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Do You Know This Bold, Progressive President?
By Brother Rogers
There once was a Democratic president who believed in bold action by the federal government to promote progressive ideas. He had less than a full term in public office before he ran for president.
This president had some noteworthy legislative successes in his efforts at reform, but nearly all of them were passed on a party line vote. Nearly all Democrats in Congress supported him, and almost every Republican voted against him. Partisanship, acrimony and discord were rampant.
This president brought diversity to the Supreme Court, although many Republicans thought his best appointment to the court was too liberal.
His critics claimed that he apologized for America overseas. He was too idealistic and not tough enough because he wanted to talk to our enemies and work together with allies, not unilaterally. Politics for this president and his detractors most certainly did not end at the water’s edge.
On the home front, this Democratic president took over some private industries temporarily and was roundly criticized for being anti-business. He was vilified by the big boys on Wall Street who accused him of class warfare.
The president’s supporters thought this Ivy League educated man was scholarly and thoughtful. He was an outstanding public speaker. His enemies loathed him, believed he was too smart for his own good, and was leading the country down the path to ruin. It is not overstating the case to say that many of them hated him with a passion.
Of course, this president is Woodrow Wilson, the progressive Princeton professor who won election in 1912 after only 22 months as governor of New Jersey. He lowered the tariff, created the federal income tax to offset the lost tariff revenue, created the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve System, prohibited child labor and limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day – mostly on partisan votes.
Wilson appointed the first Jew, Louis Brandeis, to the Supreme Court. Justice Brandeis would become one of the most famous and influential figures ever to serve on the high court.
Wilson took over the railroads during World War I as a military necessity. He spent more time overseas than any president when he visited Europe for six months during two trips to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles. His hope for a League of Nations, a precursor to the United Nations, was defeated by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Wilson suffered a stroke that disabled him for the last year and a half of his presidency. When a Republican senator came to visit him in his sickbed and said, “I’m praying for you,” Wilson reportedly responded, “Which way?”
Sometimes we think we live in unprecedented times, and in a way, we do. But it’s also worth remembering a quote from another famous president, Harry Truman. He said, “The only thing new in this world is the history that you don’t know.”
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and works for the Stennis Center for Public Service.
There once was a Democratic president who believed in bold action by the federal government to promote progressive ideas. He had less than a full term in public office before he ran for president.
This president had some noteworthy legislative successes in his efforts at reform, but nearly all of them were passed on a party line vote. Nearly all Democrats in Congress supported him, and almost every Republican voted against him. Partisanship, acrimony and discord were rampant.
This president brought diversity to the Supreme Court, although many Republicans thought his best appointment to the court was too liberal.
His critics claimed that he apologized for America overseas. He was too idealistic and not tough enough because he wanted to talk to our enemies and work together with allies, not unilaterally. Politics for this president and his detractors most certainly did not end at the water’s edge.
On the home front, this Democratic president took over some private industries temporarily and was roundly criticized for being anti-business. He was vilified by the big boys on Wall Street who accused him of class warfare.
The president’s supporters thought this Ivy League educated man was scholarly and thoughtful. He was an outstanding public speaker. His enemies loathed him, believed he was too smart for his own good, and was leading the country down the path to ruin. It is not overstating the case to say that many of them hated him with a passion.
Of course, this president is Woodrow Wilson, the progressive Princeton professor who won election in 1912 after only 22 months as governor of New Jersey. He lowered the tariff, created the federal income tax to offset the lost tariff revenue, created the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve System, prohibited child labor and limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day – mostly on partisan votes.
Wilson appointed the first Jew, Louis Brandeis, to the Supreme Court. Justice Brandeis would become one of the most famous and influential figures ever to serve on the high court.
Wilson took over the railroads during World War I as a military necessity. He spent more time overseas than any president when he visited Europe for six months during two trips to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles. His hope for a League of Nations, a precursor to the United Nations, was defeated by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Wilson suffered a stroke that disabled him for the last year and a half of his presidency. When a Republican senator came to visit him in his sickbed and said, “I’m praying for you,” Wilson reportedly responded, “Which way?”
Sometimes we think we live in unprecedented times, and in a way, we do. But it’s also worth remembering a quote from another famous president, Harry Truman. He said, “The only thing new in this world is the history that you don’t know.”
Brother Rogers is a guest columnist for the Starkville Daily News and works for the Stennis Center for Public Service.