Community | December 28, 2011 | 11 comments

Happy Woodrow Wilson's Birthday

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thedirtman
Woodrow Wilson is known for having led America into the first World War after promising to keep the US out, and for racists statements that, in the Jim Crow era, lent to the cause of "separate but equal."

Yet, Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States of America, is typically ranked the seventh best President by historians. After the signing of the Armistice Wilson went to Paris to try to build an enduring peace. He later presented to the Senate the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations, and asked, "Dare we reject it and break the heart of the world? "Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize, and heralded in Europe as a savior of peace.

For good or bad Wilson left a number of famous quotations including this one:

I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty. But we shall not be poor if we love liberty, because the nation that loves liberty truly sets every man free to do his best and be his best, and that means the release of all the splendid energies of a great people who think for themselves. A nation of employees cannot be free any more than a nation of employers can be.
---Address on Latin American policy, Fifth Annual Convention, Southern Commercial Congress, Mobile, Alabama, October 27, 1913.

more on Woodrow Wilson:

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/about-woodrow-wilson
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11 comments // Happy Woodrow Wilson's Birthday

  • thedirtman
    • +1
      thedirtman  

    • First, I want to thank everyone that participated in this thread. However, I think that it shows that when it comes to change people only remember the mistakes that happen during the process of change, and come to disregard the wealth of good that comes from change.

      No wonder Obama is a disappointing President. If I came to be elected because I promised change I wouldn't want to be remembered only for the rotten stuff I could not solve.

    • 5 months ago
  • AmericanStandard
  • Paratus
  • AmericanStandard
  • Day0
    • +2
      Day0  

    • He's also the president you can thank for the Federal Reserve. I don't think I'll be wishing him a happy birthday, ever!

    • 5 months ago
  • thedirtman
    • +1
      thedirtman  
    • Day0:

      The Federal Reserve Bank, which was not Wilson's idea, he later came to oppose. Women's Suffrage, which was another idea that he signed into law, he never came to regret.

    • 5 months ago
  • acarvajal
  • Day0
    • +1
      Day0  
    • acarvajal:

      Well, Wilson had to come up with a way to pay the banker's interest so why not take the money out of the pockets of unaware everyday Americans. It's the classic Ponzi scheme dreamed up years ago with the formation of the Bank of England. Just check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXt1cayx0hs or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkq2E8mswI. And a quick reply to thedirtman; I know the fed was not Wilson's idea but he was the one who authorized the legislation which was forced through congress during a holiday session. It sounds quite familiar considering we just went through the same scenario with the "tax holiday" debacle which will come up again in two months.

      When are the politicians going to realize they are nothing but pawns of the banking industry? it's frightening to think we vote for people who are either in on the scheme or so ignorant as to believe they can affect any change in an environment where their power is controlled by an agency holding hostage the wealth/poverty of the nation.

    • 5 months ago
  • thedirtman
    • +1
      thedirtman  
    • Day0:

      My question has been, when will the people realize that politicians are nothing but marionettes with corporations holding the strings? That doesn't sound far from your arguments at all.

      Roosevelt and Wilson of the first Progressive era transformed corruption. I'm sure they would have liked to have ended it. Indeed, both of them angered many wealthy corrupt politicians in their day. I believe we would agree there was corruption both before and after them.

      In posting this I wanted people to look more thoroughly. Understanding this era is critical to understanding what is happening today. My opinion, is that Wilson's quote from my article is outstanding. We need to look closely, without oversimplification, so we don't make the same mistakes again.

    • 5 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • thedirtman:

      Wilson wasn't originally for Women's Suffrage. Only after the torture of Alice Paul in Quantico made news did he come to understand just what the stakes were in calling for bringing democracy abroad when there was little in his own country.

    • 5 months ago
  • thedirtman
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