Episode #1

Q: Professor W. Barksdale Maynard – Woodrow Wilson - Intro

A:

• Like Wilson, I am a southerner who attended Princeton

• Fascinated by Wilson’s contradictions

• Most perplexing, strangest, maddening

• Southerner – but not typical, Academic - who hated academia

• Shy person who wanted to “rule the world”

Episode #2

Q: What were the early influences that shaped Woodrow Wilson?

A: 

• Key is his father, Joseph Wilson

• Father was larger than life, titanic ego

• Told son that he would be great

• Instilled belief that dynamic speakers can sway crowds

• Taught to fight for what you want

Episode #3

Q: Why did Wilson choose to attend Princeton University?

A: 

• Princeton was a famous university

• 4th oldest US university

• Strong Presbyterian influence

• National reputation

• Fit young Tommy Wilson’s ambitions

Episode #4

Q: How does Wilson become president of Princeton?

A:

• Controversial choice for faculty position - 1890

• Distinguished scholar of American history

• Most popular lecturer at Princeton

• Rising up the ranks – becomes president of Princeton 1902

• Reforms everything, great innovator, progressive

Episode #5

Q:  What was Princeton’s student body in early 1900s?

A: 

• Few colleges in those days compared to now

• Overwhelming Episcopalian and Presbyterian

• 6% Catholic

• 6% Jewish No African Americans, No women

• Intolerant of “outsiders?

Episode #6

Q: What were Wilson’s strengths?

A: 

• Genius; ready voraciously; outstanding comprehension

• Tireless, super human worker

• Ambitious; great orator; spoke all across the country

• Princeton – 4 fat years – persuasive, major reforms

• White House – 4 fat years of progress

Episode #7

Q: What were Wilson’s shortcomings?

A: 

• Wilson was a paradox, most perplexing

• Could be extremely difficult

• Demanded full loyalty

• Own worse enemy

• Belief that he was ordained from above

• Modeled himself after other “great” men

• Health issues; theory that he suffered mini strokes

Episode #8

Q: What is Wilson’s path from Princeton to Presidency?

A: 

• After great reforms at Princeton, Wilson faces pushback

• Quad Fight, Famous Graduate Feud

• Progressivism sweeping country

• Opportunity to run for NJ Governor

• Governor Wilson runs and wins White House in 1912

Episode #9

Q: Where did Wilson develop his political philosophy?

A: 

• Wilson is raised in a rectory; his father was a minister

• Wilson was frugal, stingy

• Gilded Age of America; tremendous wealth

• Wilson comes to despise Big Business, Trusts, Power of Wealth

• Develops into a reformer, “progressive”

Episode #10

Q: How does Wilson compare to Roosevelt?

A: 

• Thru line running from Wilson to Franklin Roosevelt

• Roosevelt served as Wilsons’ Assistant Secretary of Navy

• FDR in 1930s is looking back at Wilson

• Wilson’s unfinished business is picked up by later Democrats

Episode #11

Q: What was Wilson’s foreign policy achievement?

A: 

• Wilson fought to keep USA out of World War I

• Shaped by the horrors of the Civil War

• Strong advocate of League of Nations

• Visionary; Heroic determination to get US into League

Episode #12

Q: How did Wilson view Zionism & the Jews?

A: 

• Called the most religious president ever

• Appoints Louis Brandeis as first Jewish Supreme Court Justice

• Backs the Balfour Resolution

• “Privilege to restore the Holy Land to the Jewish People”

• Wide Jewish support for Wilson in 1912 election

Episode #13

Q: 2021: What happened to Wilson’s legacy?

A: 

• Extraordinary collapse of Wilson’s reputation

• Princeton removes Wilson’s name from school

• Writings in History of America textbook are dreadful