Woodrow Wilson: Reluctant Warrior

(This episode is produced in 1996, for release upon the evening of January 20, 1997, to coincide with the second inauguration of U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton.) Although History students would be presented with more information than this episode contains, this creates a nice audio-visual companion piece to appreciate Wilson's era, bridging the U.S. Civil War with the aftermath of WWI.

Jack Perkins narrates this account of the life and career of Thomas Woodrow Wilson, from his 1856 birth, in Staunton, Virginia, the son of a Presbyterian minister, who instills upon the youth to embark upon a life without compromise.

From here, Reverend Dr. Joseph Ruggles Wilson and Jessie Janet Woodrow Wilson move their family of four children to Augusta, Georgia, at which young Tommy recalls his earliest memory, of the news of the 1860 election of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and the promise that the Confederacy plans war.

At the age of 14, Tommy and his family relocate to Charleston, South Carolina, and becomes proficient in drawing; when he reaches college age, Tommy enrolls in the College of New Jersey, soon to become Princeton University.

Upon entering Law School, Tommy toys with the idea of dropping his nickname to form a moniker conducive to the legal profession, and henceforth presents himself as Woodrow Wilson.

Soon, Woodrow becomes interested in a lovely young lady, Patricia Woodrow, to whom he proposes, but the trouble is that she's his first cousin, and so, on the rebound, Woodrow relocates to Athens and Rome, the Georgia cities. While in Rome, Woodrow becomes interested in the lovely Ellen Louise Axson, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister, as is his mother, and as he is also the son of another, and so the talented artist marries Woodrow.

From here, Woodrow relocates to accept academic appointments at Bryn Mawr College, in Pennsylvania, and Wesleyan University, in Connecticut, before returning to Princeton University, at which he eventually becomes its President. During these years, Woodrow authors a series of texts, which are well received by academics, who attempt to hire him away from Princeton, but he decides to stay in place, or at least until he is nominated as the Democratic candidate for the office of Governor of New Jersey, in 1910.

But, in 1912, as current U.S. President William Howard Taft plans his re-election campaign, former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt tosses his hat back into the ring as a third-party candidate, while Woodrow Wilson receives the Democratic nomination. During his 1912 presidential campaign, Wilson becomes the first candidate in history to employ motion picture advertising to popularize his platform of peace and progression although in some respects is considered retrograde in policy.

During Wilson's first presidential administration, World War I erupts in Europe, but Wilson maintains a non-compromising position of avoiding American involvement even when German submarines sink the British liner Lusitania, which includes the loss of American lives, as well.

In 1914, First Lady Ellen Wilson passes after a lengthy illness, and in 1915, citizens are pleased to learn that President Wilson plans marriage with the lovely widow Edith Bolling Galt, who remains at his side for the duration of his appearances.

For his 1916 re-election campaign, against Charles Evans Hughes, Wilson promotes his anti-war stance and narrowly defeats his opponent in what becomes the final U.S. presidential election before females gain the right to vote.

But when Germany attacks U.S. ships during the days after Wilson's second inauguration, Wilson petitions Congress to declare war, a factor relatively well-received by the nation.

After WWI, Wilson travels to Europe to endorse the notion that this war should end all wars, and he campaigns for a New World Order with his famous Fourteen Points address, which includes establishing a League of Nations to instill peaceful solutions to international disputes.

Yet when Congress opposes the idea of American involvement in a League of Nations, Wilson sets out on a railroad tour of the American West, to promote his plans, but after 22 whistle stops, President Wilson's health begins to deteriorate severely.

Interview Guests for this episode consist of Kendrick Clements (Biographer: "The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson"), Florence Fleming Corley (Author: "Confederate City, Augusta, Georgia, 1860-1865"), Erick Montgomery (Augusta Historian), Frances Wright Saunders (Biographer: "First Lady Between Two Worlds: Ellen Axson Wilson"), S. Georgia Nugent (Princeton University Associate Provost), Eleanor A. Sayre (Granddaughter of President Wilson), David W. Hirst (Journalist: "The Papers of Woodrow Wilson"), George Will (Syndicated Columnist, The Washington Post Writers Group).

Photographs include U.S. First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson, Daughters Margaret Woodrow Wilson, Jessie Wilson and Eleanor R. Wilson, U.S. Author Mark Twain, U.S. President William Howard Taft, and Henry Cabot Lodge, as well as Woodrow Wilson at various times.

You'll also certainly want to see the photograph of American troops in formation to create the giant living portrait of President Wilson's profile.

Archive motion picture footage includes U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, Mexican revolutionary leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa, U.S. First Lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, 1916 Republican presidential candidate Charles Evans Hughes, Actress Mary Pickford (WWI Bond Drive), and Actor Charles Chaplin (WWI Bond Drive).

Film Clips include screen glimpses of many unidentified Newsreels and file footage, beginning with Wilson's 1910 election as New Jersey Governor, his 1912 Presidential campaign, through his tenure as U.S. President, one of his Cabinet meetings, plus WWI-era footage, of the Rio Grande confrontation, the Lusitania, the 1918 Treaty ceremony and victory celebrations, Wilson's post-war European tour, and a 1924 observance of well-wishers, after which a nation halts to honor him in memorial services with bells and sirens peeling across the country.