Joel Martinez Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson and the Great Crusade Thomas Woodrow Wilson (Dec 1856 Feb 1924) led a life of pure consistency. His endeavors, from a budding adolescent to a brilliant President, always upheld his personal

ideals. His existence on this earth was home to many patterns, which ran through cycles, as the years went by. If one took a look at his youth and made the assumption that it was an uncanny mirror image of his presidency, one wouldnt be far from accurate. As a human, of course, he could not stay completely stagnant. While his ideals were set in stone, his stance on how to animate those ideals evolved as he gained importance on the world stage. Wilson: a man of integrity, persistence, and a strong determination to spread his democratic paradigm. Woodrow Wilsons childhood was a mixture of English, Southern, and Midwest upbringing. His father, a Presbyterian minister and theology professor, instilled many Victorian ideals into Woodrow. As many psychologists would agree, a persons environment has an effect in shaping human development, and for Wilson this was definitely the case. Through his raising in southern states and encounters with Civil War veterans, he learned to cultivate an aversion to war (Societies 383). This becomes a key parallelism when Wilson becomes President. Also, due to his fathers role as a religious scholar, Wilson learned piousness and had an affinity towards academia. This very affinity led to great accomplishments such as: a degree from John Hopkins, a job as a professor of History at Wesley, and finally becoming president of Princeton University (Societies 354). This University will be the training ground for strengthening Wilsons character and developing his belief in the changing of humanity for the better, his idealism. While president at Princeton, Wilsons goal was to reform the school curriculum and allow the underprivileged to have equal opportunity of success. In short, he had a progressive view that would later allow others to consider him the Champion of the

Joel Martinez Woodrow Wilson

underprivileged(Societies 355). His overly democratic idealization of reforming such privileged schools, as Princeton, was overwhelmingly rejected, and therefore failed. With the failure of implementation did not come the death of his democratic ideals, but instead, his convictions and determination grew stronger. While the door of academic rectification slammed shut, a greater door opened for he was heralded as champion of the masses. This door was key to a new path for vastly spreading his progressive ideals: Politics. Wilsons journey into the political realm could be considered the point from which the pattern of Wilsons life began to converge into rhythm. His presidency contained identical features to his younger self, which is seen in his 1st inaugural address. His speech held steady upon improvements to mostly internal issues he deemed important, such as the human cost of Americas industrial achievement (Wilson, First Inaugural Speech).

Much like his younger days, he called for a progressive duty to cleanse [] to restore [] to correct the evil without impairing the good (Wilson, First Inaugural Speech). Wilson was primarily interested in domestic affairs against empires fostered by private commercial interests (Societies 357). With this in mind, it is imperative to state that Wilson held very idealistic and almost passive views of the world due to his progressive past and southern experience. Wilson had very nave beliefs about international policy coming into presidency. He thought the world was ethical and principled, that other countries were also working for a moral purpose with an overall goal to preserve peace and that American democracy was spreading. He saw no reason why international powers should abandon a treaty, or intentionally inflict oppressive power for colonial benefits. These views are very much connected to his pious and Victorian upbringing, which value honesty in business, thereby mirroring his mental state as a younger Wilson. Many troublesome complications arose during his presidency before the decision to enter World War I: Pancho Villas raid of American property, Germanys unrestricted

Joel Martinez Woodrow Wilson

submarine warfare and war tactics in general, the sinking of many US ships. Wilson decided to act upon these obstacles with the principles he lived by and tried in vain to resolve these problems with passive and neutral resolve. He stood on the sidelines watching his belief system crash all around him while calling out for peace and justice for all, an impartial arbiter (Wilson, Declaration of Neutrality). All ears were deaf to his pleas, and his resolve began to break. Peace for democracy began to be replaced slowly with War for democracy, starting with warnings. When the German submarine warfare seemed to have no end in sight, Wilson stated that the US would hold Germany to a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities, and to take any steps it might be necessary to take to safeguard American lives (Wilson, Strict Accountability: President Wilson's First Warning to the Germans). Then came the sinking of The Lusitania from which Wilson is baffled for the sole reason that Germany had a progressive stance upon freedom of the seas (Wilson, The First Lusitania Note to Germany). He warned them of war in the name of all neutral nations being affected, but still treaded cautiously with only warnings in case war could be avoided. The Germans did stop for a while, until their roll of the iron dice war strategy commanded them to resume the sub war. Wilson finally realized (maybe this is where some realism began to set) that in order to actually set forth his goal for democracy for all, he must change his stance to a more assertive position in the international stage. He sent another warning, but this time, with a firm stance of opposition and the promise that The US will contend for that freedom [of the seas], from whatever quarter violated, without compromise and at any cost (Wilson, President Wilson's Protest to Germany). This, like all of his other warnings, goes unheeded. Two years go by and Europe was still destroying itself. It is important to state that Wilson was not selfishly and solely acting on his own accord; He was listening to the

Joel Martinez Woodrow Wilson

American people too. As agitated and affected as they were by the war, they did not want to be drawn into it. Wilson decided one more time to try for peace, and to help the American people understand why they were even involved at all. He reasons with the US people that showing mankind to liberty is the principle and purpose of their polity since the days when they set up a new nation (Wilson, Peace Without Victory). Then he went on to address the warring nations that an end to World War I was needed without the humiliation of countries and that there should be no difference between strong and weak countries. Every people should be left alone to decide their own political fate and that is why Americans, as the guiding light to freedom and peace, were involved and will continue their traditions. He is ignored and the war raged on. The time for peace had fallen. Within Wilsons second inaugural speech, it is easy to spot that he had succumbed to the idea that war was now necessary. He did not deny that the wars have drawn [America] more and more irresistibly into their own current and influence despite [Americas] wish to keep free of them (Wilson, Second Inaugural Address). His desire to stand back as an impartial arbiter was now over. The damages had become intolerable and America was ready to demand for all mankind: fair dealing, justice, the freedom to live and be at ease against organized wrong (Wilson, Second Inaugural Address). The non-Democratic governments of the world were now a challenge to all mankind (Wilson, War Message). He even stated that because of this, America shall be more American if [they] but remain true to the principles in which [they] have been bred (Wilson, Second Inaugural Address). As long as liberty was in their hearts and sights throughout the war, America was sticking to tradition and doing the right thing. To be counsels of the world was now their proper role (Wilson, Second Inaugural Address). To vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic government was now their goal (Wilson, War Message). The world must be made safe for Democracy. This becomes the shift from

Joel Martinez Woodrow Wilson

Peace for Democracy to War for Democracy. This is akin to a switch from his anti-war sentiment from his childhood to the determined reformation fervor of his presidency at Princeton. Once again, Wilsons life is a cycling pattern. The situations may change, his stance may change, but the underlying root for his actions is to solidify his democratic paradigm into something real, and world changing. In the end, does Wilsons presidency truly mirror his youth? Sure, he changed his stance from peaceful arbiter to warring champion of freedom and also changed his stance on Germanys culpability and punishment, but did the idealism he had as a youth become compromised during his presidency? His warnings and peaceful antics during pre wartime definitely showed signs of idealism. With each and every chance and warning, Wilson gave

Germany the benefit of the doubt. He relied on their greater sense of humanity and his trust in their dedication to the greater good to spring up and snap them to their senses. When his stance changed and he chose war as his new tactic for the spread of Democracy, did his idealism die? Of course not. His old technique to spread Democracy was not working or being heard, therefore he had to change it. The change does not indicate a submission to reality, but rather a different means of achieving the same idealistic goal, which was peace and democratic freedom to all oppressed peoples. Furthermore, Wilson stated that there was no jealousy of Germanys greatness or no intention to injure her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power [] We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world (Wilson, 14 Points). Idealism is the belief in the change of people, and The 14 Points speech was the epitome of the definition. Germany caused a great amount of massive destruction, broke international law, disregarded treaties, disrupted peace, and yet Wilson held no grudge. He accepted it as a fact that Germany would behave at the end of war, that they would see the error of their ways and walk towards the light. Idealism, yes. Nave, possibly. Then after the war, after he accepted war as a means for

Joel Martinez Woodrow Wilson

freedom, he decided that the result was a very severe settlement with Germany, but there is not anything in it that she did not earn (Wilson, Leage of Nations Speech). This could be interpreted as a realist statement, but then he goes on to say, it is absolutely necessary in order that no other nation may ever plot such a thing against humanity and civilization (Wilson, Leage of Nations Speech). Keep in mind that, while he was now changing his idea of no country being humiliated at the end of the war, he had this change of heart after he decided on war as a tool. The underlying goal is the same, the freedom of the people. Now his stance just added a little punishment to keep all governments in check. This may be a reduction of the pure idealism Wilson had before the war, but its idealism nonetheless. In the end Thomas Woodrow Wilson did not compromise his idealism and instead stayed forever young.

Joel Martinez Woodrow Wilson Works Cited

Wilson, Woodrow. "War Message." War Message. 2 April 1917. . "14 Points." 14 Points. Jan 1918. . "Declaration of Neutrality." Declaration of Neutrality. DC, 19 August 1914. . "First Inaugural Speech." First Inaugural Speech. DC, 4 March 1913. . "Leage of Nations Speech." Leage of Nations Speech. 25 Sep 1919. . "Peace Without Victory." Peace Without Victory. 22 Jan 1917. . "President Wilson's Protest to Germany." President Wilson's Protest to Germany. 21 July 1915. . "Second Inaugural Address." Second Inaugural Address. 5 March 1917. . "Strict Accountability: President Wilson's First Warning to the Germans." Strict Accountability: President Wilson's First Warning to the Germans. 10 Feb 1915. . "The First Lusitania Note to Germany." The First Lusitania Note to Germany. 13 May 1915. Societies, American Council of Learned. Dictionary of American Biography. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1943.