Part 4 of this series¹ ended with Democrat Woodrow Wilson's² victory in the unique election of 1912. This Part 5 skims some highlights of Wilson's highly eventful tenure.

With a degree in political science, Wilson was a university president and scholarly author, writing about political science and public administration. Although he had never held political office, he let people in power in the Democratic Party know that he would like to be on the ballot in 1908--and not as Vice President! While that did not happen, Democratic Party bosses did choose him to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. He won, taking office in 1911. That same year, he began assembling his Presidential campaign team and launched his Presidential campaign in 1912. He left the Governor's office on March 1, 1913, winning the Presidential nomination and the election that year! On March 4, 1914, Wilson began his first term as POTUS. Wilson's talented wife, Ellen Axson Wilson, had suffered an "ugly" fall on March 1, 1914, which damaged her already delicate health.

With a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress until 1919, the Wilson administration saw a number of landmark laws, including the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act, the Revenue Act of 1913 (soon after ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment)⁴ and various war-related acts, some of which are mentioned later in this Part 5.

Depending upon the source, the Great Migration to northern urban areas of African Americans, who tended to be "Lincoln Republicans," was well underway when Wilson took office or started during his first term.³ The Great Migration would soon begin impacting Democrats significantly, especially those seeking the Presidency. However, Wilson seems to have been oblivious to a potential problem for his Party.

Born in Virginia in 1856 to a family that "owned" slaves, Wilson staffed his administration with Southern Democratic segregationists, affording them autonomy. When questioned by the NAACP (which had formed in 1909), Wilson opined that segregation promoted racial harmony. (So much for decency and Constitutional guaranties.) For her part, Mrs. Wilson had gone to lengths to assure that her children were not "born Yankees," including once traveling to Georgia on the day she was to give birth. Nonetheless, one of her three daughters was born in Connecticut. Both Woodrow and Ellen were children of Presbyterian ministers who had co-officiated at the Wilson wedding.

On July 28, 1914, less than eighteen months after Wilson's inauguration, World War I began in Europe, with Wilson pledging neutrality. (Spoiler alert. He broke that pledge.) On August 6, 1914, the First Lady died of Bright's Disease. Although she had been First Lady only a short time, during which she had been ill, she accomplished much, including advising her husband, improving housing in the slums of Washington, D.C. and arranging White House weddings for two of the couple's daughters (the third having spent the last four years of her life as a Hindu nun!).

Rumors around Ellen's death included adultery and murder!⁵ In 1907, Woodrow had begun at least an emotional affair with socialite Mary Hulbert Peck, breaking it off only after betrothal to his second wife. However, I don't know if he had had any kind of affair with the winsome, wealthy widow Edith Bolling Gault before Ellen died. Edith became Wilson's second wife in December 2015, after a secret engagement. (Shades of The American President!) Nothing, however, seems to substantiate rumors that Wilson had blackmailed silent film actress Florence La Badie into an affair, then had her killed. (And some Democrats imagine these sorts of rumors began with the Clintons!)

Wilson was supposedly focused more upon the war in Mexico than the war in Europe.⁶ As always, I, of course, believe the official story. Still, ramping up military recruitment and the requests Wilson made of Congress during his 1915 SOTU⁷ did mesh rather conveniently with entering World War I in 1917. In his 1915 SOTU, Wilson asked Congress for laws against espionage and sedition, in part to suppress anti-draft activists, including many U.S. ssocialisstss (sic). (Candidly, I don't understand the comment about anti-draft activists, which derives from wikipedia: Wilson did not ask Congress for the draft until 1917. Were the anti-draft activists of 1914-15 prescient, or was the public aware that a Selective Service Act might be in the offing?) In any event, the laws that Wilson requested were, IMO, against the intent of the Founders.⁸

Next:⁹ The election of 1916 and Wilson's consequential second term. Who knows? I may go wild and even get to the Presidential election of 1920, but I'm not promising.
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With Mary Hulbert Peck, whom he met in Bermuda in 1907, while Ellen was home in the States, ill herself and/or with a sick child, depending upon the source

With first wife, Ellen Axson Wilson, in Staunton, Virginia, his birthplace, as President-Elect

With second wife, Edith Bolling Gault Wilson

(Unknown photographer, found at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7688868, via wikipedia)

Florence La Badie--Despite the lack of evidence of an affair, she merits a moment, and so do her moms (sic). When she was three, her father died and her mother, being unable to provide for her, had to give her up to a Canadian couple for adoption. (Imagine losing a young spouse and a baby at the same time.) The title of the first film in which Florence was credited was The Politician's Love Story. (I wonder if that led to the rumors.) Known as "Fearless Flo" because she did many of her own stunts, she was very popular from about 1911. After a fan in the Canadian military sent her photos of World War I casualties, she became something of an itinerant peace activist. (Canada had entered the war in Europe as soon as it began.) A car accident due to faulty brakes brought her septicemia. It led to her death about six weeks later, in October, 1917, at age 29.

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¹ Links to Parts 1-4 of this series: http://caucus99percent.com/content/presidential-elections-and-liberals-l... http://caucus99percent.com/content/presidential-elections-and-liberals-l... http://caucus99percent.com/content/presidential-elections-and-liberals-l... https://caucus99percent.com/content/presidential-elections-and-liberals-...

² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson Because I cannot summarize Wilson fairly, I encourage you to read this article. See also, http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1061.html

³ E.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American) (1910) http://www.blackpast.org/aah/great-migration-1915-1960 (1915); http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration (1916)

⁴ Wilson's Wikipedia article characterizes Wilson as a leader in the Progressive Movement. I have two reactions: First, was it Wilson, or Wilson's Congress that was Progressive, or both? Second, in my observation, one party's dominating the Oval Office for a relatively long time, as had Republicans, has profound effects on both the zeitgeist and the opposing Party (and likely vice versa). So, was Wilson (and/or his Congress) actually leading the Progressive Movement, or simply following the lead of the oft-elected Republicans, possibly for fear of being voted out of office or having their Party become largely irrelevant? Despite all the nonsense to the contrary, American voters appreciate government policies that benefit the 90%, especially when they seem normal for government (as they always should).

IMO, we saw similar behavior from Eisenhower/Nixon after only twenty years of FDR/Truman; and Eisenhower had been elected to his first term by a much greater popular vote than Wilson's 41.8% percent plurality. Moreover, when Wilson was elected in 1912, Republicans had dominated the Presidential polls since 1856, save only for Grover Cleveland's two non-consecutive terms, rather than "merely" the twenty years of FDR/HST. (Culture war issues aside, one might argue that, at most, 1.3 parties have dominated since Hoover, save for Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Johnson.)

⁵ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Wilson; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Axson_Wilson. Remarriage made Wilson one of very few to marry while serving as POTUS. Coincidentally, so was the only other Democrat elected POTUS since Buchanan, Grover Cleveland, who is also the only President to have had his wedding ceremony in the White House and the only POTUS to have served non-consecutive terms. Très unique! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland

⁶ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_the_Mexican_R... http://millercenter.org/president/biography/wilson-foreign-affairs

⁷ Wilson reinstated spoken delivery of the State of the Union address, discontinued by Thomas Jefferson because Jefferson thought it too like the King's address to each new Parliament. http://heavy.com/news/2015/01/state-of-the-union-history-bill-clinton-ba....

Military recruitment began ramping up in 1915, which wikipedia states was in relation to World War I. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Service_Act_of_1917 However, the wikipedia article about Wilson states Wilson was more focused on the war in Mexico than the war in Europe. The more I read, the more confused I become!

⁸ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts; http://www.crf-usa.org/america-responds-to-terrorism/the-alien-and-sedit... http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts

⁹ When ending Part 4 of this series, I indicated that Part 5 would cover the 1920s. Obviously, it does not. (The line for refunds for those Part 5 disappointed will form behind the last Canye West concert ticketholder.) Wilson interested me far more than I anticipated. (Why, yes, I do actually enjoy learning about this stuff while I prepare these dry posts. Why do you ask?) Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I will get to the Roaring Twenties at some point. I dasn't be more specific lest issuing refunds every time I don't deliver as promised put me out of business!