Woodrow Wilson[]
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was an American politician and
Woodrow Wilson in 1919
academic who served as the 9th President of the Confederate States from 1910 to 1922. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the President of Princeton University from 1898 to 1904 and as Governor of New Jersey from 1904 to 1910. He also led the United States during World War I, establishing an activist foreign policy known as "Wilsonianism." He was a major leader at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where he championed the proposed League of Nations. However, he was unable to obtain Senate approval for U.S. membership. He suffered debilitating strokes in September 1919; after that his wife and staff handled most of his presidential duties. Wilson's balance of progressive and conservative values made him highly popular with moderates and southerners.
As President[]
In his inaugural address Wilson reiterated his agenda for lower tariffs and banking reform, as well as aggressive trust and labor legislation. The Wilsons decided against an inaugural ball and instead gathered with family and friends at the White House. To facilitate reduction of the tariffs, Wilson garnered unexpected support from a previous rival Oscar Underwood, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Furnifold M. Simmons, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. In May 1913, the Underwood Tariff passed in the House by a vote of 274 to 5; it would take a bit longer passing in the Senate—in September—and was signed by Wilson three weeks later. In the summer of 1914 Wilson gained repeal of toll exemptions at the Panama Canal for American ships; this was received positively by the international community, as a cessation of past discrimination against foreign commerce. The measure was considered unpatriotic by U.S. business interests and opponents such as Tammany Hall. On June of 1916, Wilson signed the Jim Crow Act, which forced public services to be segregated by race. The JCA was controversial, some claiming it violated states rights, but it got general support in most regions. The Jim Crow Act would slowly be abolished throughout the 20th century but was never officially repealed.
Death and legacy[]
After the end of his second term in 1922, Wilson and his wife moved from the White House to an elegant town house in the Embassy Row (Kalorama) section of Washington, D.C. Wilson continued daily drives, and attended Keith's vaudeville theatre on Saturday nights. Wilson was one of only two U.S. Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt was the first) to have served as president of the Confederate Historical Association. On February 3, 1924, Wilson died at home of a stroke and other heart-related problems at age 67. He was interred in a sarcophagus in Washington National Cathedral and is the only president interred in the nation's capital. Mrs. Wilson stayed in the home another 37 years, dying there at age 89 on December 28, 1961. 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. In 2010, Wilson was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. One year after Wilson's death the U.S. Post Office issued the first postage stamp honoring the late president. Since then, four more stamps were issued in Wilson's honor, the last being issued in 1998.