Woodrow Wilson

by John Milton Cooper, Jr.

  4. On George Harvey’s spotting Wilson as a presidential possibility, see ASL, Wilson, vol. 1, The Road to the White House (Princeton, N.J., 1947).

  5. WW to EAW, July 19, 1902, PWW, vol. 14; SA, “The Princeton Controversy,” [Feb. 1925], RSBP, box 99.

  6. SA, “The Princeton Controversy.”

  7. WW, Report to the Board of Trustees, Oct. 21, 1902, PWW, vol. 14.

  8. Ibid..

  9. WW draft to Benjamin F. Jones, Jr., [Mar. 30, 1904], PWW, vol. 15.

  10. Mary W. Hoyt memoir, Oct. 1926, RSBP, box 111; WW to Peyton Harrison Hoge, Jan. 31, 1903, PWW, vol. 14; WW to TR, Feb. 1, 1903, PWW, vol. 14.

  11. Henry B. Fine, interview by RSB, June 18, 1925, RSBP, box 108. On Wilson as a recruiter, see Edward Grant Conklin, “As a Scientist Saw Him,” in Woodrow Wilson: Some Princeton Memories, ed. William Starr Myers (Princeton, N.J., 1946), and Robert K. Root, “Wilson and the Preceptors,” in Myers, Princeton Memories.

  12. Bliss Perry, And Gladly Teach: Reminiscences (Boston, 1935).

  13. The Catholic was David McCabe, in Wilson’s own department, Politics, and the Jew was Horace M. Kallen, in English.

  14. WW, Report to the Board of Trustees, Dec. 10, 1903, PWW, vol. 15.

  15. WW to Edward Graham Elliott, July 15, 1902, PWW, vol. 14. On his befriending Fosdick, see Raymond B. Fosdick, Chronicle of a Generation: An Autobiography (New York, 1958).

  16. On the changes at Princeton, see SA, “The Princeton Controversy;” Hardin Craig, Woodrow Wilson at Princeton (Norman, Okla., 1960), 39–41; and HWB, Woodrow Wilson: The Academic Years (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), 272–74.

  17. Mary W. Hoyt memoir, Oct. 1926, RSBP, box 111.

  18. WW, “Statement of the Tutorial System,” [ca. Feb. 18, 1905], PWW, vol. 16; WW, “The Princeton Preceptorial System,” [ca. June 1, 1905], PWW, vol. 16. On the use of the term preceptor, see PWW, vol. 16, n. 1 and 2.

  19. Charles H. McIlwain, interview by HWB, Jan. 2, 1940, HWBC; Norman S. Mackie, interviews by HWB, Feb. 21–22, [1940?], HWBC. On the first group of preceptors, see WW reports to trustees, [ca. June 12], 1905; [ca. Oct. 21], 1905; Dec. 14, 1905, PWW, vol. 16, 198, 249–59.

  20. WW speech at Morristown, N.J., Feb. 23, 1903, PWW, vol. 14; WW speech at Chicago, Nov. 22, 1902, PWW, vol. 14; Roland S. Morris, interviews by RSB, Mar. 7–8, 1926, RSBP, box 117; WW to John Rogers Williams, Sept. 2, 1904, PWW, vol. 15. No African American would receive an undergraduate degree from Princeton until 1947.

  21. On the death of Edward Axson and his family and its impact on Ellen Wilson, see Frances Wright Saunders, Ellen Axson Wilson: First Lady Between Two Worlds (Chapel Hill, N.C. 1985).

  22. Margaret Axson Elliott, My Aunt Louisa and Woodrow Wilson (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1944); J. Duncan Spaeth, “Wilson As I Knew Him and View Him Now,” in Myers, Princeton Memories.

  23. Henry B. Fine, quoted in Elliott, My Aunt Louisa. On Wilson’s losing the sight in his left eye, see Editorial Note, PWW, vol. 16, n. 1, and Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton, N.J., 1981).

  24. EAW to Florence Hoyt, June 27, [1906], PWW, vol. 16; WW to EAW, Sept. 2, 1906, PWW, vol. 16.

  25. Andrew West, “A Narrative of the Graduate College of Princeton University from Its Proposal in 1896 until Its Dedication in 1915,” Princeton University Archives, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University. That MIT offered its presidency to West, who had even less interest in or acquaintance with science than Wilson, seemed odd at the time and has remained a mystery ever since. According to one story, the delegation from MIT intended to make the offer to Fine, who would have been a natural choice and was subsequently offered the job, but they called at the wrong dean’s office and mistakenly delivered the offer to West. For the story of the mistaken offer, see Winthrop M. Daniels, interview by HWB, Mar. 30, 1940, HWBC; Jacob Beam, interview by HWB, May 3, 1941, HWBC.

  26. WW, supplementary report to Princeton University trustees, [ca. Dec. 13, 1906], PWW, vol. 16.

  27. Harry A. Garfield, interview by HWB, Feb. 14, 1940, HWBC; WW report to the Graduate School Committee, [ca. May 30, 1907], PWW, vol. 16.

  28. WW, “Report on the Social Coordination of the University,” [ca. June 6], 1907, PWW, vol. 17; WW address to Princeton University trustees, June 10, 1907, PWW, vol. 17.

  29. WW speech at Harvard University, June 26, 1907, PWW, vol. 17.

  30. George Harvey speech, [Feb. 3, 1906], PWW, vol. 16; WW to St. Clair McKelway, Mar. 11, 1906, PWW, vol. 16.

  31. WW speech at Cleveland, May 19, 1906, PWW, vol. 16; WW speech to the South Carolina Society of New York, Mar. 18, 1907, PWW, vol. 17.

  32. WW to Adrian H. Joline, Apr. 29, 1907, PWW, vol. 17. On Wilson’s Senate candidacy, see PWW, vol. 17, n. 1.

  33. Andrew West to WW, July 10, 1907, PWW, vol. 17; Henry van Dyke, “The ‘Residential Quad’ Idea at Princeton,” Princeton Alumni Weekly, Sept. 25, 1907, PWW, vol. 17.

  34. WW to John Hibben, July 10, 1907, PWW, vol. 17; WW to Cleveland Dodge, July 1, 1907, PWW, vol. 17.

  35. Elliott, My Aunt Louise and Woodrow Wilson. See also SA, “The Princeton Controversy;” Jessie Wilson Sayre, interview by RSB, Dec. 1, 1925, RSBP, box 121; Hibben, interviews by RSB, June 18, 1925; Oct. 27, 1926, RSBP, box 111; Charles H. McIlwain, interview by HWB, Jan. 2, 1940, HWBC; William Magie, interview by HWB, June 13, 1939, HWBC; Ralph Barton Perry, interview by HWB, May 29, 1945, HWBC.

  36. WW to MAHP, Feb. 12, 1911, PWW, vol. 22; Margaret Wilson, quoted in Edith Gittings Reid, Woodrow Wilson: The Caricature, the Myth and the Man (New York, 1934).

  37. William Starr Myers diary, entry for Sept. 30, [1907], PWW, vol. 17. For the vote, see faculty minutes, Sept. 30, 1907, PWW, vol. 17.

  38. David B. Jones to WW, Mar. 15, 1904, PWW, vol. 14.

  39. Henry B. Fine, interview by RSB, June 18, 1925, RSBP, box 108; WW draft statement, [ca. Oct. 4, 1907], PWW, vol. 17. See also trustees’ minutes, Oct. 17, 1907, PWW, vol. 17.

  40. WW shorthand draft, [Oct. 17, 1907], PWW, vol. 17; WW to Melancthon William Jacobus, Oct. 23, 1907, PWW, vol. 17; New York Evening Sun, Oct. 18 and 23, 1907, PWW, vol. 17; WW talk, [Oct. 24, 1907], PWW, vol. 17.

  41. Moses Pyne to WW, Dec. 24, 1907, PWW, vol. 18.

  42. WW, Constitutional Government in the United States, PWW, vol. 18. The entire volume is reprinted.

  43. WW, Constitutional Government, PWW, vol. 17.

  44. Ibid., 132, 141, 158, 162.

  45. Ibid.

  46. WW speech, Nov. 12, 1907, PWW, vol. 18; Jessie Wilson Sayre, interview by RSB, Dec. 1, 1925, RSBP, box 121; WW, “A Credo,” Aug. 6, 1907, PWW, vol. 18.

  47. This was not the first recurrence of the condition: during the summer of 1904, Wilson had complained of a weakness in his right hand that hampered his writing. The 1904 and 1907 incidents, like the first one, may have been the result of small strokes caused by arteriosclerosis, but the length of time between the incidents and the fact that they affected Wilson’s right side whereas the hemorrhage affected his left eye have raised questions about the exact nature of his condition. For speculation on the cause of these incidents, see PWW, vol. 17, n. 1, and Weinstein, Medical and Psychological Biography, 179.

  48. WW to MAHP, Feb. 6, 1907; Mar. 27, 1907, PWW, vol. 17; Florence Hoyt interview by RSB, Oct. 1926, RSBP, box 121.

  49. WW shorthand note, [ca. Feb. 1, 1908], PWW, vol. 17; WW to MAHP, Sept. 26, 1909, PWW, vol. 17.

  50. WW to EAW, June 26, 1908, PWW, vol. 18; TR, quoted in William Allen White essay [1924], William Allen White Papers, series E, box 1, LC.

  51. WW to EAW, July 20, 1908, PWW, vol. 18. The editors of The Papers of Woodrow Wilson observe that the first quoted sentence probably refers to Mrs. Peck. See PWW, vol. 18, n. 8.

  52. CTG, quoted in Breckinridge Long diary, entry for Jan. 11, 1924, PWW, vol. 68.

  53. WW shorthand draft, [ca. Sept. 20, 1915], PWW, vol. 34; WW to EBG, Sept. 21, 1915, PWW, vol. 34.

  54. WW speech, Mar. 12, 1908, PWW, vol. 18.


  5 ACADEMIC CIVIL WAR

  1. SA, “The Princeton Controversy,” [Feb. 1925], RSBP, box 99; EAW to John Hibben, Feb. 10, 1912, PWW, vol. 24.

  2. Frederick W. Yates to EAW, Sept 1, 1908, PWW, vol. 24.

  3. Charles Grosvenor Osgood, interview by HWB, Apr. 12, 1939, HWBC.

  4. WW, preface to The Proposed Graduate College of Princeton University, Feb. 17, 1903, PWW, vol. 14.

  5. For descriptions of Merwick, see Raymond B. Fosdick, Chronicle of a Generation: An Autobiography (New York, 1958), and Maxwell Struthers Burt, “Life at Merwick,” Princeton Alumni Weekly, May 8, 1907.

  6. SA, “The Princeton Controversy.”

  7. Harlow Shapley, interview by HWB, Mar. 6, 1967, HWBC.

  8. Cleveland quoted in Andrew West, “A Narrative of the Graduate College of Princeton University from Its Proposal to Its Dedication in 1915,” Princeton University Archives, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University.

  9. WW speech, Oct. 16, 1908, PWW, vol. 18; WW speech, Nov. 6, 1908, PWW, vol. 18.

  10. WW speeches, Apr. 3 and 13, 1908, PWW, vol. 18. On the faculty debate, see William Starr Myers diary, entry for May 8, [1908], PWW, vol. 18. The preceptor who rebutted Wilson’s arguments was Edward S. Corwin. See Corwin, “Departmental Colleague,” in Woodrow Wilson: Some Princeton Memories, ed. William Starr Myers (Princeton, N.J., 1946).

  11. WW speech, Nov. 16, 1907, PWW, vol. 17.

  12. WW to MAHP, Nov. 2, 1908, PWW, vol. 18.

  13. For examples supporting the interpretation that Wilson’s turn toward progressivism was reflected in his struggles at Princeton, see ASL, Wilson, vol. 1, The Road to the White House (Princeton, N.J., 1947), and John M. Mulder, Woodrow Wilson: The Years of Preparation (Princeton, N.J., 1978).

  14. WW, Constitutional Government in the United States, PWW, vol. 18.

  15. WW speeches, Feb. 12 and 19, 1909; Nov. 2, 1909, PWW, vol. 19.

  16. WW speech, Oct. 8, 1908, PWW, vol. 18; WW speeches, May 6, 1909; Oct. 29, 1909, PWW, vol. 19; WW, “The Tariff Make-Believe,” PWW, vol. 19.

  17. Mary Yates diary, entry for July 31, [1908], PWW, vol. 18, Daily Princetonian, Apr. 3, 1909, PWW, vol. 19; WW memorandum, ca. Dec. 3, 1909, PWW, vol. 18.

  18. On the digestive problems see Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (Princeton, N.J., 1981).

  19. WW speech, Mar. 20, 1909, PWW, vol. 19.

  20. WW to Frank A. Vanderlip, Feb. 1, 1909, PWW, vol. 19; WW to MAHP, July 18, 1909, PWW, vol. 19.

  21. WW speech, Mar. 11, 1910, PWW, vol. 20. On the Procter offer, see also William Cooper Procter to Andrew West, May 8, 1909; June 7, 1909, PWW, vol. 19, 237–38. On Cram’s change of mind, see also Ralph Adams Cram, interview by HWB, May 8, 1940, HWBC.

  22. WW to MAHP, Oct. 24, 1909, PWW, vol. 19.

  23. WW to Moses Pyne, Dec. 22 and 25, 1909, PWW, vol. 19.

  24. Pyne to William Cooper Procter, Jan. 15, 1910, PWW, vol. 19. The editors of The Papers of Woodrow Wilson have observed, “[T]here can be no doubt that Wilson’s statement that the site of the Graduate College was not important was one of the great strategic errors of his career.” Editorial Note, “Wilson at the Meeting of the Board of Trustees of January 13, 1910,” PWW, vol. 20. By contrast, Cyrus McCormick later recalled that this statement was “an illustrative comparison to clinch his point that the kind of organization adopted be in close sympathy between teacher and scholar was the main goal to be reached.” McCormick to William Allen White, William Allen White Papers, series E, box 83, LC.

  25. Pyne to Wilson Farrand, Jan. 25, 1910, PWW, vol. 20; Procter to Pyne, Jan. 30, 1910, PWW, vol. 20.

  26. WW to Herbert B. Brougham, Feb. 1, 1910, PWW, vol. 20; New York Times, Feb. 3, 1910, PWW, vol. 20. For Farrand’s account, see Princeton University Archives, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University. For the reactions of alumni and Pyne, see PWW, vol. 20, n. 1.

  27. WW to Cleveland H. Dodge, Feb. 7, 1910, PWW, vol. 20.

  28. WW to Melancthon William Jacobus, Apr. 2, 1910, PWW, vol. 20; WW speech, Apr. 7, 1910, PWW, vol. 20.

  29. WW to MAHP, Apr. 19, 1910, PWW, vol. 20; Pittsburgh Dispatch, Apr. 17, 1910, PWW, vol. 20; Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, Apr. 17, 1910, PWW, vol. 20.

  30. On the Wyman bequest, see Andrew West, “A Narrative of the Graduate College of Princeton University from Its Proposal in 1896 until Its Dedication in 1916,” Princeton University Archives, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University, 87–88, 105–7, and John F. Raymond to West and WW, May 22, 1910, PWW, vol. 20.

  31. Margaret Axson Elliott, My Aunt Louisa and Woodrow Wilson (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1944); Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, The Woodrow Wilsons (New York, 1937); West, “Narrative of the Graduate College,” WW to Hiram Woods, May 28, 1910, PWW, vol. 20.

  32. WW to MAHP, June 5, 1910, PWW, vol. 20; SA, “The Princeton Controversy.”

  33. For speculation about strokes’ affecting Wilson’s behavior, see HWB, Woodrow Wilson: The Academic Years (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), and Weinstein, Medical and Psychological Biography. The comparison between the Graduate College and the League of Nations arose early. In 1925, both Stockton Axson and a faculty supporter of Wilson’s drew the comparison privately. See SA, “The Princeton Controversy,” and George McLean Harper, interview by RSB, Nov. 12, 1925, RSBP, box 107.

  34. WW speeches, May 25, 1911; Sept. 2, 1912, PWW, vol. 23; vol. 25; EMHD, entries for Dec. 12, 1913; Jan. 22, 1914, PWW, vol. 29, 163.

  35. WW to MAHP, Oct. 8, 1911, PWW, vol. 23; EMHD, entry for Jan. 24, 1913, PWW, vol. 26.

  36. Henry B. Fine, interview by RSB, June 18, 1925, RSBP, box 105. For a superb account and interpretation of the rise of Princeton to the top rank of universities, see James Axtell, The Making of Princeton University: From Woodrow Wilson to the Present (Princeton, N.J., 2006).

  6 GOVERNOR

  1. On Smith and his role in New Jersey politics, see ASL, Wilson, vol. 1, The Road to the White House (Princeton, N.J., 1947).

  2. George Harvey quoted in Editorial Note, “Colonel Harvey’s Plan for Wilson’s Entry into Politics,” PWW, vol. 20.

  3. WW statement, July 15, 1910, PWW, vol. 20. On the meeting with the party bosses, see Editorial Note, “The Lawyers’ Club Conference,” PWW, vol. 20.

  4. WW to Edgar Williamson, Aug. 25, 1910, PWW, vol. 21; WW speech, Aug. 31, 1910, PWW, vol. 21.

  5. Audience member’s remark, quoted in SA comments, n.d., on manuscript of RSB biography of WW, RSBP, box 100. For accounts of the convention by people who were there, see James Kerney, The Political Education of Woodrow Wilson (New York, 1926), and JPT, Woodrow Wilson As I Know Him (Garden City, N.Y., 1921).

  6. WW speech, Sept. 15, 1910, PWW, vol. 21.

  7. Dan Fellows Platt to WW, Sept. 19, 1910, PWW, vol. 21. See also JPT, Wilson As I Know Him.

  8. Kerney, Political Education; Eleanor Wilson McAdoo, The Woodrow Wilsons (New York, 1937); WW, The Priceless Gift: The Love Letters of Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Axson Wilson, ed. Eleanor Wilson McAdoo (New York, 1962).

  9. For the estimate of campaign spending, see ASL, Wilson, vol. 1.

  10. Philadelphia Record, Oct. 2, 1910, PWW, vol. 21; WW speech at Long Branch, Oct. 3, 1910, PWW, vol. 21.

  11. Vivian Lewis speech, Sept. 20, 1910, quoted in PWW, vol. 21, n. 1; WW speech, Oct. 3, 1910, PWW, vol. 21. On the New Idea Republicans, see Ransom E. Noble, Jr., New Jersey Progressivism before Wilson (Princeton, N.J., 1946).

  12. WW speeches, Oct. 13, 20, and 22, 1910, PWW, vol. 21.

  13. George Record to WW, Oct. 17, 1910, PWW, vol. 21.

  14. WW to Record, Oct. 24, 1910, PWW, vol. 21. Wilson originally wrote some of his answers in shorthand on Record’s letter and later produced several drafts on his own typewriter. See PWW, vol. 21, n. 1.

  15. Record, quoted in ASL, Wilson, vol. 1; Record, interview by RSB, Apr. 6, 1928, RSBP, box 114; WW speech, Nov. 5, 1910, PWW, vol. 21.

  16. WW to Lawrence C. Woods, Oct. 27, 1910, PWW, vol. 21. On the
trustees’ action, see minutes of the Board of Trustees, Oct. 20, 1910, PWW, vol. 21, and editorial comment, PWW, vol. 21, n. 1.

  17. WW, quoted in ASL, Wilson, vol. 1. For an analysis of the returns, see PWW, vol. 21, n. 1. At that time, New Jersey elected governors to three-year terms, so the two previous elections had taken place in 1904 and 1907.

  18. See PWW, vol. 22, n. 3, for both the quotations and the judgment of the editors of The Papers of Woodrow Wilson.

  19. WW to George Harvey, Nov. 15, 1910, PWW, vol. 22.

  20. WW, quoted in PWW, vol. 21, n. 1; WW statement, Dec. 8, 1910, PWW, vol. 22.

  21. WW to MAHP, Dec. 9, 1910, PWW, vol. 22; WW to Thomas Jones, Dec. 8, 1910, PWW, vol. 22; WW speeches, Jan. 5 and 16, 1911, PWW, vol. 22.

  22. WW to MAHP, Jan. 29, 1911, PWW, vol. 22. For an account of the caucus and legislative actions, see ASL, Wilson, vol. 1.

  23. New York World, Jan. 28, 1911; WW to MAHP, Jan. 3, 1911, PWW, vol. 23.

  24. Trenton Evening Times, Nov. 10, 1910, PWW, vol. 22; WW speech, Nov. 29, 1910, PWW, vol. 22.

  25. On the family affairs, see Frances Wright Saunders, Ellen Axson Wilson: First Lady between Two Worlds (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1985).

  26. Much later, there would be two governors’ mansions in Princeton: from 1945 to 1981, Morven, the home of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; then, from 1981 to the present, Drumthwacket, which had been the home of Momo Pyne, Wilson’s nemesis on the board of trustees.

  27. On Tumulty, see John M. Blum, Joe Tumulty and the Wilson Era (Boston, 1951). Tumulty’s memoir, Woodrow Wilson As I Know Him, tends toward sentimental exaggeration, but it has useful parts.

  28. New York Evening Post, Jan. 19, 1911, PWW, vol. 22. For an eyewitness account of the meeting, see Kerney, Political Education.

  29. WW speech, Jan. 17, 1911, PWW, vol. 22.

  30. Ida B. Taylor to RSB, Nov. 11, 1927, RSBP, box 116; WW to MAHP, Feb. 12, 1911, PWW, vol. 22.

  31. WW to MAHP, Apr. 2, 1911, PWW, vol. 22.

  32. On the Geran bill, see ASL, Wilson, vol. 1.