Woodrow Wilson Essay Research Paper President Woodrow

Woodrow Wilson Essay, Research Paper

President Woodrow Wilson regarded himself as the personal representative of the

people. "No one but the President," he said, "seems to be

expected … to look out for the general interests of the country"(Internet

1). He developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international

leadership in building a new world order. In 1917 he proclaimed American’s

entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world "safe for

democracy." Wilson had seen the difficulties of war. He was born in

Virginia in 1856. The son of a Presbyterian minister who during the Civil War

was a pastor in Augusta, Georgia, and during Reconstruction a professor in the

charred city of Columbia, South Carolina. After graduation from Princeton (then

the College of New Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School, Wilson

earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University and entered upon an academic

career. In 1885 he married Ellen Louise Axson. Wilson advanced rapidly as a

conservative young professor of political science and became president of

Princeton in 1902. His growing national reputation led some conservative

Democrats to consider him Presidential material. First they persuaded him to run

for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. In that campaign he asserted his

independence of the conservatives and of the machine that had nominated him,

endorsing a progressive platform, which he pursued as governor. He was nominated

for President at the 1912 Democratic Convention and campaigned on a program

called the New Freedom, which stressed individualism and states’ rights. In the

three-way election he received only 42 percent of the popular vote but an

overwhelming electoral vote. Wilson dealt with Congress very effectively in his

presidency. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on

Germany. Massive American effort slowly tipped the balance in favor of the

Allies. Wilson went before Congress in January 1918, to pronounce American war

aims through a a series of ideas he had known as the Fourteen Points, this would

establish a general association of nations indubitably guaranteeing political

independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike. After

the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918, Wilson went to Paris to try

to build an enduring peace. He later presented to the Senate the Versailles

Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations. The Versailles Treaty

was seven votes shy of being ratifid by the senate. The President, against the

warnings of his doctors, had made a national tour to mobilize public sentiment

for the treaty. President Wilson had aswell have many interventions in countries

such as: New Mexico, Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua Exhausted,

he suffered a stroke and nearly died. Tenderly nursed by his second wife, Edith

Bolling Galt, he lived until 1924. The League of Nations was a former

international organization that was formed after WORLD WAR I to promote

international peace and security. The League of Nations was provided int he use

of the Fourteen Points. The basis of the League, the Covenant, was written into

the Treaty of Versailles and other peace treaties and provided for an assembly,

a council, and a secretariat. A system of colonial mandates was also set up. The

U.S., which failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, never became a member.

Based in Geneva, the League proved useful in settling minor international

disputes, but was unable to stop aggression by major powers, Japan’s occupation

of Manchuria (1931), Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia (1935-36), and Germany’s

seizure of Austria (1938). It collapsed early in World War II and dissolved

itself in 1946. The League established the first pattern of permanent

international organization and served as a model for its successor, the UNITED

NATIONS. The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 1871 at the end of the

Franco-Prussian War by Bismarck. France was forced to give up most of Alsace and

Lorraine, pay a large indemnity, and accept a German army of occupation. The

Versailles Treaty of 1919 is the most famous of the treaties because it was the

chief one ending World War I. The Big Four negotiating it were President WIlson,

Premier Clemenceau, Prime Minister Llyod George, and Premier Oralndo. The treaty

called for the creation of the League of Nations. It forced on Germany the

burden of reperations and placed limits on German armed forces. It restored

Alsace and Lorraine to France, gave Prussian Poland and most of West Prussia to

Poland, made Danzig a free city, put Germany’s colonies under the League of

Nations, placed the Saar under French administration, called for plebiscites in

various territories newly freed from the Central Powers, mand called for the

demilitarization of the Rhineland. American

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