Criticism of Woodrow Wilson
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Template:Woodrow Wilson series
Before, during, after his Presidency - and continuing today, there has been criticism of Woodrow Wilson. He has been criticized for a wide range of topics from his racial views, expanding censorship and surveillance, foreign policy in Asia and Latin America, involvement in World War I, and denouncement of The Founding fathers as “outmoded”
Racism
Wilson's time in office was one of unprecedented regression in racial equality, with his presidency serving as the lowest point of the nadir of American race relations.[1]
Involvement in World War I
1916 campaign and neutrality
During the 1916 United States presidential election, Wilson campaigned on the idea that he had kept the United States out of World War I - through the slogan "He kept us out of war." Although Wilson never explicitly promised never to enter the war, the United States declared war on Germany less than five months after his reelection in April 1917.[2]
Entrance into World War I
American Historian and Socialist activist Howard Zinn in his book 'A People's History of the United States' viewed American entry into World War I purely out of economic interests rather than a moral response to German atrocities.[3]
The United States claimed the Lusitania carried an innocent cargo, and therefore the torpedoing was a monstrous German atrocity. Actually, the Lusitania was heavily armed: it carried 1,248 cases of 3-inch shells, 4,927 boxes of cartridges (1,000 rounds in each box), and 2,000 more cases of small-arms ammunition. Her manifests were falsified to hide this fact, and the British and American governments lied about the cargo".
Zinn accuses Wilson of joining the war to benefit big banks such as J.P Morgan.[4]
J.P Morgan and Company acted as agents for the Allies, and when, in 1915, Wilson lifted the ban on private bank loans to the Allies, Morgan could now begin lending money in such great amounts as to both make great profit and tie American finance closely to the interest of a British victory in the war against Germany.
Treaty of Versailles
Some historians argue the treaty contributed to World War II by severe penalties imposed on Germany - which fueled resentment and helped create conditions that Adolf Hitler later exploited.
John Maynard Keynes in 'The Economic Consequences of the Peace' - Keynes, who attended the Paris Peace Conference, argued immediately after the treaty that crushing reparations and economic burdens on Germany would destabilize Europe and foster future conflict. [5]
Selective Service Act of 1917
The Selective Service Act of 1917 authorized The Federal government to raise a National Army for World War I service.[6]
Zinn notes the limited public enthusiasm for the war that contributed to the government's decision to rely on the draft to raise a large army[7]
Despite the rousing words of Wilson about a war "to end all wars" and to "make the world safe for democracy", Americans did not rush to enlist. A million men were needed, but in the first six weeks after the declaration of war only 73,000 volunteered. Congress voted overwhelmingly for a draft.
Censorship and surveillance
Espionage act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a U.S. law passed during World War I that made it illegal to interfere with military operations or support U.S. enemies during wartime.
Zinn pointed out that the Espionage Act seemed like it protected free speech on paper, but was used mainly to suppress antiwar dissent in practice.[8]
"Unless one had a theory about the nature of governments, it was not clear how the Espionage Act would be used. It even had a clause that said “nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or restrict . . . any discussion, comment, or criticism of the acts or policies of the Government. . . .” But its double-talk concealed a singleness of purpose. The Espionage Act was used to imprison Americans who spoke or wrote against the war."
Sedition act of 1918
The Sedition act of 1918 was a congressional expansion of 'Espionage act of 1917'.[9]
Criticism of his economics
Criticism of Wilson's economics as 'Socialist'
Anarcho-Capitalist economist Murray Rothbard in his 2017 posthumous book 'The Progressive era' criticizes Wilson's economics as Semi-Socialist, claiming the government took more control of the economy than usual for wartime planning coordinating major parts of production.[10]
For big business, the wartime economy was a model of what could be achieved in national coordination and cartelization, in stabilizing production, prices, and profits, in replacing old-fashioned competitive laissez-faire by a system that they could broadly control and that would harmonize the claims of various powerful economic groups.
1919 General Steel Strike
In 1919, The American Federation of Labor organized a strike against United States Steel. Wilson wanted the strike postponed, which gave U.S. Steel more time to continue its operations and resist workers’ demands.[11]
Criticism of Wilsonian idealism
Criticism of Fourteen Points
French President Georges Clemenceau was critical of Wilson's Fourteen Points proposal, he thought Wilson's program was admirable in theory but dangerously detached from the realities France faced after World War I.[12]
"God gave us the Ten Commandments and we broke them. Wilson gives us the Fourteen Points. We shall see."
Criticism of Wilsonian Armenia
Kemalists, a political movement based on the Republic of Turkey founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk saw Wilsonian Armenia as an unfair post–World War I partitioning of Anatolia and attempt to detach eastern Anatolia and create an Armenian state under Allied arbitration.[13]
Foreign policy in Latin America
Occupation of Veracruz
United States occupation of Veracruz in 1914 was a military intervention during the Mexican Revolution ordered Wilson to block weapons from reaching Mexican President Victoriano Huerta, whose government the U.S. did not recognize.[14]
Foreign policy in Asia
Japan
At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, Wilson rejected Japan's proposal for a racial equality clause in the League of Nations.[15]
China
Wilson was criticized in China because the Versailles settlement gave Japan control over Germany’s former rights in Shandong instead of returning them to China, despite Wilson’s support for self-determination.
This contributed for The May Fourth Movement[16].[17]
Philippines
Wilson kept The Philippines under U.S. colonial rule and did not grant immediate independence, instead establishing a system of “gradual autonomy” under American authority.[18]
Women's suffrage
Wilson was criticized by both supporters and opponents of women's suffrage. His initial opposition and later endorsement led some suffragists to question the sincerity of his support, arguing that his change in position was motivated more by political pressure than by a genuine commitment to women's voting rights.[19] Meanwhile, Wilson's eventual endorsement of women's suffrage drew opposition from anti-suffragists, who continued to oppose extending voting rights to women.[20]
As President, Wilson initially refused to support a federal constitutional amendment for women's suffrage, continuing to argue that the issue should be left to the states. This position led suffragists, especially the National Woman's Party, to criticize him as an obstacle to national suffrage. By 1918, Wilson publicly endorsed the federal suffrage.[21][22]
As New Jersey governor, Wilson opposed women's suffrage and remained noncommittal on the issue while in office.[23]
Feminist scholar Eleanor Flexner in argued in her book 'Century of Struggle' Wilson wasn't a genuine supporter of Women's suffrage and implemented it due to peer pressure.[24]
Perceived Opposition to The Founding Fathers
'Constitutional Government in the United States' is a series of lectures that Woodrow Wilson delivered at Columbia University in 1907 and published as a book in 1908, before he became president.
The central argument is that the formal structure of The U.S. Constitution does not fully explain how American government actually works, and that the President should do more than just carry out laws. He thought the President should actively lead the country, shape public opinion, and push Congress toward policies he believes are necessary.[25]
"The Constitution of the United States is not a mere lawyers’ document; it is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of the age.”
Richard Epstein argues that Wilson rejected the Founders’ commitment to limited government and individual liberty. In The Classical Liberal Constitution (2014), he contends that Wilson’s progressive philosophy encouraged an expansion of federal power that the Founders would not have supported.[27]
Anti-intellectualism
Wilson expressed worry by rule of technocrats as governor of New Jersey.[28]
What I fear is a government of experts. God forbid that, in a democratic country, we should resign the task and give the government over to experts. What are we for if we are to be scientifically taken care of by a small number of gentlemen who are the only men who understand the job?
See also
Criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Criticism of Theodore Roosevelt
Category:Woodrow Wilson Category:Criticism of United States Presidents
References
- ↑ O'Reilly, Kenneth (1997). "The Jim Crow Policies of Woodrow Wilson". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (17): 117–121. doi:10.2307/2963252. ISSN 1077-3711. JSTOR 2963252
- ↑ Cooper, John Milton Jr. (2009). Woodrow Wilson: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780307265418. Search this book on
- ↑ Zinn, Howard (1980). "War is the Health of the State". A People's History of the United States. Harper & Row.
- ↑ Zinn, Howard (2003). A People's History of the United States (Updated ed.). Harper Perennial. pp. 362–363. ISBN 9780060528423. Search this book on
- ↑ Keynes, John Maynard (1920). The Economic Consequences of the Peace. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe. p. 223. Search this book on
- ↑ "U.S. Congress Passes Selective Service Act". History.com. Retrieved 2026-07-09.
- ↑ Zinn, Howard (2003). A People's History of the United States (2003 ed.). HarperCollins. p. 364. ISBN 978-0060528379. Search this book on
- ↑ "Chapter 14: War Is the Health of the State". A People’s History of the United States.
- ↑ Stone, 541; Kennedy, 80
- ↑ Rothbard, Murray N. (2017). "War Collectivism in World War I". In Rothbard, Murray N. The Progressive Era: The New Left and the New Right. Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig von Mises Institute. Search this book on
- ↑ "Steelworkers Strike for Improved Working Conditions." EBSCO Research Starters, EBSCO Information Services, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/steelworkers-strike-improved-working-conditions.
- ↑ "Fourteen Points". 1914-1918 Online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
- ↑ Hovannisian, Richard G. "Armenia and the Caucasus in the Genesis of the Soviet–Turkish Entente". International Journal of Middle East Studies. Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ "United States occupation of Veracruz". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2026-06-07.
- ↑ Manela, Erez. "The Pacific Route: Brazil, Japan, the Paris Peace Conference, and the Meanings of Racial Equality." Comparative Studies in Society and History, Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/comparative-studies-in-society-and-history/article/pacific-route-brazil-japan-the-paris-peace-conference-and-the-meanings-of-racial-equality/8C84B7C006B700D7CA31DD39119CF6B3
- ↑ "May Fourth Movement". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2026-06-12.
- ↑ "Shandong question". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1998.
- ↑ “Jones Act (Philippines),” *Encyclopaedia Britannica*; “Philippines: The period of U.S. influence,” *Encyclopaedia Britannica*. The U.S. under Woodrow Wilson maintained colonial authority while expanding Filipino self-government through a policy of gradual autonomy, promising eventual independence once a stable government was established.
- ↑ "Wilson and Women's Suffrage". American Experience. PBS. Retrieved 2026-07-11. Meanwhile, opponents of women's suffrage criticized him for ultimately backing the cause.
- ↑ ""Millions of women await your next message, Mr. President": The Fight for Women's Suffrage in Letters to President Wilson". Library of Congress. Library of Congress. Retrieved July 11, 2026.
- ↑ ""Millions of women await your next message, Mr. President": The Fight for Women's Suffrage in Letters to President Wilson". Library of Congress. Library of Congress. Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- ↑ "Address of President Woodrow Wilson on Equal Suffrage, September 30, 1918". United States Senate. U.S. Senate Historical Office. Retrieved 26 June 2026.
- ↑ "Princeton and Women's Suffrage: "The Greatest Question of the Day"". Historical Society of Princeton. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
Wilson—who has avoided the contentious suffrage question up to this point
- ↑ Flexner, Eleanor (1959). Century of Struggle: The Woman's Rights Movement in the United States. Harvard University Press. Search this book on
- ↑ "Woodrow Wilson, Constitutional Government in the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 1908)". National Constitution Center. Retrieved 12 June 2026.
- ↑ Wilson, Woodrow (1908). Constitutional Government in the United States. Columbia University Press. p. 69. Search this book on
- ↑ Epstein, Richard A. (2014). The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674724891. Search this book on
- ↑ Cronin, Thomas E. (December 3, 2015). On the Presidency: Teacher, Soldier, Shaman, Pol. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-25502-4. Search this book on
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