Woodrow Wilson

Born in Virginia in 1856, Wilson grew up during the Civil War and Reconstruction, later earning a Ph.D. and teaching at Princeton before becoming its president. His 1887 article on public administration helped found the field. As New Jersey's governor from 1911 to 1913, he broke with party bosses and pushed progressive reforms. In 1912 he defeated Taft and Theodore Roosevelt to become the first Southern president since 1848. His first term brought the modern income tax, the Federal Reserve, and the widespread segregation of the federal bureaucracy. After narrowly winning reelection in 1916, he took the country into World War I in 1917 and issued the Fourteen Points as a framework for peace. At the Paris Peace Conference he secured the League of Nations, but Republicans took Congress in 1918 and Wilson refused compromise on the treaty. A stroke in October 1919 left him incapacitated; his wife and doctor controlled access while his agenda collapsed. He died in February 1924 at sixty-seven.