Lived

December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924

Home State

New Jersey

Party

Democratic

Vice President

Thomas R. Marshall

Woodrow Wilson was a Princeton political scientist and Progressive governor of New Jersey who led the United States through World War I and championed the League of Nations. His administration created the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, and the graduated federal income tax. He also segregated federal offices and screened The Birth of a Nation at the White House. A stroke late in his presidency left his wife and aides effectively governing, and the Senate's rejection of the League marked a turning point in American foreign policy. Professor and President of Princeton University, Governor of New Jersey.

Davidson College; College of New Jersey (Princeton), 1879; University of Virginia Law; Johns Hopkins Ph.D. (1886).

Signed the Federal Reserve Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Amendments (all ratified during his presidency). Led the country in World War I. Articulated the Fourteen Points and won the Nobel Peace Prize (1919). Signed the Federal Reserve Act (1913), the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914), the Federal Trade Commission Act (1914), the Espionage Act (1917), and the Sedition Act (1918).

Ordered the segregation of federal offices and departments, reversing decades of integrated federal employment. Signed the Espionage Act (1917) and Sedition Act (1918), used to jail antiwar activists including Eugene V. Debs. The Palmer Raids of 1919–1920 targeted immigrants and dissenters. His stroke in October 1919 was concealed from the country while his wife effectively managed access to the President.