Thomas Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)

Thomas Woodrow Wilson held from 1913 to 1921 the highest political office in the United States.

From his mother’s side he was Scottish origin and on his father’s side Scottish- Irish origin.

Woodrow graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1879. Afterwards he studied law and completed a three-year internship in this field. During this time he harboured hopes to become a teacher. After that Woodrow Wilson studied history and political science in Baltimore and graduated in 1886. Woodrow Wilson taught for three years at a higher educational institution for girls and then worked as a professor and principal. 

Wives: Ellen Louise Axson (1860-1914), wedding on June 24, 1885; Edith Bolling Galt (1872-1961), wedding on December 18, 1915

Children: Margaret Woodrow Wilson (1886-1944); Jessie Woodrow Wilson (1887-1933); Eleanor Randolph Wilson (1889-1967)

Profession: professor, civil servant

Presidential orientation: democrat

Presidential salary: USD 75,000/year

Results of the presidential election:

Vice President: Thomas R. Marshall (1913-1921)

Presidency (1913-1921):

Woodrow Wilson, who held his first political office in 1910 as a governor of New Jersey, won the presidential elections on December 1912. Four years later in 1916, Woodrow Wilson was confirmed in the presidential election as a president.

The Ludlow Massacre of Colorado - a battle between striking miners and the National Guard of Colorado, in which 25 people died - and the beginning of the First World War cast a damp over his first mandate in 1914.  At the beginning of the First World War, the United States acted neutral. In 1917, however, Woodrow Wilson led the country to war. A year later he gave a speech in front of both houses of the U.S. Congress and presented the "Fourteen Points" program for peace and reconstruction of Europe, including an introduction of the League of Nations to ensure world peace. On this basis, the German request for a cease-fire went out to the Allies. In addition, the 14 points were the basis for the Peace of Versailles.

Woodrow Wilson’s domestic policy was among other things marked by the introduction of the duty reduction, the establishment of the Federal Reserve Bank and the introduction of the progressive taxation.

In 1919 Wilson suffered a nervous breakdown and was unable to work for weeks. In the same year he won the Nobel Prize.

Five years later, Woodrow Wilson died at the age of 67.

Points of interests:

Woodrow Wilson’s Birthplace and museum:

- In Staunton, Virginia his birthplace can be visited. Woodrow Wilson’s 1919 Pierce-Arrow limousine is the highlight.
- In Columbia, South Carolina is the house in which he grew up from 1870 to 1874.
- The Woodrow Wilson House is the only presidential museum in Washington and his former residence. Woodrow Wilson lived there from 1920 until his death.

Nickname: Schoolmaster in Politics

"A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt." (Thomas Woodrow Wilson)