Very thorough and well-written bio of a less-known president. ( )

John Milton Cooper Jr. has spent his life exploring the life of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, so it is unsurprising that this full-scale biography is packed with detail and nuance. What is pleasantly surprising is that its scholarship is matched by its readability. Cooper writes very well, very clearly, and his narrative of the beleaguered president's life is compelling and dramatic. I've been lucky recently to read a few presidential biographies that were real page-turners. This happily is another one. ( )

Probably the best biography I've read to date. Meticulously researched, superbly written. If you like Presidential history, this is a must read! ( )

Woodrow Wilson ranks among the most controversial presidents in American history. Elected at the peak of the Progressive movement in the United States, he secured passage of a number of new measures that fundamentally transformed the government’s relationship with the economy, yet presided over the introduction of segregation at the federal level. While promising a new approach to foreign policy governed by morality rather than crass personal interest, he initiated Latin American military interventions little different than those pursued by his predecessors. And while he led his nation into a war to make the world safe for democracy, the resulting peace only laid the groundwork for another, even more devastating conflict just two decades later.

For these reasons, Wilson has not wanted for historical study, yet a good biography has long proved elusive. John Morton Blum’s [b:Woodrow Wilson and the Politics of Morality|367482|Woodrow Wilson and the Politics of Morality (Library of American Biography Series)|John Morton Blum|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1290829883s/367482.jpg|357478] and Kendrick Clements’s [b:Woodrow Wilson: World Statesman|367477|Woodrow Wilson World Statesman|Kendrick A. Clements|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347768142s/367477.jpg|357473] are both valuable short introductions to Wilson’s life, but a more detailed examination that fits Wilson within the context of his time has been lacking until now. John Milton Cooper has meet the need for such a work with this book. A scholar who has spent his career studying Wilson and the Progressive era, he brings the benefits of his extensive knowledge to bear in this study. While not uncritical, he is generally sympathetic towards Wilson, and works to dispel the image of the stern moralist that persists in the popular imagination. His Wilson is at his core an educator, a president who was most successful when he explained his proposals and intentions to the public. Such efforts helped win for Wilson a number of impressive legislative and other policy achievements, while his failure to do so (such as in the fight over the League of Nations) often emerges as a major factor in his greatest failures.

Such an approach can seem forgiving, and at times Cooper can come across more like an advocate for the defense than a scholar weighing the evidence. Yet this is a minor complaint when weighed against the scope of his achievement with this book. Cogently written and supported by a wealth of material, it enriches its readers' understanding of Wilson as a person and a president, and will likely be the standard by which future biographies of our nation’s 28th president are judged for decades to come. ( )

Wilson was our most controversial president since Jefferson in my opinion. Cooper captures this dynamic president who passed such measures as the Federal Reserve Act, the Income Tax, the FTC, a lower tariff, etc. but floundered like LBJ in the foreign policy arena. According to Cooper, he would not be stampeded into war like James Madison was in 1812. In essence like our current President Obama he essentially drew a line in the sand for Kaiser's Germany, I.e., no unrestricted submarine warfare and no sinking of American merchant ships. Unfortunately for Wilson, Germany crossed the line in an attempt to knock the UK out of the War in 1917 with indiscriminate submarine warfare. Wilson then led America into WW I (the war to end all wars). Unfortunately, Wilson would not tolerate dissent in WW I and condoned the persecution of the Wobblies and Eugene Deb and the country reached a new low in civil liberties. At the same time like Jefferson Wilson according to the author was perhaps the worst president for the black man since Andrew Johnson. He allowed segregation of federal offices, southern lynchings of blacks, and the crushing of black riots. At the same time he advocated a "peace without victory" in WW I and his famous Fourteen Points which included the League of Nations. Unfortunately, the early Wilson who was able to pass tremendous domestic legislation lost his political barometer when it came to the League of Nations. First, he failed to take any prominent Republican Senators to Paris for the negotiations. Second, he even failed to take along such prominent Republican League sympathizers as Root and Taft, head of the League for Peace. Third, he failed in his attempts to prevent France from imposing a punitive peace on Germany and he failed to protect China from the Japanese. Fourth, when he brought the Treaty before the U.S. Senate he failed to compromise when some reasonable compromises especially in Article X might have achieved ratification. Fifth, he went on a whistle stop tour of America thinking he could turn public opinion not realizing the American public was sinking back into isolationism. Sixth, his health failed and he suffered s stroke. Even if he had enjoyed good health, he would have had to return to the Wilson of 1912 to achieve passage of the Treaty. Seventh, in 1918 the Republicans captured both houses of Congress. This was a new reality that Wilson (unlike perhaps Bill Clinton)'did not seem to recognize. Finally, Wilson in addition to his racism was guilty of personal vindictiveness. Even though Colonel House served Wilson faithfully for years, he cut Wilson off completely after Paris in 1919. After the War, he failed to pardon Eugene Debs. Part of this was due to his health. Even though he cut off Colonel House he failed to rid himself of the disloyal Secretary of State Lansing until 1919.

Cooper is sympathetic to his subject but this does not prevent him from presenting a comprehensive portrait of one of our most controversial presidents. ( )