Leaving the coast, we didn’t want our path to Massachusetts to go through any big cities, so we took a longer route, with a couple of one night stops. One of those was in Verona, Virginia. We weren’t actually planning on doing much there but we arrived early in the day so we looked around to see what was there. Turns out, the birthplace of President Woodrow Wilson was a mere 15 miles away.
Woodrow Wilson 1856-1924
U.S. President 1913-1921
It’s listed as his Presidential Library but the tour guide was quick to point out that it really is just the place he was born and his parents moved the family away from here when he was a year and a half old. His father was a Presbyterian minister making $1000 a year in Staunton Virginia, but a parish in Georgia offered him $3000 a year, so off they went.
The Manse is the building his family lived in, and also served as the parish hub. The private rooms were mostly on the lower level and the public rooms were on the second level and had a separate entrance.
Of course, the difference in luxury level was immediately obvious.
After high school Wilson attended several colleges, changing his concentration of study a couple of times. After finally receiving his bachelors degree from Princeton, (history and political philosophy) he eventually went on to receive his graduate degree from John’s Hopkins University.
After teaching at several colleges he went on to be the President of Princeton in 1902.
Being a man of action, he felt that the pace of accomplishing things in the academic world was too slow, so he decided politics would be a better fit, and he ran for the office of governor of New Jersey.
The museum was interesting but left me with a lot of questions- more than I feel I should have had. The displays were very disjointed and only told part of the story.
Wilson was married twice. Several plaques talked about Ellen, his first wife and their children, but it wasn’t until much later in the exhibit that you find out she died in 1914 and he eventually married his second wife, Edith.
Both wives were apparently genuinely devoted to him and his wellbeing. In 1919 while touring the country by train, Wilson suffered an apparent stroke. His cognitive abilities seemed relatively intact, although he suffered some physical issues for quite a while.
During that time, his wife Edith worked to keep the public from discovering the severity of his infirmity, and helped him navigate the decisions he needed to make on a daily basis. Some called her the first female president. Eventually he fully returned to his duties and finished out his second term.
Several momentous events took place while he was in office. To secure his re-election, he ran on a promise to keep the U.S. out of the (first world) War. Unfortunately Americans were being killed by German submarines, Germany was trying to convince Mexico to attack the U.S. and our “allies” were running out of steam. It became clear that we may have to enter the war after all...
In 1917 Congress declared war and and army was amassed- from a force of 130,00 in 1917- to more than 2 million by 1918.
After untold US losses, the tide began to turn and late in 1918 the Germans looked for a way towards peace. The armistice took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month- a day Americans now call Veteran’s Day.
Several other events took place during this time:
Between 1918 and 1920 the deadliest pandemic in history (still?), the Great Flu Epidemic infected more than 500 million people, killing 50 million or more.
Several amendments to the constitution were enacted during his presidency. Wilson, having traditional southern thoughts on women, was not exactly a champion of women’s rights, but in 1916, giving in to political pressure, he assured them he was fighting for their cause, and in 1920 they were granted the right to vote.
One of the more positive things he championed while in office was the federal reserve. It is still in place today.
One of the most significant changes in the world during his tenure as President was that in 1913, Great Britain was the world’s major power, and when he left in 2021, The United States was.
Wilson died in 1924, about 3 years after he finished his second term as president.
