Woodrow Wilson

Dr. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was the 28th President of the United States (1913–1921). Initially an academician, he served as President of Princeton University and was the 45th state Governor of New Jersey (1911–1913). He was the second Democrat to serve two consecutive terms in the White House, the first having been Andrew Jackson, and his terms in office spanned his country's involvement in World War I.

Early life, education and family

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1856 to Reverend Dr. Joseph Ruggles Wilson and Janet Woodrow, making him the last president born in that state. His ancestry was Scots-Irish going back to Strabane, in modern-day Northern Ireland. Wilson grew up in Augusta, Georgia and always claimed that his earliest memory was of hearing that Abraham Lincoln had been elected and that a war was coming. Wilson's father and mother were originally from Ohio, but sympathized with the South in the Civil War. They cared for wounded Confederate soldiers at their church and let their son go out and see Jefferson Davis paraded in handcuffs by the victorious Union Army. Wilson would forever recall standing "for a moment at General Lee's side and looking up into his face". (To End All Wars, p. 3.)

Related Topics:
Staunton, Virginia - Scots-Irish - Strabane - Northern Ireland - Augusta, Georgia - Abraham Lincoln - Ohio - South - Civil War - Confederate - Jefferson Davis - Union Army - General Lee's

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Despite suffering from dyslexia, Wilson taught himself shorthand to compensate for his difficulties and was able to achieve academically through determination and self-discipline, but never quite overcame his dyslexia. Wilson attended Davidson College for one year and then transferred to Princeton University, graduating in 1879. He was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternal organization. Afterward, Wilson studied law at the University of Virginia for one year. After completing and publishing his dissertation, Congressional Government, in 1886, he received his Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University. (His carved initials are still visible on the underside of a table in the History Department). Wilson remains the only American president to have earned a doctoral degree.

Related Topics:
Dyslexia - Shorthand - Davidson College - Princeton University - 1879 - Phi Kappa Psi - Fraternal organization - University of Virginia - 1886 - Johns Hopkins University

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Family

Wilson first met Ellen Axson in a Presbyterian church; she was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. He spent several weeks courting her, but she did not respond. Months later, in 1883, he ran into her by chance in a train station. She was more receptive. He proposed to her, and they were married on June 24, 1885 in Savannah, Georgia. They had three daughters, Margaret in 1886, Jessie in 1887, and Eleanor in 1889. The three were all unmarried when he entered the White House, but that quickly changed. Jessie married Francis B. Sayre on November 25, 1913, and Eleanor married William G. McAdoo, the Secretary of the Treasury on May 7, 1914.

Related Topics:
1883 - June 24 - 1885 - Savannah, Georgia - Margaret - 1886 - Jessie - 1887 - Eleanor - 1889 - White House - Francis B. Sayre - November 25 - 1913 - William G. McAdoo - Secretary of the Treasury - May 7 - 1914

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He later married Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, a widow, on December 18, 1915.

Related Topics:
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson - December 18 - 1915

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