Wilson, (Thomas) Woodrow (1856-1924)

British prime minister Lloyd George, French prime minister Clemenceau, and US president Woodrow Wilson in Versailles for the signing of the peace treaty with Germany. Hitler later refused to accept the terms of the treaty, leading to World War II.

Attending the Paris peace conference at the Palace of Versailles in 1919, (from left to right) British prime minister David Lloyd-George, Italian prime minister Vittorio Orlando, French premier Georges Clémenceau and US president Woodrow Wilson. The peace treaty following the end of World War I was signed between the Allies and Germany on 28 June, mandating German disarmament and war reparations, and establishing the League of Nations. The USA made a separate treaty with Germany in 1921.

28th president of the USA 1913-21, a Democrat. One of the USA's most successful presidents and world's most respected statesmen, he was known for his humanity, honesty, and integrity. He kept the USA out of World War I until 1917, and in January 1918 issued his Fourteen Points as a basis for a just peace settlement, which included the formation of a League of Nations. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919. Congress later refused to commit the USA to the League.

Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, and educated at Princeton University, of which he became president 1902-10. In 1910 he became governor of New Jersey. Elected US president in 1912 against Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, he initiated antitrust legislation and secured valuable social reforms in his progressive ‘New Freedom’ programme, and was re-elected in 1916. He also instituted a federal income tax, the first since the Civil War. A champion of peace and neutrality, he strove to keep the USA out of World War I, a policy popular with most Americans. However the German U-boat campaign, sensationalized by the sinking of the British liner Lusitania (with 128 Americans lost), forced him to declare war in 1917. At the peace conference in Paris he secured the inclusion of the League of Nations in individual peace treaties, but his refusal to compromise on its text contributed to its defeat in Congress. In 1919 Wilson suffered a stroke during a nationwide campaign to gain support for the League and retired from public life.

After graduating from Princeton, Wilson studied law at the University of Virginia, and practised for a short time in Atlanta. He obtained a doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in 1886, and was associate professor of history and political economy at Bryn Mawr College 1886-1888, and at Wesleyan University 1888-90. He returned to Princeton in 1890 as professor of jurisprudence and political economy. His publications include A History of the American People (five volumes), and Constitutional Government in the United States (1908).