Woodrow Wilson, 28th American President
Wilson in a 1921 painting by Edmund Tarbel. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. He served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913. Running against Theodore Roosevelt and Republican candidate William Howard Taft, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. Upon taking office he instituted reforms including the changing of the tariff, the revising of the banking system, the checking of monopolies and fraudulent advertising and the prohibiting of unfair business practices. During World War 1, Wilson focused on diplomacy and left the waging of the war in the hands of the Army. In 1917, he began the United States first draft since the American Civil War, raised billions of dollars in war funding through Liberty Bonds, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union cooperation, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. In the late stages of the war, Wilson took personal control of negotiations with Germany, including the armistice. In 1918, he issued his Fourteen Points, his view of a post-war world that could avoid another terrible conflict. In 1919, he went to Paris to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. For his peace-making efforts, particularly his advocacy of the League of Nations, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize. He died in 1924 at the age of 67
