Book Review: “Wilson”

 “Wilson”  By A. Scott Berg

(G. P. Putnam & Sons) 2013     818 pp

Review by WW1HA President Sal Compagno

One of the most iconic figures of the early 20th Century is Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States.  A. Scott Berg has written a comprehensive study of  this President from birth to his demise.  With deep Southern roots and a profound Presbyterian religious conviction, the scholarly Wilson has made a lasting and fascinating influence to our current day.  To reach the highest office of the United States and a deeply respected international figure from an academic background, was deemed remarkable even by today’s standards.

Berg’s approach in defining Wilson is without any sharp criticism or defenses.  He
sees him as a complete human being – brilliant, scholarly, opinionated, prejudiced
humanistic and forceful. His two marriages are given wide focus. and his personal
life is exposed.   He made many friends, but was implacable with those
that disagreed with him.  If one can made a single judgement of Wilson, it is
that he was a great reformer, but flawed in human perception.  Convinced
he was right in political and international decisions, he would not accept any
criticism or challenge to his convictions.  This overbearing self-righteousness
became the root of his failure in his greatest lifetime goal of the United States as a
active member of the League of Nations.  Ultimately, he suffered both a physical
and political ending to his life.

Wilson was the first southern Democratic President to be elected twice to the highest office since the Civil War.  After a dynamic role as President of Princeton and a brief role as governor of New Jersey, Wilson was catapulted to the Presidency.  His lowering of many tariffs, creation of the Federal Reserve, popular election of Senators, giving women right to vote, made him revered throughout the nation.

Berg does a well-developed study of how Wilson gradually was drawn into the world conflict of World War 1. Reluctant to engage in the slaughter, he used his good offices to offer solutions only to be rejected leading to a slippery decision to finally be fully engaged militarily. Overwhelming received as the savior of the Allies in the victory, he was convinced he could alter the “mistakes” of old Europe by the establishment of the League of Nations.  He was to find his nation not ready to engage in world leadership.  This disappointment undermined his entire life effort, and he paid a great price.

A. Scott Berg’s Wilson is a wonderful source of understanding this great figure and
the background of the nation he represented.  The first twenty years of the
twentieth century is definitely captured in his opus and is highly recommended
for the historian.