Woodrow Wilson Essays (2460 words) - Georges Clemenceau,

Woodrow Wilson President Woodrow Wilson regarded himself as the personal representative of the people. "No one but the President," he said, "seems to be expected ... to look out for the general interests of the country"(Internet 1). He developed a program of progressive reform and asserted international leadership in building a new world order. In 1917 he proclaimed American's entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world "safe for democracy." Wilson had seen the difficulties of war. He was born in Virginia in 1856. The son of a Presbyterian minister who during the Civil War was a pastor in Augusta, Georgia, and during Reconstruction a professor in the charred city of Columbia, South Carolina. After graduation from Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School, Wilson earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University and entered upon an academic career. In 1885 he married Ellen Louise Axson. Wilson advanced rapidly as a conservative young professor of political science and became president of Princeton in 1902. His growing national reputation led some conservative Democrats to consider him Presidential material. First they persuaded him to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. In that campaign he asserted his independence of the conservatives and of the machine that had nominated him, endorsing a progressive platform, which he pursued as governor. He was nominated for President at the 1912 Democratic Convention and campaigned on a program called the New Freedom, which stressed individualism and states' rights. In the three-way election he received only 42 percent of the popular vote but an overwhelming electoral vote. Wilson dealt with Congress very effectively in his presidency. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. Massive American effort slowly tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. Wilson went before Congress in January 1918, to pronounce American war aims through a a series of ideas he had known as the Fourteen Points, this would establish a general association of nations indubitably guaranteeing political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike. After the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918, Wilson went to Paris to try to build an enduring peace. He later presented to the Senate the Versailles Treaty, containing the Covenant of the League of Nations. The Versailles Treaty was seven votes shy of being ratifid by the senate. The President, against the warnings of his doctors, had made a national tour to mobilize public sentiment for the treaty. President Wilson had aswell have many interventions in countries such as: New Mexico, Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua Exhausted, he suffered a stroke and nearly died. Tenderly nursed by his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt, he lived until 1924. The League of Nations was a former international organization that was formed after WORLD WAR I to promote international peace and security. The League of Nations was provided int he use of the Fourteen Points. The basis of the League, the Covenant, was written into the Treaty of Versailles and other peace treaties and provided for an assembly, a council, and a secretariat. A system of colonial mandates was also set up. The U.S., which failed to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, never became a member. Based in Geneva, the League proved useful in settling minor international disputes, but was unable to stop aggression by major powers, Japan's occupation of Manchuria (1931), Italy's conquest of Ethiopia (1935-36), and Germany's seizure of Austria (1938). It collapsed early in World War II and dissolved itself in 1946. The League established the first pattern of permanent international organization and served as a model for its successor, the UNITED NATIONS. The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War by Bismarck. France was forced to give up most of Alsace and Lorraine, pay a large indemnity, and accept a German army of occupation. The Versailles Treaty of 1919 is the most famous of the treaties because it was the chief one ending World War I. The Big Four negotiating it were President WIlson, Premier Clemenceau, Prime Minister Llyod George, and Premier Oralndo. The treaty called for the creation of the League of Nations. It forced on Germany the burden of reperations and placed limits on German armed forces. It restored Alsace and Lorraine to France, gave Prussian Poland and most of West Prussia to Poland, made Danzig a free city, put Germany's colonies under the League of Nations, placed the Saar under French administration, called for plebiscites in various territories newly freed from