"Some historians say that to focus on the personality of a famous figure is to neglect the context in which he/she lived. My argument is that personality provides a way to attract students to history because it allows them to make a personal connection to the past." - Joe Illick
Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921
Woodrow Wilson, flexible and rigid,
Could be warm, could be frigid.
Raised on Presbyterian principle,
Sometimes thought himself invincible.
Victorious as college president,
He longed to be the White House resident.
But Taft, TR, and Eugene Debs,
Were progressive rivals and celebs.
But he triumphed! Now the reform nerve
Touched tariffs, trusts, and fed reserve.
Our global role, he then did plea,
Was to make the world safe for democracy.
We joined the fight till it did cease;
We won the war but lost the peace.
The Fourteen Points went down the drain.
The League of Nations? All in vain.
And Wilson, too -- of stroke a victim.
How sad to finally depict him.
Could be warm, could be frigid.
Raised on Presbyterian principle,
Sometimes thought himself invincible.
Victorious as college president,
He longed to be the White House resident.
But Taft, TR, and Eugene Debs,
Were progressive rivals and celebs.
But he triumphed! Now the reform nerve
Touched tariffs, trusts, and fed reserve.
Our global role, he then did plea,
Was to make the world safe for democracy.
We joined the fight till it did cease;
We won the war but lost the peace.
The Fourteen Points went down the drain.
The League of Nations? All in vain.
And Wilson, too -- of stroke a victim.
How sad to finally depict him.