Woodrow Wilson's Presidency

Princess Dela Cerna
Dr. Michael D. Blodgett
U.S. History Since 1877
September 13, 2014 Paper One: Presidency of Woodrow Wilson Woodrow Wilson was a man with intellect and reasons. His main desire was to end all future wars in the nation. He proposed an international peacekeeping force called the League of
Nations. “Wilson’s Third great legacy to American foreign policy is presented more fully in the fourteen points than in The Treaty of Versaille.” (xiv.) Where he talks about his plans for keeping the peace between all nations. Woodrow Wilson was raised by Mr. Joseph Ruggles, his father and also his mentor, to be a religious man. Mr. Wilson encouraged his son, Woodrow
Wilson “to develop an oratorical skills and stressed precision in speech and writing.” (1). Wilson
had so many achievements in his early life, but the proudest achievement he got was he became the President of the United States of America. Wilson was also a president of Princeton
University, where he admired all the businessmen in their own fields. When he started playing the role as the president in Princeton, he used this opportunity to make the University a training ground for future leaders; “by these future leaders must not be narrowly trained technicians” they must also have the characteristic of being a leader and have a mind of their on.
During Wilson’s time as president, the constitution have become less important and his power to inspire, shape, and lead public opinion became his main priority. (8)“To wilson he believed politically

controlled and directed economic development was the basis of progress.” (9) According to
Wilson, Capitalist only sought power and profit for purely selfish reasons, like monopoly. He believes that the government should control all the businesses because real growth needs to be guided or shaped by politics rather than rely on unlimited resources. “Irresistible energy and efficiency of harmony and cooperation” could help the society move forward, but the government will still regulate and guide them to public interest(9). Without regulations and controls, these selfish competitions would cause conflict and violence in so many ways(9). He believes that the government should control all the businesses, real growth needs to be guided
or shaped by politics rather than rely on unlimited resources. Wilson was a democrat and he believed that people should have the freedom that this country has promised. Wilson assumed that the president alone is the only sole voice on the nation, and didn 't thought about the member of the cabinet as a political officers at all. (8). Wilson’s vision of presidency only evolved around his own political views and it resulted on a constant search for ways to secure the national unity and leadership. Wilson’s views were extraordinary and had a lot of potentials, he understood what the people wanted. “He was a party leader, symbol of national unity, and interpreter of the wishes of all people.” (8.) By the beginning of the Wilson administration, Wilson created a union system, where he reduced the working hour and raised the minimum wages. Some federal agencies even had a seven­hour, six­day week of working.
Also Wilson created a strongly unionized manufacturing industry. By 1912, the union had 2.5 million members. The unions became important to the economy and slowly turning into a political force. After 10 years workers “productivity had grown by more than 50 per cent, but

wages kept pace with that increase.” (16). Employments were high, but the unemployment stise rose between 1908, 1914 and 1952 to 12 per cent. “By 1913, when woodrow wilson was inaugurated, american industries were pioneering in the production of a new flood of consumer goods, including automobiles, telephones and movies.” (17). There no insurance for workers back then, thousand of people were either injured or dead during industrial accidents, many of them were women and children.(16) The year 1912 was a very good year for most americans.
Unemployed lowered to 4.6 percent than it had been for several years. Wilson improved the working condition, workers only had to work Six­day, ten­hour­a­day a week and it was shortened to eight­hour, six day week.
But in exchanged to all that, the living expenses in the rural area also increased by 35 per cent. Many constitution were corrupt during the Spanish­American war, thats why people didn 't have much trust in the government, but Wilson changed all that by focusing on one thing.
Wilson noticed that the people felt helpless and had no control over gigantic forces. People wanted somewhere to place their trust. Wilson argued that strong administration could make the democratic state more rather than less responsive to the people. (6) In the late 1890’s and early
1900’s americans wanted government control than ever before. they expect government to improve the industrial condition and provide social justice, and social control. (22). The
Americans were fighting against corruption, the government attempted to make all the businesses more socially responsible. Wisconsin was the first state that forms the civil­service, which they “improved public education, create a law that regulates children and women 's labor, health and pure­food rules…” (23) and all the other things that is necessary to help the
people.

Some cities, like San Francisco for example, start providing their own gas and water and created their own public transportations to free themselves from the corruption that 's happening in private companies. Wilson was so against monopoly, that even he thought Roosevelt 's regulatory commision wouldn 't work “because monopolies would quickly find a way to control the regulatory body.”
(28) Once the monopoly in this nation grow, it would start controlling the government and thats what scares Wilson. Wilsons idea of “New Freedom” really caught the attention of the middle­class people, but it wasn 't specified. (28) During one of Wilson’s speech he said that
“Our laws are still meant for business done by individuals.” Tariff reduction was Wilson’s first concerns. The Wilson administration’s policy that concerns to the tariff reforms presented a really strong argument for the theory that institutes a “corporate liberalism” where big businesses partner up with the government is more stable and more profitable. The Federal Reserve Act was a main example of the Wilson administration, its purpose is to maintain the balance between the interest of the corporate capitalism and to protect the opportunity of ordinary Americans. Alot of people did not agree to this. This bill would have been more satisfactory to big businesses (43) but it wasn 't the reason why Wilson favored it. He plan to use this to prevent monopolies to develop elsewhere. In some issues Wilson was having a hard time accepting to believe that the public wanted change. As the president, it was his duty to change his position in response to changing public demands.

Wilson understood the people, and he wasn 't too obsessed with power. He was more concern about the public welfare, and the protection of this nation. His main role was to guide this country out of depression and he wanted the Americans to have their faith and trust back to the government. By creating new job opportunities and improving the working conditions in all industrial factories in the country, people were happy and they slowly put their trust on him.
Wilson was ready to take advantage and use the presidency to find the possibilities to become the leader and unify the nation that he had so long sought.

Work Cited Clements, Kendrick A. The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson. Lawrence, Kan.: U of
Kansas, 1992. Print.