Woodrow Wilson: Idealist

01VOA Learning English presents America's Presidents.

02Today we are talking about Woodrow Wilson.

03He served two terms, from 1913 to 1921, and led the United States through the First World War.

04Wilson might have seemed an unlikely war president.

05He was a university professor before he entered politics.

06And when the conflict began in Europe in 1914, Wilson strongly rejected the idea of the U.S.

07getting involved.

08He even campaigned for his second term on the slogan, He kept us out of the war.

09But Wilson's idealism eventually made him believe the U.S.

10must enter the conflict.

11He famously said, The world must be safe for democracy.

12He spent the last months of his presidency fighting to create a League of Nations that would prevent future wars.

13Wilson did not succeed in that effort.

14But the effects of his presidency are still seen today, in both the domestic and foreign affairs of the United States.

15Woodrow Wilson was born in the state of Virginia in 1856 and grew up in the South.

16Wilson's father was a Protestant Christian minister who supported the views of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

17Wilson's mother had been born in England, but raised in the United States.

18She was reportedly warm and loving, especially to her husband and four children.

19Wilson's early life was marked by poor health and a passion for learning.

20His education included tutoring by Confederate soldiers, classes with his father, a year at Davidson College, a bachelor's degree from the school now called Princeton, one year of law school, and a doctoral degree in history and political science from the University of Johns Hopkins.

21He remains, so far, the only president with a Ph.D.

22Wilson's academic interests were in government and how it could be most effective.

23Even as a young man, he supported the idea of a strong executive, either a prime minister or a president.

24He wrote a number of books, including a biography of George Washington and a history of the United States.

25He also taught popular classes at several colleges, including Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania, Wesleyan in Connecticut, and Princeton in New Jersey.

26In time, Wilson became the president of Princeton.

27He made major reforms to the school until some faculty and alumni resisted his efforts.

28Wilson had always been interested in political power.

29The Democratic Party in New Jersey became interested in Wilson when they were looking for a candidate with an honest public image.

30In truth, party officials believed he would be a weak leader whom they could influence.

31Wilson surprised them by winning the seat as New Jersey governor easily and then rejecting their efforts to control him.

32He went on to pass major reform legislation in New Jersey that reduced corruption and protected the rights of workers.

33His actions drew the attention of Democratic Party leaders seeking a candidate for president in 1912.

34Voters did not overwhelmingly choose Wilson in 1912.

35Although he did well in the electoral college, he earned only a little more than 40% of the popular vote.

36Other votes were mostly divided between two former presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft.

37Yet, Wilson quickly asserted authority over Congress and pushed through a number of laws aimed at dramatic reform.

38Historian Kendrick Clements at the University of South Carolina says, Wilson had a strongly progressive vision.

39He was interested in expanding economic opportunity for people at the bottom of society and eliminating special privileges enjoyed by the richest and most powerful members of society.

40One of Wilson's most important acts was to create a new federal agency called the Federal Reserve Board.

41It still regulates American banks, credit, and money supply.

42He also created the Federal Trade Commission to ensure fair business practices and the Department of Labor to protect workers' rights.

43And he supported laws to reduce working hours for railroad employees, bar child labor, and offer government loans to farmers.

44But even during Wilson's busy lawmaking, the threat of world war demanded his attention.

45Wilson had declared that the U.S.

46would remain neutral in the growing conflict between the Allied and Central Powers.

47One of his reasons was that people in the U.S.

48were immigrants from the countries that were at war.

49Wilson did not want the conflict to divide Americans.

50However, he permitted international trade, including with Britain and France.

51As a result, many believed the U.S.

52was favoring those countries.

53In 1915, a German submarine sank a British ship called the Lusitania and killed more than 100 Americans on board.

54Wilson protested several times to Germany about the sinking.

55He warned that the U.S.

56would not accept another such aggression.

57But two years later, Germany attacked U.S.

58commercial ships.

59It also invited Mexico to enter into an alliance against the United States.

60At the beginning of Wilson's second term in office, he asked Congress to declare war on Germany.

61The U.S.

62entered World War I on the side of the Allied Powers.

63The additional support came at an important time.

64American soldiers were able to help resist German troops in France.

65In time, Germany asked for an armistice, an agreement to stop fighting.

66Following the war, Wilson had a grand vision for how to gain lasting peace in Europe.

67He proposed that the countries that had won the war not punish Germany.

68Wilson also wanted European colonies to rule themselves and other areas be given immediate independence.

69Most importantly, Wilson suggested a League of Nations that would guarantee the member countries' independence and safety.

70But few world leaders agreed with his plan completely.

71Even in the U.S., many Republican lawmakers in Congress resisted Wilson's idea for a League of Nations.

72Some strongly objected to any treaty that would limit the country's independence.

73Others did not want the country to be involved in world issues at all.

74So Wilson began a trip across the U.S.

75to raise public support for the League of Nations.

76He traveled more than 15,000 kilometers in 22 days and gave 29 speeches.

77Wilson's doctors warned him that the trip was hard on his health.

78But Wilson was firm about pressuring Senate Republicans to adopt the agreement.

79Finally, he collapsed from exhaustion.

80Shortly after, he suffered a major stroke.

81Although he recovered somewhat, he remained partly paralyzed.

82He rarely appeared in public again.

83Instead, Wilson communicated to Congress through his wife.

84When Republicans changed the treaty to deal with their concerns, Wilson told his supporters to reject it.

85In the end, the U.S.

86never did join the League of Nations.

87When a new president, Warren Harding, was sworn in in 1921, Edith and Woodrow Wilson retired to a house in Washington, D.C.

88Three years later, the former president died quietly there, finally at peace.

89I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

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