Woodrow Wilson
                     Woodrow 
Wilson
Introducti
on
Woodrow Wilson, a leader of the 
Progressive Movement, was the 
28th President of the United States 
(1913-1921). 
After a policy of neutrality at the 
outbreak of World War I, Wilson led 
America into war in order to make 
the world safe for democracy.
Source: www.whitehouse.gov
Birth
Thomas Woodrow Wilson 
(December 28, 1856-February 3, 
1924) was born in Staunton, 
Virginia, to parents of a 
predominantly Scottish heritage.
Source: www.nobelprize.org
Early Life
Since his father was a Presbyterian 
minister and his mother the daughter 
of a Presbyterian minister, Woodrow 
was raised in a pious and academic 
household.
He spent a year at Davidson College in 
North Carolina and three at Princeton 
University where he received a 
baccalaureate degree in 1879.
Source: www.nobelprize.org
Education
After graduating from the Law 
School of the University of 
Virginia*, he practiced law for a 
year in Atlanta, Georgia, but it was 
a feeble practice. 
He entered graduate studies at 
Johns Hopkins University in 1883 
and three years later received the 
doctorate. 
Source: www.nobelprize.org
Early 
Career
Before joining the faculty of 
Princeton University as a professor 
of jurisprudence and political 
economy, Wilson taught for three 
years at Bryn Mawr College and for 
two years at Wesleyan College. 
He was enormously successful as a 
lecturer and productive as a 
scholar.
Source: www.nobelprize.org
Political 
Career
he entered politics and as governor 
of the State of New Jersey from 
1911 to 1913 distinguished himself 
once again as a reformer.
Wilson won the presidential 
election of 1912 when William 
Howard Taft and Theodore 
Roosevelt split the Republican vote. 
Source: www.nobelprize.org
World War I
In the early days of World War I, 
Wilson was determined to maintain 
neutrality. He protested British as well 
as German acts; he offered mediation 
to both sides but was rebuffed. 
The American electorate in 1916, 
reacting to the slogan «He kept us out 
of war», reelected Wilson to the 
presidency. 
Source: www.nobelprize.org
Speech to 
Congress
Wilson never doubted the outcome. He 
mobilized a nation its manpower, its 
industry, its commerce, its agriculture. 
His speech to Congress on January 8, 
1918, on the «Fourteen Points» was a 
decisive stroke in winning that war, for 
people everywhere saw in his peace 
aims the vision of a world in which 
freedom, justice, and peace could 
flourish.
Source: www.nobelprize.org
Major failure
Although at the apogee of his fame 
when the 1919 Peace Conference 
assembled in Versailles, Wilson failed to 
carry his total conception of an ideal 
peace, but he did secure the adoption of 
the Covenant of the League of Nations. 
His major failure, however, was suffered 
at home when the Senate declined to 
approve American acceptance of the 
League of Nations.
Source: www.nobelprize.org
Final Years
After leaving office in March 1921, 
Woodrow Wilson resided in 
Washington, D.C. 
Wilson died at his home on 
February 3, 1924, at age 67. He was 
buried in the Washington National 
Cathedral, the only president to be 
interred in the nation’s capital.
Source: www.history.com