice Day radio speech from the library of his home, his last national address. Sony PCG-3C3L Battery
The following day, Armistice Day itself, he spoke briefly from the front steps to more than 20,000 well wishers gathered outside the house.[162][164][165]
On February 3, 1924, Wilson died in his S Street home as a result of a stroke and other heart-related problems. He was buried in Washington National Cathedral, the only president buried in Washington, D.C.[166] Sony PCG-3D3L Battery
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Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying there on December 28, 1961, the day she was to be the guest of honor at the opening of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge across the Potomac River near and in Washington, D.C.[167] Sony PCG-3D4L Battery
Mrs. Wilson left the home and much of the contents to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to be made into a museum honoring her husband. The Woodrow Wilson House opened to the public in 1963, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.[168] Sony PCG-3E3L Battery
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Wilson wrote his one-page will on May 31, 1917, and appointed his wife Edith as his executrix. He left his daughter Margaret an annuity of $2,500 annually for as long as she remained unmarried, and left to his daughters what had been his first wife's personal property. Sony PCG-3F2L Battery
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The rest he left to Edith as a life estate with the provision that at her death, his daughters would divide the estate among themselves. In the event that Edith had a child, her children would inherit on an equal footing with his daughters. Sony PCG-3F3L Battery
As the second Mrs. Wilson had no children from either of her marriages, he was thus providing for the child of a possible subsequent third marriage on her part.[169]
Civil Rights
Quotation from Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People as reproduced in the film The Birth of a Nation.
African Americans
Several historians have described Wilson's policies as racist;[170][171][172] some also describe Wilson personally as a racist.[173][174] Sony PCG-3F4L Battery
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In his book, History of the American People, Wilson depicted white European immigrants with empathy while African American immigrants and their children were regarded as unsuitable for citizenship and unable to assimilate positively into American society.[1Sony PCG-3B1L Battery
75] Wilson believed that slavery was wrong on economic labor grounds, rather than for moral reasons.[175] Wilson idealized the slavery system in the South, having viewed masters as patient with "indolent" slaves, Sony PCG-3G3L Battery
whom Wilson believed were like "shiftless children". Wilson held contempt for the belief that African Americans could be free and self-governing.[17Sony PCG-3G5L Battery
Sony PCG-5S1L Battery5] In terms of Reconstruction, Wilson held the common neo-Confederate view that the South was demoralized by Northern carpetbaggers and Congressional imposition of black equality justified extreme measures to reassert white supremacist national and state governments.[17
Sony PCG-5P4L Battery6] Wilson viewed blacks as related to the animal world, having illustrated an elderly black man with monkey features.[176] Wilson publically and privately referred to blacks as "darkies".[176] Sony PCG-3H1L Battery
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In 1912, "an unprecedented number"[172] of African Americans left the Republican Party to cast their vote for Wilson, a Democrat. They were encouraged by his promises of support for minorities. However, Sony PCG-3H2L Battery
Sony PCG-3J1L Batteryonce in office, Wilson's cabinet members expanded racially segregationist policies. Black leaders who had supported Wilson in the 1912 election were angered when Wilson placed segregationist white Southerners in charge of many executive departments,[172
Sony PCG-5R2L Battery177] and the administration acted to reduce the already-meager number of African-Americans in political-appointee positions.[170][ ][ Sony PCG-3H3L Battery
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Sony PCG-5R1L Battery177] Wilson's cabinet officials, with the president's blessing, proceeded to establish official segregation in most federal government offices – in some departments for the first time since 1863.[172] New facilities were designed to keep the races working there separated. Sony PCG-5N4L Battery
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Historian Eric Foner says, "[Wilson's] administration imposed full racial segregation in Washington and hounded from office considerable numbers of black federal employees."[170] Segregation was also quickly implemented at the Post Office Department headquarters in Washington, Sony PCG-7142L Battery
D.C. Many African American employees were downgraded and even fired. The segregation implemented in the Department of the Treasury and the Post Office Department involved not only screened-off working spaces, but also separate lunchrooms and toilets. Sony PCG-7151L Battery
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Some segregationist federal workplace policies introduced by the Wilson administration would remain until the Truman Administration in the 1940s.[178] Sony PCG-7152L Battery
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Other steps were taken by the Wilson Administration to make obtaining a civil service job more difficult for blacks. Primary among these was the requirement, implemented in 1914 and continued until 1940, that all candidates for civil service jobs attach a photograph to their application further allowing for discrimination in the hiring process.[179][180] Sony PCG-7153L Battery
Despite these policies, Wilson was criticized by such hard-line segregationists as Georgia's Thomas E. Watson, for not going far enough in restricting black employment in the federal government.[citation needed] Sony PCG-7154L Battery
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Wilson did not interfere with the well-established system of Jim Crow and backed the demands of Southern Democrats that their states be left alone to deal with issues of race and black voting without interference from Washington.[181] Sony PCG-7161L Battery
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In 1914, Wilson told The New York Times, "If the colored people made a mistake in voting for me, they ought to correct it."[182]
Wilson drafted hundreds of thousands of blacks into the army, giving them equal pay with whites, but kept them in all-black units with white officers, and kept the great majority out of combat.[183] Sony PCG-7162L Battery
Sony PCG-7184L BatteryWhen a delegation of blacks protested the discriminatory actions, Wilson told them "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." W. E. B. Du Bois, Sony PCG-7171L Battery
Sony PCG-7183L Battery a leader of the NAACP who had campaigned for Wilson was in 1918 offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations; DuBois accepted, but he failed his Army physical and did not serve.[184] Sony PCG-7172L Battery
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Wilson's segregationist stance as president should perhaps not have come as a surprise; while president of Princeton University, Wilson had discouraged blacks from even applying for admission, preferring to keep the peace among white students than have black students admitted.[185]
Sony PCG-7181L Battery Wilson's History of the American People (1901) charitably explained the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as the natural outgrowth of Reconstruction, a lawless reaction to a lawless period. Wilson wrote that the Klan "began to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action".[1Sony PCG-7173L Battery
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White ethnic groups
Wilson had harsh words to say about immigrants in his history books, but after entering politics in 1910, he worked to integrate immigrants into the Democratic party, the army, Sony PCG-21313L Battery
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and American life. During the war, he demanded in return that they repudiate any loyalty to enemy nations. Irish Americans were powerful in the Democratic party and opposed going to war as allies of their traditional enemy Britain, especially after the violent suppression of the Easter Rebellion of 1916.
Sony PCG-81314L Battery Wilson won them over in 1917 by promising to ask Britain to give Ireland its independence. At Versailles, however, he reneged because he saw the Irish situation purely as an internal UK matter and did not perceive the dispute and the unrest in Ireland as comparable to the plight of the various nationalities in Europe as a fall-out from World War I.[1Sony PCG-31311L Battery
Sony PCG-81313L Battery87] As a result, much of the Irish-American community vehemently denounced him. Wilson, in turn, blamed the Irish Americans and German Americans for lack of popular support for the League of Nations, saying:[188] Sony PCG-41112L Battery
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There is an organized propaganda against the League of Nations and against the treaty proceeding from exactly the same sources that the organized propaganda proceeded from which threatened this country here and there with disloyalty, Sony PCG-51111L Battery
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Sony PCG-81311L Battery and I want to say, I cannot say too often, any man who carries a hyphen about with him carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready. Sony PCG-51211L Battery
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Wilson nominated the first Jew to the Supreme Court (Louis Brandeis), starting a long line of Jewish justices who would serve on the nation's highest court.[189]
Legacy
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The 1st Wilson Stamp
Issue of 1925
Wilson on the $100,000 gold certificate
On December 28, 1925, less than two years after Wilson's death, the U.S. Post Office issued the 17-cent stamp in his honor. On January 10, 1956, the 7¢ Liberty Issue postage stamp honoring Wilson was also issued.
The USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624), a Lafayette-class ballistic missile submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Wilson. She later was converted into an attack submarine and redesignated SSN-624. Sony PCG-51311L Battery
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The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs was founded at Princeton in 1930. It was created in the spirit of Wilson's interest in preparing students for leadership in public and international affairs.
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Shadow Lawn, the Summer White House for Wilson during his term in office, became part of Monmouth University in 1956. The college has placed a marker on the building, renamed Woodrow Wilson Hall, commemorating the home. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985.
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In 1929, Wilson's image appeared on the $100,000 bill. The bill, now out of print but still legal tender, was used only to transfer money between Federal Reserve banks.[190][191] Sony PCG-51312L Battery
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In 1944, Darryl F. Zanuck of 20th Century Fox produced a film titled Wilson. It looked back with nostalgia to Wilson's presidency, especially concerning his role as commander-in-chief during World War I.
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A section of the Rambla of Montevideo, Uruguay, is named Rambla Presidente Wilson. A street in the 16th arondissement in Paris, running from Trocadéro to the Place de l'Alma, is named the Avenue du Président Wilson. Sony PCG-51411L Battery
Sony PCG-51511L BatteryThe Pont Wilson crosses the Rhône river in the center of Lyon, France. The Boulevard du Président Wilson extends from the main train station of Strasbourg and connects to the Boulevard Clemenceau. In Bordeaux, Sony PCG-51412L Battery the Boulevard du Président Wilson links to the Boulevard George V. The Quai du Président Wilson forms part of the port of Marseille. Praha hlavní nádraží, the main railway station of Prague has, for much of its history, been known as the "Wilson Station" (Czech: Wilsonovo nádraží). Dell XPS 14 Battery
In 2010, Wilson was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.[192]
Media
Wilson tips his hat as he exits the White House on his way to a parade along Pennsylvania Avenue (1918).
Collection of video clips of the president
External video
Life portrait of Woodrow Wilson, C‑SPAN[193]
Books and Writing
The publications of Wilson's authorship are extensive.
Of the books published under his authorship, The New Freedom contains controversial yet relevant assertions. "Our Government has been for the past few years under the control of the heads of great allied corporations with special interests." "The Government has not controlled these interests . Dell XPS 14D Battery
Dell Inspiron 17R Battery.. it has submitted itself to their control". - p25, "We vote : we are offered the platform we want ; we elect the men who stand on that platform, and we get absolutely nothing." -p27, "We know that the machines of both parties are subsidised by the same persons, and therefore it is useless to turn in either direction." -p27. Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th President of the United States (1921–1923). A Republican from Ohio, Harding was a self-made newspaper publisher who served as a member of the Ohio Senate, Dell XPS 15 Battery
Dell Inspiron N4010R Battery28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and United States Senator. While in the Senate, Harding protected alcohol interests and moderately supported women's suffrage. He was the first incumbent U.S. Senator and the first newspaper publisher to be elected president.[1][2] He also originated the phrase "Founding Fathers".[3] Dell XPS 15D Battery
Harding was the compromise candidate in the 1920 election, when he promised the nation a return to "normalcy", in the form of a strong economy, independent of foreign influence. Harding and the Republican Party had desired to move away from progressivism that dominated the early 20th century.
Dell Inspiron N4010 Battery He and his running mate, Calvin Coolidge, defeated Democrat and fellow Ohioan James M. Cox and his New York running mate Franklin D. Roosevelt in the largest presidential popular vote landslide (60.32% to 34.15%) since popular vote totals were first recorded.[4] Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery
Harding initially desired to put the "best minds" on his cabinet, having appointed Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover and Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes. However, Harding rewarded his friends and contributors, known as the Ohio Gang, with powerful positions. Cases of corruption, Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery
Dell Inspiron N3010R Battery including the notorious Teapot Dome scandal, occurred throughout his administration; one of his own cabinet and several of his appointees were eventually sent to prison.
Dell Inspiron N5010R Battery [5] Harding did manage to clean up corruption in the Veterans Bureau[6] Despite the scandals, many having been later investigated or publicized after his presidency, Harding had significant accomplishments. Dell XPS 15Z Battery
Domestically, Harding signed the first child welfare program in the United States and dealt with striking workers in the mining and railroad industries, including supporting an eight hour work day. The unemployment rate dropped by half during Harding's administration. Dell XPS 17 Battery
Dell Inspiron N7010D Battery [7] Harding also set up the Bureau of the Budget that helped curb and keep track of excessive federal spending. Harding advocated an anti-lynching bill to curb violence against African Americans; Dell XPS L702X Battery
Dell Inspiron N7010R Batteryhowever, the Solid South Democrats and one prominent Republican blocked the legislation. In foreign affairs, Harding spurned the League of Nations, and officially ended World War I, Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery
Dell Inspiron N7110 Battery having signed a separate peace treaty with Germany and Austria. Harding was the first president who successfully promoted and implemented a world Naval disarmament and urged U.S. participation in a proposed International Court. Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery
In August 1923, Harding suddenly collapsed and died in California on a return trip from Alaska,[8] and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge. His administration's many scandals have historically earned Harding a low ranking as president,[ Dell XPS L501X Battery
Dell Inspiron N4020 Battery9] but there has been growing recognition of his fiscal responsibility and endorsement of African-American civil rights.[1Dell XPS L502X Battery
0] In 1998, journalist Carl S. Anthony stated Harding was a "modern figure" who embraced technology and culture and who was sensitive to the plights of minorities, women, and labor.[11]
Warren Gamaliel Harding was born November 2, 1865, in Blooming Grove, Ohio.[12] His paternal ancestors, Dell XPS L701X Battery
Dell Inspiron 14V Batterymostly ardent Baptists, hailed from Clifford, Pennsylvania and had migrated to Ohio in 1820.[13] Nicknamed "Winnie", he was the eldest of eight children born to Dr. George Tryon Harding, Sr. (1843–1928) and Phoebe Elizabeth (Dickerson) Harding (1843–1910).[1Dell Latitude E4200 Battery
Dell Latitude E6530 Battery4] His mother, a devout Methodist, was a midwife who later obtained her medical license. His father, never quite content with his current job or possessions, was forever swapping for something better, Dell Latitude E4300 Battery
Dell Latitude E6520N Battery and was usually in debt; he owned a farm, taught at a rural school north of Mount Gilead, Ohio, and also acquired a medical degree and started a small practice.[15] It was rumored in Blooming Grove that one of Harding's great-grandmothers might have been African American.[16] Dell Latitude E4310 Battery
Harding's great-great grandfather Amos claimed that a thief, who had been caught in the act by the family, started the rumor as an attempted extortion.[17] Eventually, Harding's family moved to Caledonia, Dell Latitude E5400 Battery
Ohio, where his father then acquired The Argus, a local weekly newspaper. It was at The Argus where, from the age of 10, Harding learned the basics of the journalism business. In 1878, his brother Charles and sister Persilla died, presumably from typhoid.[18] Dell Latitude E5420 Battery
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Harding continued to study the printing and newspaper trade as a college student at Ohio Central College in Iberia. At the same time, he worked at the Union Register in Mount Gilead.[19] Harding became an accomplished public speaker in college, and graduated in 1882 at the age of 17 with a Bachelor of Science degree.[20] Dell Latitude E5500 Battery
Dell Latitude E6430 ATG Battery As a youngster, Harding had become an accomplished cornet player and played in various bands. In 1884, Harding gained popular recognition in Marion, when his Citizens' Cornet Band won the third place $200 prize at the highly competitive Ohio State Band Festival in Findlay. The prize money paid for the band's snappy dress uniforms Harding had bought on credit.[21] Dell Latitude E5520 Battery
Career in journalism and marriage[edit]
Upon graduating, he had stints as a teacher and insurance man, and made a brief attempt at reading the law. He then raised $300, in partnership with others, for the purchase of the failing Marion Daily Star, the weakest of the growing city's three newspapers; Harding was complete owner of the Star by 1886.[20][ Dell Latitude E6120 Battery
Dell Latitude E5530 Battery22] Harding revamped the paper's editorial platform to support the Republican Party, and enjoyed a moderate degree of success. He became an ardent supporter of Governor "Fire Alarm Joe" Foraker; however, his political stance put him at odds with those who controlled local politics in Marion.[23Dell Latitude E6220 Battery
Dell Latitude E5430 Battery] When Harding moved to unseat the Marion Independent as the official daily paper, he met with strong resistance from local figures, such as Amos Hall Kling, one of Marion's wealthiest real estate speculators. Dell Latitude E6320 Battery
Dell Latitude E5420M BatteryThe editorial battle with the Independent became so heated that, at the inevitable mention of Harding's questionable bloodline, father and son proceeded, with shotgun in hand, to demand, and get, a retraction.[24]
Florence Harding
While Harding won the war of words and made the Marion Daily Star one of the most popular newspapers in the county, the battle took a toll on his health. In 1889, at age 24, he suffered from exhaustion and nervous fatigue. He spent several weeks at the Battle Creek Sanitarium to regain his strength and ultimately made five visits over 14 years.[2Dell Latitude E6410 Battery
Dell Latitude E5520 Battery5] Harding later returned to Marion to continue operating the paper. He spent his days promoting the community on the editorial pages, and his evenings "bloviating" (a word Harding used frequently) with his friends over games of poker.[26Dell Latitude E6420 Battery
Dell Latitude E6330 Battery] In 1893, the Star supplanted the Independent as the official paper for Marion's governmental notices, after Harding exposed the rival paper for overcharging the city.[27]
Dell Latitude E6230 Battery In 1896, the Independent ceased doing business and Amos Kling wasted no time in financing and launching another rival paper, the Republican Transcript, Dell Latitude E6420 ATG Battery
Dell Latitude E6210 Batteryin a failed attempt to derail his son-in-law.[28] Harding also made political speeches on the Chautauqua circuit and expressed admiration for his ideal American patron, Alexander Hamilton.[20]
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In 1900, a political opponent, J.F. McNeal, with the help of Amos Kling, secretly bought up $20,000 in loans owed by Harding, and immediately called them due in full. Harding just barely secured the funds to pay off the debt to save the Star.[ Dell Latitude E6500 Battery
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29] In the last year of his Presidency, anticipating no resumption of his journalism career following his years in the White House, Harding sold the Star to Louis H. Brush and Roy D. Moore for $550,000.[30]
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On July 8, 1891, Harding married Florence Kling DeWolfe, the daughter of his nemesis (and hers as well), Amos Hall Kling. Florence Kling DeWolfe was a divorcée, five years Harding's senior, and the mother of a young son, Marshall Eugene DeWolfe.[3Dell Latitude E6510 Battery
Dell Latitude E6520 Battery1] "Flossie's" first, and compulsory, marriage, to an alcoholic, had been soundly condemned by her father, to the point of her disownment. Her mother remained loyal and provided support nevertheless.[32] HP MU06 Battery
She pursued Harding persistently, until he reluctantly proposed. On his part, according to noted biographer Russell, true love was missing, but the prospect of social acceptance, and standing, was the compelling reason for his proposal.[ HP MU09 Battery
HP HA06 Battery33] Florence's father was incensed by his daughter's decision to marry Harding, prohibited his wife from attending the wedding (she sneaked in long enough to see the vows exchanged) and refused to speak to his daughter or son-in-law for eight years. Her mother continued to provide support on the sly.[34] HP RM08 Battery
The couple was complementary, with Harding's affable personality balancing his wife's no-nonsense approach to life. Florence Harding, exhibiting her father's determination and business sense, turned the Marion Daily Star into a profitable business in her management of the circulation.[35
HP MT06 Battery] She has been credited with helping Harding achieve more than he might have alone; some have speculated that she later pushed him all the way to the White House.[36] Early in their marriage, Harding bestowed on her the lasting nickname "Duchess" as a nod to the imperious (and often alienating) persona she shared with her father.[35] HP RS06 Battery
Political career[edit]
Ohio emergence[edit]
Harding made his foray into politics running for the Marion County Auditor's office, primarily to gain political exposure—his inability to win election was a foregone conclusion in the heavily Democratic county.[3HP BS06 Battery
HP PT06 Battery7] When his newspaper business attained sufficient economic stability, and even dominance, in Marion, Harding and his wife traveled widely throughout the country, which broadened Harding's exposure at political gatherings. HP VE06 Battery
Biographer Andrew Sinclair asserts that, like many contemporaries during the days of Ohio Republican Party boss Mark Hanna, Harding was involved with graft and excessive patronage.[38] Harding allegedly arranged free public transit passes for his family in return for favorable coverage in his newspaper.[ HP VE12 Battery
HP MN06 Battery38] Harding, in 1897, was said to have facilitated appointment of his sister as a teacher for the blind over supposedly more qualified candidates.[38] Harding also was accused of collusion with other newspapers on the price-fixing of public printing bids and dividing the profits from low-straw biddings.[3HP GA08 Battery
HP GB06 Battery8] No formal charges were made against Harding based on these accusations. The accomplished publisher also gained a flair for public speaking, and Harding in 1899 was elected to fill the Ohio State Senate seat for the 13th Senatorial District, despite Amos Kling's financing of a primary opponent.[3
HP LU06 Battery9] Shortly after this victory, there was a fortuitous meeting with Ohio Republican party leader and McKinley ally, Harry M. Daugherty, who commented about him, "Gee, what a great looking President he'd make."; Daugherty later assumed the primary role in Harding's political career.[40]
Harding's ally and Ohio political boss Mark Hanna
Harding, as a Republican state senator, was a partisan regular and did favors for political bosses Mark Hanna and Harry M. Daugherty. Harding's only notable reform effort in his first term (Ohio state offices had terms of two years) was a progressive bill to revamp the municipal code, HP EV06 Battery
which had passed the Senate but was halted by a single member's procedural call to "reconsider".[41] As asserted by Sinclair, Harding, against his own conscience, signed a municipal bill that protected Republican party patronage and graft.[3HP EV12 Battery
HP CL09 Battery8] In his second term, he was chosen Republican Floor Leader.[42] In early 1903 Harding announced his campaign for Governor of Ohio, which was soon thwarted by an intra-party alliance that assured the election of fellow Republican Myron T. Herrick; Dell Inspiron 14V N4030D battery Dell Inspiron 1320 batteryHarding was awarded the position of Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, a post he occupied from 1904 to 1906.[43 Dell Inspiron XPS battery Dell Inspiron 1320n battery] In short order, a number of ill-advised decisions by Gov. Herrick damaged his popularity. Harding saw an opening as the 1906 election approached, and announced his candidacy for Governor again. Nevertheless, the party bosses stuck by Herrick Dell Inspiron 9100 battery and Harding took his name out of the running for any position on the ticket, which was defeated by the Democrats.[44] , Dell Studio 1458 battery Dell Latitude D410 battery
While Harding was dwindling politically, there were developments on the personal and business front. In 1907, Amos Kling married his second wife and soon after began an effort at rapprochement with daughter and son-in-law. As a result, the Klings and the Hardings took a cruise to Europe together.[45] Not long after their return, Dell Studio 1450 battery Dell Studio 1457 battery Harding reorganized his newspaper business into the Harding Publishing Co., issued stock in the company, took two-thirds for himself and allowed his employees to purchase the rest; this was the first profit sharing arrangement of its kind in Ohio.[46] Dell Latitude D430 battery
Harding sought the 1909 gubernatorial nomination of the GOP, which was deeply divided between progressive and conservative wings of the party, but could not defeat the united Democrats; he lost the election to incumbent Judson Harmon.[47 Dell Latitude D420 battery] Harding took his first election loss in stride, saying "...I have lost nothing which I ever had except a few dollars which I can make again, a few pounds of flesh which I can grow again, a few false friends of whom I am well rid, and an ambition which simply fettered my freedom and did not make for happiness."[48] Dell Inspiron 14VR battery
U.S. Senator[edit]
Warren G. Harding c.1919
In 1912, Harding gave the nominating speech for incumbent President William Howard Taft, who would later serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during Harding's administration, at the embattled Republican National Convention in Chicago—before he completed his introduction, Dell Inspiron 14V battery a fist fight ensued between the Taft supporters and the more progressive Roosevelt faction, but the speech was quite a personal success.[ Dell Inspiron 14V N4010 battery9][50] By 1914 the Republican Party was beginning to show signs of reunification, with the result that support weakened for Ohio's U.S. Senator Theodore Burton, who then decided not to stand for re-election. When prompted, Harding agreed to run for Burton's seat against his mentor, 4 Dell Inspiron 14V N4020 battery Dell Inspiron 14V N4010D battery "Fire Engine" Joe Foraker, in the Republican primary, and he emerged victorious.[51] Henry Daugherty at this point was on a first name basis with Harding and supported his campaign. Dell Inspiron 14V N4020D battery Harding's general election opponent, Timothy Hogan, fell victim to fervid anti-Catholic sentiment (which Harding did not voice) and Harding was elected to the U.S. Senate, Dell Inspiron 14V N4030 battery becoming Ohio's first senator elected by popular vote. The election came on the heels of the outbreak of World War I—an issue Harding downplayed due to the significant German immigrant population in his district.[51] Dell Studio 1737 battery He served in the Senate from 1915 until his inauguration as President in 1921, making him the first sitting senator to be elected President of the United States; Dell Studio 1735 batteryJohn F. Kennedy and Barack Obama followed in this pattern. (James A. Garfield was at the time of his presidential election a non-incumbent senator-elect.) Dell Studio 1558 battery
When Harding joined the U.S. Congress, both houses were controlled by the Democrats, and Woodrow Wilson, a progressive Democrat, was in the White House; therefore, the legislative agenda was dominated by the opposition. Dell Studio 1557 battery Harding was often considered a fence sitter on most issues, be that labor, big business, women's suffrage, or prohibition. He was "the harmonizer", declaring that a "righteous mean" could always be obtained on an issue. He did vote on legislation to protect the alcohol industry 30 times and was against Philippine independence.[5 Dell Studio 1555 batteryHe was staunchly opposed to government ownership of business.[53] In startling form, he once spoke in support of a strong executive, at least in wartime, saying about President Wilson, "He is already ... our partial dictator. Why not make him complete and supreme dictator?"[542 Dell Studio 1537 battery] He joined with 39 other senators in opposition to Wilson's proposed League of Nations.[55] Harding took on a personal secretary in the Senate, George B. Christian, Jr., a former neighbor, who protected him from political patrons and intrusive inquiries, and served until the future president's death.[5] Dell Studio 1536 battery6] Harding introduced 134 bills, but substantively his six-year record as Senator was unremarkable; his attendance was inconsistent, he spoke minimally on the floor of the Senate and offered no major bill or debate. Harding was not even present for the vote on the women's suffrage amendment, though he "paired" his vote with another member, in effect supporting it. Dell Studio 1535 battery57] He was nevertheless popular and acquired many very close friends in the chamber.[53][58] This popularity led to his serving as Chairman of the 1916 Republican Convention as well as Keynote Speaker.[59] Dell Studio 14z battery Dell Studio 14zn battery
Presidential election of 1920[edit]
Main article: United States presidential election, 1920
Republican nomination[edit]
In 1918, when Theodore Roosevelt was entertaining plans (later abandoned) to reprise his presidency, he considered Harding had strong potential to run and serve as Vice President, and discussed with Harry Daugherty the desirability of having Harding on his ticket.[ [Dell Inspiron 17 battery Dell Inspiron 1764 battery Dell Studio 1440 battery Dell Studio 1440n battery60] In 1919, the first candidate to declare for the GOP nomination was General Leonard Wood. The GOP bosses were nevertheless determined to have a dependable listener Dell Inspiron 1464 battery Dell Inspiron 15 battery Dell Inspiron 1564 battery and were lukewarm toward the General.[61] Some in the party began to scout for such an alternative, and Harding's name arose, despite his reluctance, due to his unique ability to draw vital Ohio votes.[6 Dell Inspiron 14 battery2] Also at the forefront of a throng of candidates for the nomination were Hiram Johnson, Frank Lowden and Herbert Hoover.[63] Harry Daugherty, who became Harding's campaign manager, and who was sure none of these candidates could garner a majority, convinced Harding to run after a marathon discussion of six-plus hours.[64] , Dell Studio 1747 battery Dell Inspiron 1440 battery Dell Inspiron 1750 batteryDaugherty's campaign style was variously described as pugnacious, devious and no holds barred.[65] For example, shortly before the GOP convention, Daugherty struck a deal with millionaire and political opportunist Jake Harmon, Dell Studio 1745 battery whereby 18 Oklahoma delegates whose votes Harmon had bought for Lowden were committed to Harding as a second choice if Lowden's effort faltered.[66] Dell Studio XPS 1640 battery Dell Studio XPS 1645 battery Dell Studio XPS 1647 battery Dell Studio 17 battery Dell Studio 1749 battery
Harding's supporters thought of him as the next McKinley. By the time the convention began, a Senate sub-committee had tallied the monies spent by the various candidates, with totals as follows: Wood—$1.8 million; Lowden—$414,000; Johnson—$194,000; Dell Studio XPS 16 battery and Harding—$114,000; the committed delegate count at the opening gavel was: Wood—124; Johnson—112; Lowden—72; Harding—39.[67 Dell Vostro 1710 battery Dell Vostro 1720 battery Dell studio xps 1340 battery Dell studio xps 13 battery Still, at the opening, less than one-half of the delegates were committed.[68] Dell xps m1710 battery Dell xps m1730 battery] No candidate was able to corral a majority after nine ballots.[69] Republican Senators and other leaders, who were divided without a singular political boss, met in Room 404 of the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago and after a nightlong session, tentatively concluded Harding was the best possible compromise candidate. According to Francis Russell, though additional meetings took place, Dell xps m1210 battery Dell xps m1330 battery Dell xps m1530 batterythis particular meeting came to be known as the "smoke filled room".[70] Before Harding received the formal nod, George Harvey summoned him. Harvey told him he was considered the consensus nominee, and asked if he knew, "before God," HP Pavilion DV6-6B75CA Battery
whether anything in his life would be an impediment. After mulling the question over for some minutes, Harding replied no, despite his alleged adulterous affairs.[71] The next day, when Harding was nominated on the tenth ballot, HP Pavilion DV6-6B83CA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6130CA BatteryMrs. Harding was so startled, she inadvertently stabbed Harry Daugherty in the side with her hatpins.[72] The local Masons could not resist the opportunity to co-opt Harding's new notoriety, and promoted him to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason.[73]
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General election[edit]
Harding's home in Marion, Ohio from which he conducted his 1920 "front porch" campaign.
Photo 1918–1921
In the 1920 election,
HP Pavilion DV6-6104CA Battery Harding ran against Democratic Ohio Governor James M. Cox, whose running mate was Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt. The election was seen in part as a rejection of the "progressive" ideology of the Woodrow Wilson Administration in favor of the "laissez-faire" approach of the William McKinley era.[74] HP Pavilion DV6-6C40CA Battery
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Harding ran on a promise to "Return to Normalcy", a seldom-used term he popularized, and healing for the nation after World War I. HP Pavilion DV6-6C50CA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6040CA Battery The policy called for an end to the abnormal era of the Great War, along with a call to reflect three trends of the time: a renewed isolationism in reaction to the War, a resurgence of nativism, and a turning away from government activism.[75] HP Pavilion DV6-6C51CA Battery
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On July 28, 1920, Harding's general election campaign manager, Albert Lasker, unleashed a broad-based advertising campaign that implemented modern advertising techniques; the focus was more strategy oriented.[76
HP Pavilion DV6-6195CA Battery] Lasker's approach included newsreels and sound recordings, all in an effort to enhance Harding's patriotism and affability. Farmers were sent brochures decrying the alleged abuses of Democratic agriculture policies. HP Pavilion DV6-6135CA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6193CA BatteryAfrican Americans and women were also given literature in an attempt to take away votes from the Democrats. Professional advertisers including Chicagoan Albert Tucker were consulted. Billboard posters, HP Pavilion DV6-6144CA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6188CA Battery newspapers and magazines were employed in addition to motion pictures. Five thousand speakers were trained by advertiser Harry New and sent abroad to speak for Harding; 2,000 of these speakers were women. HP Pavilion DV6-6145CA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6184CA BatteryTelemarketers were used to make phone conferences with perfected dialogues to promote Harding. Lasker had 8,000 photos distributed around the nation every two weeks of Harding and his wife.[77]
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Warren G. Harding campaigning in 1920
Harding's "front porch campaign" during the late summer and fall of 1920 captured the imagination of the country. Not only was it the first campaign to be heavily covered by the press and to receive widespread newsreel coverage, HP Pavilion DV6-6148CA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6175CA Battery but it was also the first modern campaign to use the power of Hollywood and Broadway stars, who travelled to Marion for photo opportunities with Harding and his wife. Al Jolson, Lillian Russell, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford were among the luminaries to make the pilgrimage to his house in central Ohio. HP Pavilion DV6-6153CA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6155CA Battery Business icons Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone also lent their cachet to the campaign. From the onset of the campaign until the November election, over 600,000 people travelled to Marion to participate. HP Pavilion DM4-1250CA Battery
The campaign owed a great deal to Florence Harding, who played a more active role than the wives of previous candidate had. She cultivated the relationship between the campaign and the press. As the business manager of the Star, HP Pavilion DV7-4187CA Battery
HP Pavilion dv7-4038ca Battery she understood reporters and their industry. She played to their needs by being available to answer questions, pose for pictures, or deliver food from her kitchen to the press office—a bungalow that she had constructed at the rear of their property in Marion. HP Pavilion G4-1022CA Battery
HP Pavilion G6-1B79CA Battery Mrs. Harding even coached her husband on the proper way to wave to newsreel cameras to make the most of coverage. HP Pavilion G4-1021CA Battery
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Campaign manager Lasker struck a deal with Harding's paramour, Carrie Phillips, and her husband Jim Phillips, whereby the couple agreed to leave the country until after the election. Ostensibly, Mr. Phillips was to investigate the silk trade.[76] HP Pavilion G4-1137CA Battery
The campaign also drew on Harding's popularity with women. Considered handsome, Harding photographed well compared to Cox. However, it was mainly Harding's Senate support for women's suffrage legislation that made him popular in that demographic. HP Pavilion G4-12664CA Battery
HP Pavilion G6-1B74CA BatteryRatification of the 19th Amendment in August 1920 brought huge crowds of women to Marion, Ohio to hear Harding speak. Immigrant groups such such as ethnic Germans and Irish,
HP Pavilion G6-1B37CA Battery who made up an important part of the Democratic coalition, also voted for Harding—in reaction to their perceived persecution by the Wilson administration during World War I.
The 1920 election was the first in which women could vote nationwide. It was also the first presidential election covered on the radio, thanks to both 8ZZ (later KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and 8MK (later WWJ) in Detroit, HP Pavilion G6-1B35CA Battery which carried the election returns—as did the educational and amateur radio station 1XE (later WGI) at Medford Hillside MA. Harding received 60% of the national vote, the highest percentage ever recorded up to that time, and 404 electoral votes. HP Pavilion dv7-4054ca Battery
HP Pavilion dv7-6197ca Battery Cox received 34% of the national vote and 127 electoral votes.[78] Campaigning from a federal prison, Socialist Eugene V. Debs received 3% of the national vote. The Presidential election results of 1920, for the first time in U.S. history, were announced live by radio.[79] HP Pavilion dv7-4063ca Battery
HP Pavilion dv7-6188ca Battery Harding was the only Republican presidential candidate to ever defeat Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt on a presidential ticket. At the same time, the Republicans picked up an astounding 63 seats in the House of Representatives.[8HP Pavilion dv7-4073ca Battery
HP Pavilion dv7-6184ca Battery0] Harding immediately embarked on a vacation that included an inspection tour of facilities in the Panama Canal Zone.[81]
African-American lineage contention[edit] HP Pavilion dv7-4078ca Battery
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During the campaign, Democratic opponents spread rumors that Harding's great-great-grandfather was a West Indian black person and that other blacks might be found in his family tree.
HP Pavilion dv7-5070ca Battery [82] In an era when the "one-drop rule" would classify a person with any African ancestry as black, and black people in the South had been effectively disfranchised, Harding's campaign manager responded, HP Pavilion dv7-4104ca Battery
HP Pavilion dv7-4288ca Battery"No family in the state (of Ohio) has a clearer, a more honorable record than the Hardings', a blue-eyed stock from New England and Pennsylvania, the finest pioneer blood."[
HP Pavilion dv7-4264ca Battery74] Historian and opponent William Estabrook Chancellor publicized the rumors, based on supposed family research, but perhaps reflecting no more than local gossip.[83] The rumors may have been sustained by a statement Harding allegedly made to newspaperman James W. Faulkner on the subject, HP Pavilion dv7-4127ca Battery
HP Pavilion dv7-4260ca Batterywhich he perhaps meant to be dismissive: "How do I know, Jim? One of my ancestors may have jumped the fence."[84] However, while there are gaps in the historical record, studies of his family tree have not found evidence of an African-American ancestor.[85]
Presidency: 1921–1923[edit] HP Pavilion dv7-4138ca Battery