8G History Lesson 100 Assignment
This week’s assignment is about Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president.
Woodrow Wilson was born on December 28, 1856, in Virginia. His father was a Presbyterian minister, and his mother was the daughter of an English Presbyterian minister. He was raised as a Christian. Wilson didn’t learn how to read until he was 10, but he became very interested in literature and politics. He went to Princeton University, then went to the University of Virginia, where he studied law. He became bored and felt like law wasn’t the right career for him, so he studied government at Johns Hopkins University. He is the only president to earn a Ph.D, and he wrote many books on politics.
Woodrow Wilson married Ellen Louise Axon in 1885, and guess what? She was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister! They had three daughters. He started teaching at Princeton in 1890, and quickly became president of the university. This attracted the attention of many politicians, and he decided to resign as president of Princeton to run for governor of New Jersey, where he became very popular as a conservative.
Wilson decided to run for U.S. president in 1912. There were not one, but two rivals he faced in the main race for president. Theodore Roosevelt split from the Republicans to join the Bull Moose party, and William H. Taft ran as a Republican. He won with a huge 435 electoral college votes, compared to Roosevelt’s 88 votes and Taft’s 8.
As president, Woodrow Wilson increased tariffs significantly, and added an income tax. He also helped to start the Federal Reserve. He was troubled by his wife’s death in 1914, and the beginning of WWI didn’t help things. The U.S. stayed neutral at first, but as America’s ally Britain was being attacked by German ships, Wilson was on the verge of declaring war.
He was again successful in the re-election of 1916, barely winning against Charles Hughes. Woodrow made an attempt at peace in January 1917. But the Germans didn’t care, and kept attacking American ships. After that, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. The American troops helped the Allies out, and Germany begged for peace in November of 1918.
Wilson returned to “normal” presidency, but his health was failing. He had a stroke on October 2, 1919 that made him partly paralyzed on his left side. His wife Edith Galt, who he married in 1915, tried to cover up Wilson’s condition. She made a lot of the decisions instead of Wilson.
In his later years, Wilson remained active in politics for a few years. He died somewhat unexpectedly in his sleep at the age of 67.
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