Introduction 6 Chapter 1 Early Life and Education 11 Chapter 2 A Professor University President and Governor 20 Chapter 3 The Twenty-eighth President 31 Chapter 4 A Second Term and the Great War 47 Conclusion 64 Glossary 67 For More Information 70 For Further Reading 74 Index 77 Table of Contents
Introduction Woodrow Wilson the twenty-eighth president of the United States is best remembered for his legislative achievements and his leadership during World War I 6
During World War I in one of the most ambitious speeches in modern history US President Woodrow Wilson attempted to rally the people of the world in a movement for a peace settlement that would remove the causes of future wars and establish an organization organization to maintain peace In an address to the US Senate on January 22 1917 he called for a peace without victory to be enforced by a league of nations that the United States would join and strongly support He spoke again of this idea in his war message adding adding that the United States wanted above all else to make the world safe for democracy When he failed to persuade the British and French leaders to join him in issuing a common common statement of war aims he went to Congress on January 8 1918 to make in his Fourteen Points address his definitive declaration declaration to the American people and the world In his general points Wilson demanded an end to the old diplomacy that had led to wars in the past He proposed open diplomacy instead of entangling alliances and he called for freedom of the seas an impartial settlement settlement of colonial claims arms reduction removal of artificial trade barriers and most 7
