Woodrow Wilson And the Progressive Era

Woodrow Wilson was a poor student as a young man, but perseverance and dedication helped him to graduate from college and then go on to earn a law degree as well as a PhD. At his alma mater, the College of New Jersey at Princeton (later renamed Princeton University), he was an immensely popular teacher and was elected president of the university while still in his forties. He brought sweeping reforms'not all of them popular'to the school, and his straight talk, upright bearing, and obvious intelligence soon caught the eye of some New Jersey politicians. They tapped him to run for governor in 1910, and from that office he continued his program of reform. A split in the Republican party helped send Wilson to the White House in 1912, where his attention was quickly occupied by the war in Europe. Though Wilson kept America neutral for as long as he could, he was forced to ask Congress to declare war in 1917. Wilson was deeply committed to bringing a lasting peace to Europe and was bitterly disappointed by the failure of his own Congress to support his plan for a League of Nations as outlined by his famous Fourteen Points. Wilson had long suffered from poor health and he was all but incapacitated during the last few months of his second term in office. He died in 1924, still hoping Americans would come together to save Europe and to better themselves. Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era tells the story of a man and a country facing the challenges of a new century and a changing world.Lukes, Bonnie L. is the author of 'Woodrow Wilson And the Progressive Era ', published 2005 under ISBN 9781931798792 and ISBN 1931798796.