V.

President of the United States

A.

Domestic Affairs

As president, Wilson retained some of his old associates and abandoned others. Bryan was appointed secretary of state from political necessity, rather than preference. McAdoo, as secretary of the treasury, became a close associate of Wilson and later his son-in-law. Josephus Daniels, a North Carolina editor, was named secretary of the navy, and future U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) was appointed assistant secretary of the navy. Tumulty became Wilson's personal secretary.

Colonel House was content to develop a private role as an adviser to Wilson without an official position. Walter Hines Page, another of the many Southerners in Wilson's entourage, an old acquaintance and a noted editor, was made ambassador to Britain. McCombs, however, who believed he had done most to elect Wilson, received no office and retired into obscurity.

There had been almost continuous bustle and excitement during the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft. The government had strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act, the federal law that allowed the government to oversee the operations of huge combinations of businesses (called trusts), and it had enacted many other governmental and economic reforms as well. Even so, the incoming Wilson administration promised unprecedented achievement, and Wilson himself set the keynote in his inaugural address. He not only demanded certain legislation but warned the public about lobbyists who were working behind the scenes in Congress to defeat his program.

A.1.

Tariff Reform

At the top of Wilson's legislative list was lowering the tariff rates, intended to free American consumers from artificially protected monopolies. Although it involved enormous quantities of information about numerous complex businesses, Wilson pressed relentlessly for quick action. As a result, the Underwood Tariff, drastically slashing taxes on imported goods, was ready for his signature in October 1913. It was the first downward revision of the tariff since before the Civil War (see Tariffs, United States). The bill also included a graduated income tax, permitted by the new 16th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

A.2.

Federal Reserve System

Wilson and his advisers believed that a federal agency was needed to help manage the country's banks. The Pujo Committee, named after Representative Arsène Pujo of Louisiana, which had investigated the “money trust,” had increased public awareness of this problem. Wilson also thought a federal agency would make credit easier to get, thus stimulating business. Wilson's position was resisted by bankers who feared too much supervision and by labor leaders who suspected that such a system would give conservative business leaders even more power than they already had. Nevertheless, McAdoo and Carter Glass, a congressman from Virginia, engineered the passage of a bill creating the Federal Reserve System in 1914. The system served as the bank for both the banking community and the government, and has a major role in supervising and regulating banks to help stabilize the national banking system.

A.3.

Other Legislative Achievements

Wilson continued to lead the battle for reforms. He established the Federal Trade Commission in 1914 to ensure that one company or group of companies did not gain control of an entire industry (called a monopoly) and force prices up artificially. The commission was empowered to issue cease-and-desist orders once these illegal activities had been proved. Because the Sherman Antitrust Act had been used against labor, the administration sponsored the Clayton Antitrust Act that same year to strengthen its antitrust provisions against monopoly and to limit its use against labor unions. The Clayton Antitrust Act declared illegal such practices as price-cutting to freeze out competitors and other forms of price discrimination. The law also forbade corporate activities that decreased competition and affirmed the right of unions to strike, boycott, and picket.

Other New Freedom legislation passed during Wilson's first term included an act improving working conditions for American sailors; the Federal Farm Loan Act, which provided credit for farmers; the Warehouse Act, which helped farmers obtain loans; the Adamson Act, which set an eight-hour workday on interstate railroads; an unemployment compensation act for federal employees; a bill providing greater self-government for the Philippines; and a bill prohibiting child labor. These laws were all passed in 1916, but the child labor act was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1918.

A.4.

Limitations to the New Freedom

Many observers at the time were awed by Wilson's political leadership. Circumstances of the time, however, greatly limited the effect of Wilson's program. The major economic reforms were accomplished in 1913 and 1914, years that saw an unexpected industrial decline. This minor depression did not start to recede until after World War I had begun in Europe and production for foreign markets expanded, but then the war disrupted foreign trade, diminishing any benefits from the Underwood Tariff. After the war a high protective tariff replaced it, and the Clayton Act, as interpreted by the courts, was of little help to labor unions.

Wilson proved to be less decisive on other reform issues. He had little faith in the ability of women to vote and participate in politics (called suffrage), but for political reasons he was slow to disagree with the determined suffragettes who sought his support for voting rights for women. Similarly, he fought for the child labor law with obvious reluctance and advocated the Adamson Act only to ward off a threatened strike by railroad workers.

The most conspicuous failure of the New Freedom was its policy toward blacks. Segregation, the practice of keeping people of different races separate from each other, had never been the practice in federal government offices in Washington, D.C. Faced with strong pressure from fellow Southerners, however, Wilson allowed segregation in the capital. Confronted with his vague promises before election that he would treat blacks with fairness, he could only say that the new policy of segregation was in the best interests of blacks and would angrily terminate the interview when his claims were disputed.

B.

Foreign Relations

B.1.

Latin America

Wilson and Secretary of State Bryan sincerely desired good international relations. In the Caribbean and in Central America, they wanted to substitute moral diplomacy for the Dollar Diplomacy of the Taft administration, under which the U.S. government provided diplomatic support to U.S. companies doing business in other countries. Wilson and Bryan demonstrated their desire to improve relations when they agreed to pay Colombia $20 million in reparation for the role the United States had played in the secession of Panama from Colombia. Ex-President Roosevelt, who had encouraged the Panamanian secession from Colombia, took this move as a personal affront and as a sign of weakness. He denied that his foreign diplomacy required apology of any sort. However unwise or improper the Colombian agreement, it demonstrated that Wilson and his Department of State hoped for cordial relations within the hemisphere.

Nevertheless, Wilson and Bryan forced conditions on Nicaraguans that infringed upon their sovereignty. They feared that those areas of Nicaragua favorable to the building of a new canal across the isthmus might fall into the hands of some European power. Despite repeated protests of goodwill and regard for the interests of other peoples, the treaty Wilson and Bryan drew up in 1913 restrained the free action of the penniless Nicaraguan regime and permitted American intervention. This was a direct continuation of Taft's diplomacy, which had received the support of Republicans and the sharp criticism of anti-imperialists. In addition, Bryan later authorized the use of troops in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti, even though he was a longtime advocate and architect of plans and treaties furthering peace.

B.2.

Mexican Revolution

Wilson had other international problems, particularly in Mexico. Mexico had seen a series of revolutions since 1910. Americans with mining and other interests in Mexico wanted immediate U.S. intervention to protect their property. Wilson decided to adopt a policy of “watchful waiting” and to encourage the election of a constitutional government in Mexico. He refused recognition to General , the choice of American interests in Mexico, because he had illegally seized power. The president put more faith in Huerta's major opponent, Venustiano Carranza. Carranza's forces grew stronger in the provinces due to U.S. support, but Huerta's supporters held power in Mexico City.

In April 1914, American sailors of the U.S.S. Dolphin were arrested at Tampico by a Huerta officer. Although the captives were released, the U.S. government was outraged and Wilson had to demand apologies from a government he did not recognize. When news came that a German ship carrying ammunition for Huerta was heading for port, Wilson ordered U.S. troop landings at Veracruz. In the ensuing skirmish more than 300 Mexicans and 90 Americans were killed or wounded, and afterward Mexican public opinion turned against the United States.

Wilson gratefully accepted the mediation of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, but Carranza (who had replaced Huerta) refused to respect their findings. The president then turned his hopes to the peasant leader Francisco “Pancho” Villa, but Villa, harassed by Carranza, attempted to provoke American intervention by crossing the border and raiding towns in the United States. In October 1915, Wilson decided to recognize Carranza as the legitimate heir of the revolution. Villa then seized a number of Americans in January 1916 and executed them. On March 9 he crossed the border into Columbus, New Mexico, where he killed citizens and burned the town.

B.3.

Punitive Expedition

Wilson had to respond. Under Brigadier General John J. Pershing a force of more than 6000 troops was dispatched to Mexico. Wilson legitimized the action by acquiring Carranza's permission to pursue Villa. Villa's clever escapes and his second crossing of the border, at Glen Springs, Texas, where he again killed several Americans, inflamed public opinion on both sides of the border and almost caused full-scale war by setting Carranza against the intervention. However, a constitutional government was set up in Mexico in October 1916. Wilson began removing U.S. troops from Mexican soil as the likelihood of U.S. involvement in World War I increased. Wilson's Mexican policy was a failure redeemed only by the fact that he had not tried to force an unpopular government on the Mexican people.

C.

Death of Mrs. Wilson and Remarriage

Wilson suffered a severe personal loss on August 6, 1914, with the death of his wife. Combined with the sickness and tension that plagued him, her death was almost more than he could endure. He sought solace in more intensive work and leaned heavily on his few friends. In the following year he met the Southern Edith Bolling Galt, the widow of a Washington jeweler. She and Wilson were married on December 18, 1915.

D.

Approach of War

D.1.

Attempts to Preserve Neutrality

World War I began in Europe in 1914. It started as a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia following the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the thrones of Austria and Hungary. The war eventually became a global war involving 32 nations. The Allies and the Associated Powers eventually had 28 nations, including the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Italy, and the United States. They opposed the coalition known as the Central Powers, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria. When the war began, Wilson immediately announced that the United States would be neutral in the struggle, and he urged Americans to be neutral in fact as well as in name. Indeed, there was no other stand possible in a country as divided in its sympathies as the United States at that time. Some 63 peace organizations flourished, including the wealthy Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, attracting many influential educators and editors. Thousands of housewives and workers signed petitions in favor of peace. Moreover, the war seemed too remote from U.S. affairs to affect them significantly.

Wilson's sympathies were naturally with the Allies, especially Britain, but he did not want his personal feelings to influence his decisions. The war filled him with genuine horror. The United States had a duty to keep itself “intact,” for it “would have to build up the nations ravaged by war.” However, his efforts to remain neutral were thwarted by his friends and advisers. His ambassador to the United Kingdom, Walter Hines Page, took pride in his Southern ancestors, admired the British upper classes, and assumed that their cause favored democracy. With British ships in control of the sea lanes, Page defended British policies to Wilson. These policies involved preventing shipments of goods and materials to Germany and demanding them for Britain. Page minimized the rough treatment that British sea captains gave U.S. exporters and insisted that the British were not confiscating the cargoes but were purchasing them.

Colonel House influenced Wilson's views on the war. Although he had no office, he was able to bypass the Department of State and to portray U.S. policy to Wilson according to his view of what it should be. Wilson permitted House to travel abroad freely and to discuss issues with high-ranking British and German officials. House was thus able to leave foreign governments with such impressions as he personally preferred. His accounts of these discussions influenced Wilson's thinking and ultimately his decisions.

D.2.

Neutrality Program

Anti-German propaganda early in the war cost the Germans any possibility of creating a movement favoring intervention on their side, and German sympathizers mainly argued for peace. Early in the war, House tried to get all warring nations to preserve the freedom of the seas, which would have permitted U.S. ships to travel unhindered. American businesses could thus have fed the United Kingdom and delivered goods to Germany. Such an agreement, however, would have forced Britain to give up its greatest asset, control of the sea, and it was coldly received by the British.

Realizing how divided the Americans were, the British encouraged Wilson's neutrality, but they were able also to perceive the value of U.S. mediation, which would involve the United States more intimately in European affairs. The problem lay in determining the conditions of mediation. Germany, with its battle lines in French and Belgian territory, was ready to accept mediation from a position of strength. Therefore Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the British ambassador to the United States, on behalf of his government rejected House's mediation by stating that “Germany must be punished before peace is made.”

D.3.

Sinking of the Lusitania

Germany, despite its strong position in the land war, still had somehow to curb the flow of goods to Britain. Since Germany's surface navy had been quickly bottled up, its only weapons were its submarines, called U-boats.

On February 4, 1915, the German government announced that British waters would henceforth be considered a war zone, meaning neutral ships in such areas could be attacked by U-boats. Wilson now made the crucial distinction that would thereafter dominate U.S. opinion. He agreed that the Allies had been uncooperative but emphasized that they had not threatened the lives of neutrals. Wilson warned that he would hold the Germans strictly accountable for their actions.

It was only a matter of time before Germany's expanded submarine campaign resulted in tragedy. On May 7, 1915, the British liner Lusitania was sunk at sea by a German U-boat. Among the more than 1100 dead were 128 Americans. In the United States there was an outburst of horror and condemnation of Germany. Wilson responded by stressing the need for fair warnings that would preserve lives. However, he would not insist that the British stop carrying war materials on ships that also carried passengers, and he would not restrict the right of Americans to travel. All of this, Secretary of State Bryan believed, could lead to war. On June 8, 1915, he resigned his position and was succeeded by Robert Lansing, who saw the matter as Wilson did.

Pacifists, those who opposed war or any type of violence on principle, were dissatisfied with Wilson's unclear policies, but those who embraced the British cause were outraged. Theodore Roosevelt became their most influential voice. He believed Wilson's response to the Lusitania and other sinkings, including that of the Arabic in August 1915 and of the Sussex in March 1916, was completely wrong. He thought Wilson should have armed the country and demanded full satisfaction from Germany under threat of war.

D.4.

Preparedness

On June 17, 1915, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the League to Enforce Peace was organized with the encouragement of ex-President Taft. Although the organization's long-range goal was peace, Taft himself observed that military strength might be required “to frighten nations into a use of rational and peaceful means.”

Wilson moved slowly toward preparedness, finally speaking out on January 27, 1916, on the need for a larger army and navy. He emphasized that they would be used for peace. In a later address to the League to Enforce Peace he promised that the United States was willing to join any reasonable association of nations formed in order to defend the right of peoples to govern themselves (self-determination), to be respected as nations, and to be secure against aggressors. He thus announced the American purpose was not limited to the protection of U.S. rights in the current crisis but as including protection of the rights of all nations.

D.5.

Election of 1916

By the summer of 1916 the Democratic Party had lost some of its momentum for reform. Theodore Roosevelt was bringing many of his supporters back into the Republican Party, and Wilson was about to face a more united opposition. At this crucial time a vacancy occurred on the Supreme Court of the United States, and Wilson nominated Louis D. Brandeis to fill it. Brandeis, a progressive, was opposed by many big business interests and was also resented by many people because he was Jewish. There was substantial opposition to his nomination, both because of hatred and because of the fear of what he might do on the court. Wilson courageously defended Brandeis's qualifications.

In June the Democrats renominated Wilson. Their platform emphasized peace, and argued that Wilson had kept the United States out of the war. The Republicans nominated Charles Evans Hughes, a former governor of New York with an honored record of reform, and an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Because he seemed to offer common ground to both progressives and conservatives, Hughes appeared to have the political advantage, but he turned out to be an unimpressive campaigner. On election night Hughes appeared to have had won, but as the returns came in from California in the early morning hours, the race went to Wilson, who won the state by a mere 1983 votes. The “Solid South” and a nearly solid West had assured him a narrow victory in the end.