 |
Thomas Woodrow Wilson
b. 28 Dec 1856, Staunton, Virginia
d. 3 Feb 1924, Washington, D.C. |
| Title: |
President of the United States |
| Term: |
4 Mar 1913 - 4 Mar 1917 |
| Chronology: |
12 Feb 1913,
election to the office of President of the United States is declared upon counting electoral votes (cast 13 Jan 1913),
joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, House Chamber, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. [1] |
|
4 Mar 1913,
commencement of term |
|
4 Mar 1913,
took an oath of office as President of the United States, inaugural ceremony as part of the special session of the Senate, East Portico, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. [2] |
|
4 Mar 1917,
expiration of term |
| Term: |
4 Mar 1917 - 4 Mar 1921 |
| Chronology: |
14 Feb 1917,
election to the office of President of the United States is declared upon counting electoral votes (cast 8 Jan 1917),
joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, House Chamber, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. [3] |
|
4 Mar 1917,
commencement of term |
|
4 Mar 1917,
took an oath of office as President of the United States, private ceremony, President's Room, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. [4] |
|
5 Mar 1917,
took an oath of office as President of the United States, inaugural ceremony as part of the special session of the Senate, East Portico, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. [5][6] |
|
4 Mar 1921,
expiration of term |
| Biography: |
| Born in the family of Presbyterian minister; descendant of of Scotch-Irish immigrants; educated at Davidson College near Charlotte in North Carolina and at Princeton University (1875-1879); received a baccalaureate degree in 1879; graduated from the Law School of the University of Virginia; practiced law in Atlanta, Georgia; entered graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University in 1883; received Ph.D. in government and history (1886); taught at Bryn Mawr College (1885-1888), Wesleyan University in Connecticut (1888-1890); joined the faculty of Princeton University (1890) as a professor of jurisprudence and political economy; elected president of Princeton University (1902 - 1910); became widely known for his ideas on reforming education; accepted nomination as a Democratic candidate for governor of New Jersey; Governor of the State of New Jersey (17 Jan 1911 - 1 Mar 1913); earned national reputation for his program of reforms; elected President of the United States on the Democratic ticket (1912); set out the principles of his politics in New Freedom program; implemented tariff reform (Underwood Tariff Act, 1913), banking and monetary reform (Federal Reserve Act, 1913, created a federal reserve system), antitrust reform (Federal Trade Commission Act, 1914, to prevent business practices that would lead to monopoly); maintain neutrality in the first years of the First World War; reelected president in 1916; asked for declaration of war (2 Apr 1917) after unrestricted submarine warfare announced by Germany; Congress granted request and declared the state of war (6 Apr 1917) between the United States and the German Reich; raised army by conscription under the Selective Service Act, 1917; seized the initiative on war aims with his "Fourteen Points" speech of 8 Jan 1918; American Expeditionary Force helped to end the war in Europe in November 1918; attended the Paris Peace Conference resulting in signing the Treaty of Versailles (28 Jun 1919); secured the adoption of the Covenant of the League of Nations (1919); vainly sought American public support for the Treaty; suffered a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed on his left side (2 Oct 1919); never fully recovered from the stroke; failed to secure the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles by Congress (1919, 1920); Senate declined to approve American acceptance of the League of Nations; Nobel Prize for Peace awarded in December 1920; lived in retirement after the expiration of presidential term. |
| Biographical sources: "Wilson", by Arthur S. Link (Princeton University Press, 1947-1965), 5 vols.; "The Papers of Woodrow Wilson", ed. by Arthur S. Link, 69 vols. |
| Elections: |
| Candidate |
Electoral vote (13 Jan 1913) |
| Thomas Woodrow Wilson |
435 |
| Theodore Roosevelt |
88 |
| William Howard Taft |
8 |
| total number of electors appointed |
531 |
| number of votes for a majority |
266 |
| Candidate |
Electoral vote (8 Jan 1917) |
| Thomas Woodrow Wilson |
277 |
| Charles Evans Hughes |
254 |
| total number of electors appointed |
531 |
| number of votes for a majority |
266 |
|
| Source of electoral results: Congressional Record, 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, 3042; Congressional Record, 64th Congress, 2nd Session, 3289.
|
| |
| [1] |
Congressional Record, 62nd Congress, 3rd Session, 3041-3042. |
| [2] |
Congressional Record, 63rd Congress, Special Session of the Senate, 1-3. |
| [3] |
Congressional Record, 64th Congress, 2nd Session, 3288-3289. |
| [4] |
The New York Times, New York, Monday, March 5, 1917, vol. LXVI, No. 21,590, p. 1. |
| [5] |
Congressional Record, 65th Congress, Special Session of the Senate, 1-3. |
| [6] |
Public ceremony of inauguration was postponed as 4 Mar 1917 fell on a Sunday. |
