Post by dex on Jun 2, 2020 7:32:38 GMT -5
Daniel F. Harrington: Woodrow Wilson radically transformed the nation
By Daniel F. Harrington
Posted May 31, 2020
He was probably America’s most eccentric president. Born Thomas Woodrow Wilson in 1856, he was raised in the South and dreamed of becoming a statesman. Once described as “an old young man,” Tommy actually practiced writing constitutions as a teenager.
Sublimely confident, disciplined and Presbyterian, Wilson had a penchant for turning dreams into reality. Entering Princeton University at age 19, he eventually ascended to the presidency of the school, and after publishing the wonkish “Constitutional Government” became a best-selling author and speaker.
The governorship of New Jersey came to him in 1910 and the presidency of the United States followed two years later.
He was the country’s first progressive Democratic president. The Federal Reserve, the national income tax and the eight-hour workday are all products of Wilson’s “New Freedom” agenda.
When Europe descended into total war in July of 1914, Wilson pledged to keep America out of it, and against long odds, he did — for nearly three years. Only after Germany brazenly declared American shipping fair game for their torpedoes did America join the world war in the spring of 1917.
Wilson never looked back.
Seizing the patriotic fervor that swept the nation, Wilson radically transformed the country. Via executive order, he created a plethora of alphabet agencies to regulate the economy and “engineer behavior.”
“Meatless Mondays” and “Wheatless Wednesdays” were declared to ration food, and police pulled over rebel motorists on “Gasless Sundays.” Under the Espionage Act censorship became federal law: 75 newspapers — mostly socialist in nature — were shut down. Conscription was mandatory; although Wilson was careful to keep the armed forces and government agencies segregated.
Incredibly, some 200,000 volunteers for the “American Protection League” were deputized to spy on and report their neighbors’ suspicious activity. The DOJ received about 1,500 sedition reports per day.
Scores of union leaders were arrested and convicted in mass trials. Socialist Eugene Debs, who received 6% of the presidential vote in 1912, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for publicly opposing the war.
What the Feds couldn’t do, spirited mobs gladly did. In Collinsville, Illinois, Robert Prager, a German immigrant, was lynched by a mob for not joining the Navy. (Prager tried to join but couldn’t; he had a glass eye.) After those responsible for Prager’s murder were acquitted, the Washington Post editorialized, “in spite of excesses such as lynching, it is a healthful and wholesome awakening in the interior of the country.”
Groupthink abounded. Pacifists were forced to kiss the American flag, orchestras refused to play Mozart or Beethoven while Boy Scouts went door to door selling “Liberty Loan” bonds. Those who didn’t buy often found their homes vandalized. Slow to condemn the violence, Wilson was unmoved: “Woe to the men or group of men that seeks to stand in our way.”
Buttressed by his soaring oratory, Wilson remained very popular, particularly among the nearly 3 million American troops who descended upon Europe.
The Great War ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month of 1918. Ever the professor, Wilson spent much of the next year in Paris personally crafting a treaty that established the League of Nations, only to see the Republican-led Senate reject his handiwork. Wilson suffered a major stroke soon thereafter, hobbling the remaining year of his presidency.
Viewed through the lens of time, Wilson’s wartime leadership seems harsh. Perhaps we should be slow to judge Wilson for, I suspect, he would be quick to note how like-minded we are today. In fact, you can almost hear him whispering through the ages: “Yes, facing the tip of a torpedo I curtailed the civil liberties of hundreds of thousands; yet you all, upon hearing the yelp of a virus, have curtailed the civil liberties of hundreds of millions, haven’t you?”
Daniel F. Harrington (danielfharrington@yahoo.com), a monthly contributor, is president of Chartwell Wealth Management.
By Daniel F. Harrington
Posted May 31, 2020
He was probably America’s most eccentric president. Born Thomas Woodrow Wilson in 1856, he was raised in the South and dreamed of becoming a statesman. Once described as “an old young man,” Tommy actually practiced writing constitutions as a teenager.
Sublimely confident, disciplined and Presbyterian, Wilson had a penchant for turning dreams into reality. Entering Princeton University at age 19, he eventually ascended to the presidency of the school, and after publishing the wonkish “Constitutional Government” became a best-selling author and speaker.
The governorship of New Jersey came to him in 1910 and the presidency of the United States followed two years later.
He was the country’s first progressive Democratic president. The Federal Reserve, the national income tax and the eight-hour workday are all products of Wilson’s “New Freedom” agenda.
When Europe descended into total war in July of 1914, Wilson pledged to keep America out of it, and against long odds, he did — for nearly three years. Only after Germany brazenly declared American shipping fair game for their torpedoes did America join the world war in the spring of 1917.
Wilson never looked back.
Seizing the patriotic fervor that swept the nation, Wilson radically transformed the country. Via executive order, he created a plethora of alphabet agencies to regulate the economy and “engineer behavior.”
“Meatless Mondays” and “Wheatless Wednesdays” were declared to ration food, and police pulled over rebel motorists on “Gasless Sundays.” Under the Espionage Act censorship became federal law: 75 newspapers — mostly socialist in nature — were shut down. Conscription was mandatory; although Wilson was careful to keep the armed forces and government agencies segregated.
Incredibly, some 200,000 volunteers for the “American Protection League” were deputized to spy on and report their neighbors’ suspicious activity. The DOJ received about 1,500 sedition reports per day.
Scores of union leaders were arrested and convicted in mass trials. Socialist Eugene Debs, who received 6% of the presidential vote in 1912, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for publicly opposing the war.
What the Feds couldn’t do, spirited mobs gladly did. In Collinsville, Illinois, Robert Prager, a German immigrant, was lynched by a mob for not joining the Navy. (Prager tried to join but couldn’t; he had a glass eye.) After those responsible for Prager’s murder were acquitted, the Washington Post editorialized, “in spite of excesses such as lynching, it is a healthful and wholesome awakening in the interior of the country.”
Groupthink abounded. Pacifists were forced to kiss the American flag, orchestras refused to play Mozart or Beethoven while Boy Scouts went door to door selling “Liberty Loan” bonds. Those who didn’t buy often found their homes vandalized. Slow to condemn the violence, Wilson was unmoved: “Woe to the men or group of men that seeks to stand in our way.”
Buttressed by his soaring oratory, Wilson remained very popular, particularly among the nearly 3 million American troops who descended upon Europe.
The Great War ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month of 1918. Ever the professor, Wilson spent much of the next year in Paris personally crafting a treaty that established the League of Nations, only to see the Republican-led Senate reject his handiwork. Wilson suffered a major stroke soon thereafter, hobbling the remaining year of his presidency.
Viewed through the lens of time, Wilson’s wartime leadership seems harsh. Perhaps we should be slow to judge Wilson for, I suspect, he would be quick to note how like-minded we are today. In fact, you can almost hear him whispering through the ages: “Yes, facing the tip of a torpedo I curtailed the civil liberties of hundreds of thousands; yet you all, upon hearing the yelp of a virus, have curtailed the civil liberties of hundreds of millions, haven’t you?”
Daniel F. Harrington (danielfharrington@yahoo.com), a monthly contributor, is president of Chartwell Wealth Management.