“Woodrow Wilson: Egocentric Crusader” Excerpted from Walter McDougall, Promised Land, Crusader State, 1997 “Woodrow Wilson: Father of the Future” Excerpted from “The United States: Divided by a Revolutionary Vision,” in Century's Journey: How the Great Powers Shape the World, 1999.TAS aor Problems in America History Mmassays “tho stakes atthe end of World War T turned out to be very high indeed, since in setto- spect many historians have placed the blame for World War IL onthe failings of the “Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. Walter McDougall ofthe Univers ‘of Pennsylvania articulates the View that a messianic, egotistical Wilson ventured into Shatters far beyond his understanding. Wilson’s idealistic but ill-considered crusade divided America and further unraveled the fabric of European stability. The president nade terrible compromises in return for England and France's agreement tothe Treaty (Of Vorsailles, while failing utterly to compromise with his rivals at home, Robert A. Pastor of American University in Washington, D.C., disputes the ides that Wilson was ‘ona fools errand, even though the president failed to got his treaty through Congress. ‘The American model of a iew world order did not come about in 1920, but it did become the basis for a more peaceable international system after 1945, Pastor points coat Wilson lamented at the end of his career: “had to negotiate with my back tothe Syl. Men though [hed al the power. Would to God had lad such power.” Considering, the powess that Wilson did have, do you think he employed them well? Was he wise, or not, in breaking George Washington's “Great Rule?” Woodrow Wilson: Egocentric Crusader WAITER MGDOUGALL “Phe only place in the world where nothing has to be explained to me is the South.” ‘An extraordinary admission by a man who would tell the whole world how to arrange its affairs, but that is what Wilson sed. A Virginian descended from Presby terian ministers on both sides of his family, he took the eligion of his household for ‘granted in the cerebral and sometimes smug way of the Calvinist elect. So certain ‘vas he of his spiritual correctness that a Catholic friend called him a “Presbyterian priest” And 30 deaf vas Wilson to the aesthetics of other Christian liturgies that be pronounced the Episcopalian sorvice “very stupid indeed . . . a ridiculous way of ‘worshiping God, and one which must give very little pleasure to God.” And yet this rman who could parse a biblical text or dissect socal ils with Presbyterian exactitude night also, of an evening, summon his family ot friends to a naughty séance atthe ‘uija board. He dabbled in numerology, too, his own lucy number being thirteen, ‘Wilson bolieved in predestination, not only in the hereafter but in time, He knew that God had chosen him to do great things a faith that survived his indifferent schoolwork and utter failure while a student of law. As a Princeton undergraduate, “Tommy” Wilson drafted classmates info games and clubs so that he could play the leader and indulge his love of things British. In war games he fancied himself 3 British squadron commander, in politcal clubs a British minister swaying Parkia- ‘ment with his rhetoric. Hi kept a porcat of the crusading Christian prime minister ‘William Bwart Gladstone on his desk, and he attributed the death of American oratory to the congressional systom in which decisions were made through committoo rather than debate on the floor. ‘Waker aDougal, Promised Land, Crusader State (Boston: foughton Mii, 1997), 125-152, 134-235, TST 138, 14046, Copyrgtt © 1991 by Waller A. McDougall, Reprinted by pectssion of Houghton ‘Muti Company. Allright reserved ee ee ek — pai Not surpe in the white m annexation of in these deep 1 again dominat ‘opportunity fe tive, he wrote, supply the inf measure contr Intime, W tee” as he like bold reformer ‘models, he pla undergraduates of residential slender means ¢ 2s possible” T Wilson refused: the architectura Ieany trait and ina sense g! contemporary 6 comupts absolut ‘making a statem Wilson, by cont “capacity to mal their appointed 1 fessed, "Tcannol aadess, “The Bi be divorced from reform cannot be In the end, attracted the attr that of an incorre nominated for pr Republican Party the soul of indast with big busines for big governme blamed the ills © based on competi [Byveryone quotes tration had to deat troducing most of Federal Reserve A more latitude toexeinrotro- sof the aiversity anured into srasade president he Treaty obett A. Vilson was Congress. itdid tor points ack o the Considering re wise, or the South.” veld how to vom Presby- sebold for So certain Presbyterian ‘gies that he (ous way of And yet this wwexactitude ‘ance atthe s indifferent lergraduate, vuld play the sd himself a vying Parlia- ‘me minister can oratory nittee rather 132, 184-135, mot Houglion American World Wart 149 Not surprisingly, Wilson enibraced Progressive Imperialism, It suited his belief in the white man’s celling and his notion of presidential government, So he cheered annexation of the Philippines and Puorto Rico—“They are children and we are men jn these deep matters of government and justice” —and the fact that forcign policy again dominated U.S. politics. Now there would be “greatly increased power and. ‘opportunity for constructive statesmanship given the President.” A strong execu- tive, he wrote, “must utter every intial judgment, take every first step of action, supply the information upon which [the country] is to act, suggest and in large ‘measure control its conduct.” In time, Wilsoa was named president of Princeton University —or “prime minis- tex” as he liked to say—where he acquired 2 Cromwellian reputation for being a bold reformer and thorough authoriterian. Looking to Oxford and Cambridge for ‘models, he placed junior faculty and graduate students (preceptors) in charge ofthe undetgraduates, and tried to break up Princeton's exclusive fratemal clubs in favor of residential quadrangles. His purpose was “to attract mote high school students of slender means io Princeton and to make the sons ofthe wealthy as unlike their fathers 88 possible.” The expensive and radical project angered alumni and faculty, but ‘Wilson refused to budge: “As long as Tam president of Princeton, I propose to dictate the architectural policy of the university.” 1 any tit bubbles up in all one reads about Wilson, itis this: he loved, craved, and ina senso glorified power. That may seem anomalous in a pious Progressive and. contzinporary of Lord Acton, who wattied, “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But Acton was a Catholic who believed in original sin; he was ‘making 2 statoment about the nature of man, not about the abstraction called power. Wilson, by contrast, leaned on “God's all-powerful arm," and defined power as the “capacity to make effective decisions” so as to nudge people and insitations along their appointed road toward perfection. In Congressional Government Wilson con- ‘essed, “cannot imagine power asa thing negative and not positive.” And in a 1911 address, “The Bible and Progress,” he said, “Let no man suppose that progress can bbe divorced from religion... the man whose faith is rooted in the Bible knows that reform cannot be stayed.” Jn the end, his onc-crusader stance lost him the quad fight at Princeton but attracted the attention of New Jersey Democrats, who massaged Wilson's image into that of an incorruptible paladin of the common man. He was elected governor, then ‘nominated for president in the year when Teddy Roosevelt’ insurgency tore the Republican Party asunder, The campaign of 1912 thus beeame a three-way fight for the soul of industrial America. Taft represented stand-pat Republicanism in league with big business. Roosevelt praised corporations for their efficiency, but called for big government agencies to referee conflicts between capital and labor. Wilson blamed the ills of industrialism on simple greed, and promised a New Freedom based on competition and opportunity forall. Byeryone quotes Wilson's utteance that “it would be an irony of fato if my adminis. tration had to deal chiefly with foreign affairs.” As it happened, he succeeded in in- toducing most of his domestic agenda, and won his fights for teriff reduction, the Federal Reserve Act, and the income tax, The real irony in his remark was thathe had ‘more latitude to exercise power and assert moral principles in foreign than in domestic