Before becoming President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson was president of Princeton University in New Jersey. At the time, most Princeton students were sons of wealthy families. These students joined “eating clubs” that excluded poor students and other outsiders.
Wilson objected. The eating clubs, he said, made social life more important than learning. Furthermore, he said, the clubs were unfair and damaging to those students who were excluded. Wilson lost his fight to do away with the eating clubs. But he won a reputation as a high-minded reformer who would speak out against social injustice. Wilson’s reform efforts would continue in his role as President of the United States.
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Why It Matters Republicans Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft introduced the country to forceful Progressive Presidents. Democrat Woodrow Wilson used the expanded power of the presidency to promote a far-reaching reform agenda. Some of Wilson’s economic and antitrust measures are still important in American life today. Section Focus Question: What steps did Wilson take to increase the government’s role in the economy?
In 1912, the Republican Party split over the issue of reform. Those who wanted a more active government formed the Progressive Party and chose Theodore Roosevelt as their candidate for President. Loyal Republicans gave the nod to President William Howard Taft.
The split created an opportunity for the Democrats and their candidate, Woodrow Wilson, to win the White House. Wilson’s ideas had caught the attention of William Jennings Bryan, who helped Wilson win the Democratic nomination. As a student and later as a professor, Wilson had thought a great deal about good government. His doctoral thesis, Congressional Government, had launched him on a career teaching in college before he became the reforming governor of New Jersey.
Wilson shaped his ideas into a program he called the New Freedom. His plan looked much like Roosevelt’s New Nationalism. It, too, would place strict government controls on corporations.