The president’s election slogan in 1916 was “He kept us out of war”.
And through much of his first term, Woodrow Wilson had done just that, keeping the United States on the sidelines of the Great War as he sought to negotiate a great peace, and construct an international institution of mediation–the League of Nations. But escalating German hostilities eventually propelled Wilson into Europe’s bloody fray. It was a stunning and politically courageous about-face. Wilson spoke of “civilization itself seeming to be in the balance.” After the armistice, he clung passionately to his blueprint for a League of Nations, despite fierce opposition at home and abroad.
Guests:
John M. Cooper, Chairman of the History Department at the University of Wisconsin and author of “The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt”
David Gergen, Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and former advisor to four Presidents: Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.