WOODROW WILSON

A reappraisal of our 28th president.

Historian, lawyer, and former Congressman Cox writes that Wilson was the first Southern Democrat to occupy the White House since Andrew Johnson. Scholars have long considered him a giant among presidents for his progressive reforms and leadership in World War I. They have not ignored his flaws, emphasizing the censorship, suppression of civil rights, and persecution of war opponents. Cox will have none of that. Sticking to the historical record but keeping Wilson’s achievements in the background, he concentrates on his subject’s beliefs, morality, and intellect—and paints a dismal picture. Born in 1856 in Virginia to a father who enthusiastically supported secession, Wilson believed to his death in the righteousness of the Confederate cause, the horror of Reconstruction, and the inferiority of the Negro race, to whom slavery was a positive benefit. He also proclaimed that universal suffrage was “the foundation of every evil in this country.” Only when the 19th Amendment was about to pass Congress overwhelmingly did he express lukewarm support. Perhaps equally distressing is Cox’s low opinion of Wilson’s political talents and learning. As a president of Princeton and an author of college textbooks, Wilson is regarded as among our most scholarly presidents, but Cox quotes historians who give Wilson’s acumen low marks, and his praise of “Aryan” culture and institutions makes uncomfortable reading. Even traditional historians agree that the defeat of America’s League of Nations entry was entirely Wilson’s own doing. When the Senate disobeyed his order to approve the League bill without modifications, he urged Democrats to vote no, and enough senators changed their votes to defeat it.

Well researched, insightful, and dismaying.