The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson

The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson

The turn of century was an important time for pre-WWI America. National and

international affairs were in full swing, just as ever. America was trying hard to remain

with its Isolationism, yet could in no way thoroughly do so. Yet with this isolationistic

stance, that was deteriorating daily, much emphasis was put onto national affairs of the

United States by the government. Woodrow Wilson, the third president of this new

century, also had great concern with the national affairs of the U.S. Elected in 1912,

Wilson strongly believed in a government “more concerned about human rights than

property rights” (Comptons). Through these strong idealistic views, Wilson was in fact

the “president of the common people.” He proved this through his efforts for farmers and

other laborers. This also seen through his “New Freedom” basis of government, as

opposed to President Roosevelt’s “New Nationalist” form of government. On top of this,

Wilson’s flood of social welfare legislation proved that he was definitely “president of the

common people.”

One thing must be known about Wilson before anything else. That is the fact that

he was a strong idealist. He had great visions of how to make the U.S. a better nation for

all. This is illustrated trough his many Acts that he sent through congress. He put in place

many systems that help benefit all the common people. Though he did not always follow

all the way through with his plans (he more or less put them in place and left them), his

strong devotion to the common people being treated equally cannot be overseen. The fact

is that Wilson truly cared about the farmer and the working man. For example, it is

known that he “promised...

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...e president of the common

people. This was shown through his efforts to better the conditions for farmers and

laborers. This was also shown through his flood of social welfare programs on the

middle/lower class working America. On top of all that, Wilson’s “New Freedom,” later

turning into Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism,” helped to deteriorate unfair systems in the

U.S. (New Freedom) and then to build positive ones later on (New Nationalism). Wilson

carried the United States with their chins up high through this crucial time right before the

U.S. actually entered the war. And the mere stability that the working class Americans

felt through Wilson’s plans was so crucial to the country at the time. And Wilson did just

that. He brought the comfort back to the homes of the everyday working Americans. He

was, in fact, the “president of the common people.”