Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson, one of 13 U.S. presidents who served two full terms of office, was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. Throughout his presidency, Wilson fought for reforms with respect to labour laws, the rights of women, and international relations.

Woodrow Wilson created the League of Nations after World War I (1914–18). He presided over ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote, and laws that prohibited child labour and that mandated an eight-hour workday for railroad workers. He appointed the first Jewish justice, Louis Brandeis, to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Although his historical reputation suffered in his final years because of Republican political gains, during World War II Woodrow Wilson’s reputation soared. He was considered a wrongly unheeded prophet whose policies would have prevented world calamity. Nevertheless, the creation of the United Nations and collective security pacts are viewed as fulfillment of his internationalist vision.