DBWI: Interesting Facts About Woodrow Wilson

[glenn67]

I just finished reading the biography of Woodrow Wilson, a famous lawyer and public servant.

Did you know that Wilson had contemplated going to Princeton University in New Jersey instead of enrolling at The Citadel in South Carolina. This was substantiated by a letter that he wrote to a high school classmate who was attending Harvard.

After graduating from The Citadel in 1878, Wilson received an Army commission and served as a military office until his honorable discharge in 1890. Wilson returned to Virginia and enrolled at the University of Virginia Law School where he graduated in 1893 and began practicing law in Richmond.

When the Spanish-American War began in 1898, Wilson decided to take a hiatus from the legal profession and joined Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Nearly every history textbook shows that famous photograph of Wilson and two other soldiers raising the American flag at San Juan Hill.

Roosevelt went on to be elected Governor of New York later that year. Wilson was elected to Congress and after two terms, he was elected Attorney General of Virginia in 1901. In 1905, he was elected Governor. In 1910, Wilson was elected to the US Senate where he served until his death in 1924. It didn't hurt that newspaper publisher Carter Glass was a big supporter of Wilson.

I wonder what would have happened if Wilson decided to enroll at Princeton. Would his career have ended up the same?

I just cannot imagine anyone with a Princeton education at that time being successful politically in the South.

OOC: If you believe this belong in 18th century alternate history, feel free to move this thread.

[zeno]

Woodrow wilson had two major flaws while he was governor of viginia he was anti union and a open racist. He enacted stringent anti union mesures and had national guard troops fire on protestors when he was governor. Thankfully only 3 people died that day, and then there was his attempts to kick african americans out of milatary when he was in the senate. Woodrow was a war hero and a brave man but he never should have been allowed near political power. That said if he had gone to Princeton it might have clamped down on his racism and made him more open minded at the very least he have the sense not to gush over 'birth of a nation' in public.

[Johnrankins]

Originally Posted by zeno

Woodrow wilson had two major flaws while he was governor of viginia he was anti union and a open racist. He enacted stringent anti union mesures and had national guard troops fire on protestors when he was governor. Thankfully only 3 people died that day, and then there was his attempts to kick african americans out of milatary when he was in the senate. Woodrow was a war hero and a brave man but he never should have been allowed near political power. That said if he had gone to Princeton it might have clamped down on his racism and made him more open minded at the very least he have the sense not to gush over 'birth of a nation' in public.

He certainly picked an obscure politician. In any case Wilson's being anti-union and openly racist hurt him not at all in VA. He died in 1924 and being openly racist was no handicap for a politician back then particularly down south. His idea of kicking out African Americans wasn't popular in the military but it was popular in some parts of VA. There is some evidence that he took up that cause to boost his popularity.

[David S Poepoe]

Originally Posted by glenn67

OOC: If you believe this belong in 18th century alternate history, feel free to move this thread.

I think the 18th century would make Wilson a little too elderly to serve concurrently with Theodore Roosevelt.