Address of Welcome to the Special Ambassador from Japan, Viscount Ishii (August 23, 1917) Message to the National Army (September 3, 1917) Appeal to School Children to Coöperate with Red Appointment of Commission to Adjust Labor Dis- Proclamation Designating a "Liberty Loan" Day Messages to Brazil (October-November, 1917) Thanksgiving Proclamation (November 7, 1917) Address to Congress, Stating War Aims and Peace Address to Congress, Analyzing German and Austrian Peace Utterances (February 11, 1918). PAGE 493 CAREER OF WOODROW WILSON TWENTY-EIGHTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES [Vice-President, two terms, Thomas R. Marshall] The return of the Democratic party to power was made certain by the feeling of the country that the Payne-Aldrich tariff, enacted by the Republicans early in Mr. Taft's term, did not properly meet the pledge that the tariff should be thoroughly revised and substantially reduced by those responsible for the protective policy. In 1910, the Democrats elected a majority of the new Congress. In 1912, they carried the Presidential election as well as the Congressional. For the first time, the plan of popular primaries was used by the parties in the selection of candidates. The Democratic primaries showed Champ Clark (Speaker of the House) to be a plurality favorite, while the Republican primaries showed a clear preference for Theodore Roosevelt. But the effort to secure a second term for Taft gave him control of the Republican convention at Chicago, with the result that the larger half of the Republican party supported Roosevelt on a separate ticket. Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey, had been a prominent Democratic candidate, and through the influence of Mr. Bryan, Wilson prevailed over Clark in the Democratic convention at Baltimore. Apart from the fact that it was logically a Democratic year, the split in the Republican party made Democratic victory quite inevitable. Woodrow Wilson had not been in active politics, but he had long been a distinguished citizen and an eminent authority in the field of American history, government, and public policy. From his youth he had excelled in oratory, and his life study had been in the fields of jurisprudence and politics. After graduation from Princeton in 1879, he had studied law at the University of Virginia and had for a short time practiced law at Atlanta, Ga. His birthplace was Staunton, Va., and his boyhood had been spent in the States farther south. In 1883 he had entered upon special studies at Johns Hopkins University, where in 1886 he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He had not only obtained recognition at that time as an accomplished student in history, economics, and the science of government, but he had completed what has always held place as a very notable book, entitled "Congressional Government," which deals with the American national system in contrast with the British. After some years of teaching elsewhere, Wilson returned to Princeton as professor, and in due time became president of that institution, having devoted himself constantly to work in the field of American history, comparative politics, and the principles of constitutional law and government. The headship of an American educational institution is analagous, in the character of its executive authority, to the governorship of a State or the presidency of the Union. In 1910 he was made Governor of the State of New Jersey, and at once attracted notice throughout the country as a probable President of the United States. He was still Governor when elected to the Presidency. Wilson's first term was notable for the vigor and success with which he led his party in the revision of the tariff, the important reconstruction of the country's banking and currency system, and in various other policies which were favorably received regardless of party divisions. The principal foreign situation with which he had to deal in the early part of his term was caused by the chaotic condition of Mexico. Later, however, and before he had been in the presidential chair a full year and a half, the great war in Europe began and his attention was absorbed by the problems due to the neutral position of the United States as Career of Woodrow Wilson among the most powerful commercial nations of the world which were now opposing each other in two belligerent groups. President Wilson's renomination, in the summer of 1916, was unanimously accorded by the Democratic party. The Republicans nominated Charles E. Hughes (formerly Governor of the State of New York), who had for six years been an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The election was very close, and turned finally upon the count of votes in the State of California. Mr. Wilson's reëlection was, however, fully conceded by his opponents and accepted with characteristic good will by the entire country. The most serious situation of the latter part of his first term had to do with his diplomatic controversy with Germany over the ruthless and illegal use of submarines against the world's merchant shipping in the North Sea and in waters adjacent to the British, French, and Italian coasts. The principal slogan used by the Democrats, particularly in the West and South, in reëlecting Mr. Wilson was found in the phrase: "He kept us out of war." But just a month after his second inauguration he led the country into war, with the support of a Democratic Congress and the very general endorsement, regardless of party, of the entire country. This apparent change in his attitude was due to the resumption by Germany, on a far greater scale than two years previous, of reprisal methods in the form of unrestricted use of floating mines and submarine torpedoes in what the Germans denominated a "blockade" of England, France, and Italy-this policy being in violation of the rights of neutrals. Mr. Wilson's leadership-his country having supported him in the great decision-was fully accepted at home and highly respected abroad. His object, which was to "make the world safe for democracy," was acclaimed by the European Allies who were fighting Germany; and his official |