U.S. Presidents / Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

1856 - 1924

Woodrow Wilson

The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. Address to Congress Requesting a Declaration of War Against Germany 

Overview

Woodrow Wilson was one of America's greatest Presidents. His domestic program expanded the role of the federal government in managing the economy and protecting the interests of citizens. His foreign policy established a new vision of America's role in the world. And he helped to make the White House the center of power in Washington. Most historians rank him among the five most important American Presidents, along with Washington, Lincoln, and the two Roosevelts.

Fast Facts

Staunton, Virginia
College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), graduated 1879
Presbyterian
Professor, College Administration, Public Official
Democrat
“Schoolmaster in Politics”
June 24, 1885, to Ellen Louise Axson (1860–1914), December 18, 1915, to Edith Bolling Galt (1872–1961)
Margaret Woodrow (1886–1944), Jessie Woodrow (1887–1933), Eleanor Randolph (1889–1967)
28
National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.
Saladin Ambar

Chicago Style

Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. “Woodrow Wilson.” Accessed April 14, 2024. https://millercenter.org/president/wilson.

Associate Professor of Political Science

Saladin Ambar

Professor Ambar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, where he is Senior Scholar at the Center on the American Governor at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. He researches the American presidency and governorship, race and American political development.