A Progressive Dinner by Adriane

A Progressive Dinner by Adriane - October 2017 Scholarship Essay

If I could have dinner with one of the Presidents of the United States, it would be with the 28th, Thomas Woodrow Wilson. He wasn’t just any president, he set precedents that shaped our journalism, government, and world peace today.

He is the first and only president to be a political scientist. The major was in its early stages of development when he earned his doctorate with his first book, Congressional Government. And he used his degree in hopes of shifting the government system to be less divided.

Wilson wanted the president to be less chief officer of the executive branch and more the embodiment of the national will, to help push Congress along the people’s agenda rather than mired in the details of legislation. He wanted competent experts to be the administrative backbone rather than those who inhabit politics. This criticism has actually lead to the policymaking of today’s government system where many national concerns are usually handled by agencies.

He is acknowledged to be the godfather of progressive reform with his New Freedom platform that would pave the way for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s later presidency. While in office, he signed the Federal Reserve Act, the Underwood-Simmons Act, and the Clayton Antitrust Act for labor reform.

He would also set the precedent for presidential press conferences. It was a happy accident that leads to modern day journalism. Wilson had originally planned to meet each journalist one-on-one to get better acquainted with them and to have them inform him of the needs of the nation. But over 100 newsmen appeared in his office and he felt compelled to give a speech.

But he would fall out of favor with them as the United States joined the fight against Germany in World War I when US ships were being sunk. The country was at war and although the original concern was fear of sensitive information leaking out, the Sedition Act infringed massively on the 1st Amendment. It forced a censorship on newspapers and journalist.

Wilson went an extra step and created an agency through an executive order, the Committee on Public Information or “Creel Committee”. It was created to influence public opinion on the US’s participation in World War I as they had a News Division within it. Guidelines were set while reporter’s access was stripped. The government provided official looking news for papers to print for their readership that hungered for war-front information. These techniques from Wilson would be bundled together and used by future presidents in times of war.

During the conclusion of World War I, the 28th President proposed the 14 points of the Versailles Treaty, the last creating the League of Nations to ensure world peace. It was a huge success with Europe but failed to pass in the United States. While the US did not join with Europe in the League of Nations, Wilson was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

Although he wasn’t a staunch supporter of women’s suffrage in the beginning of his presidency, he did eventually persuade Congress to pass the 19th Amendment. It’s possible this could have been due to the suffragist picketed outside of the White House or at the urging of his daughter, Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre. By 1919, women had the right to vote as thanks for their service during the World War.

While the 28th President is ranked by historians as one of the nation’s greatest presidents because of his actions on world peace, women’s rights, and labor reform, he did come up short as an inclusive leader for all American citizens.

While Wilson was in the White House, members of his administration rolled back on the advancements of African-Americans by passing many Jim Crow policies including the segregation of blacks that was the hallmark for Nazis’ persecution of Jews. He was a silent bystander--his inaction setting back their progress by at least 50 years.

It’s this shortcoming that leads me to choose him as the president I would have join dinner. His do-nothing policy on people of color’s rights is infuriating. Would he have changed his mind and opposed his cabinet members’ push against their community if he knew the issues it would bring in World War II, Civil Rights Movement, and today?

Also, we have a president that fits his idea of the nation’s will and pushing for administration changes, but at the cost of unification under authoritarianism. He fails to be the embodiment of the public will. Would Wilson be as thankful for checks and balances set in place or would having unelected experts have been enough to stop the process had he had his way with progressive government reform?

If the 28th President were at my dinner today, the conflict of the United States would cause him to have a fatal stroke.