From A. Scott Berg's "Wilson" (commission earned), in a passage found, photographed, and texted to me by my son Chris, who's getting close to the end of his project of reading a biography of each American President.
Read on:
One is surprised to visualize the President of the United States traipsing through the streets of Manhattan, hoping to be incognito, collecting a crowd, and then ditching it by wending through the Waldorf-Astoria and hopping on a motorbus.
One is surprised to visualize the President of the United States traipsing through the streets of Manhattan, hoping to be incognito, collecting a crowd, and then ditching it by wending through the Waldorf-Astoria and hopping on a motorbus.That seems like enough, but then to hear that the President "could not help wishing... that someone would kill him."
AND: Here's another passage Chris sent me from that book. This happened in 1879, when he was a law student, age 23:
"Let the picture include your figure to the waist...."
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44 comments:
A Southerner, a Presbyterian, and a Professor . . . but hey, nobody's perfect.
Washington felt like a penitentiary to him. "There is no human intercourse in it," he said
Nobody’s going to believe a thing like that but let’s make the sonsofbitches deny it…
The idea of a POTUS taking the "Motor bus" back to his NYC hotel seems so quaint and humorous. Wilson, like many Pols, was fatalistic about assassination. TR had been shot and McKinley assassinated. So, it was in the air.
According to the WaPo, Wilson was "King of the President Golfers" playing almost 1200 rounds. I know taft also liked Golf, but TR advised him to not be photographed doing it, since it was considered a "Sissy sport" and would hurt his image.
New York was the first American city to use motor buses for public transit. In 1905, the Fifth Avenue Coach Company introduced motor buses to its fleet of horse-drawn vehicles. The company created new crosstown and scenic uptown lines that used double-decker coaches and charged double the fare for its “first-class” service.
I've always sorta liked Wilson. He had big flaws, but he wasn't an egomaniac compared to other POTUS'. For example, Wilson pretty much kept out of military affairs in WW I, and let Newton Baker and Generals run things. FDR, OTOH, poked his nose into everything, and thought he smarter than Marshall or King.
Colonel House, hey. Who was Colonel House, anyway?
"He had big flaws, but he wasn't an egomaniac compared to other POTUS'".
Did Berg mention this little episode? Likely ended up getting the US into two world wars.
From "Roman Holiday" to Hallmark Christmas movies, European royals are always wishing they could get away from their responsibilities for a while and hang out incognito with the common folks. The difference is that a US president would have put a LOT more personal effort into attaining his leadership position.
Compared to other Presidents, Wilson had interesting background. Its unclear why he was chosen by the 1912 D Convention given he'd only had 1 term as NJ Governor. It goes without saying that someone with his looks and thin political record could never have been elected after we got TV.
Here's all wikipedia says: In 1912, Champ Clark was the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, coming into the convention with a majority of delegates pledged to him, but he failed to receive the necessary two-thirds of the vote on the first several ballots.
After lengthy negotiation, clever management by supporters of New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson, with widespread allegations of influence by special interests, delivered the nomination instead to Wilson.
Clark's speakership was notable for his skill from 1910 to 1914 in maintaining party unity to block William Howard Taft's legislation and then pass Wilson's. Clark split the party in 1917 and 1918, when he opposed Wilson's decision to bring the United States into World War I.
Well he didnt believe in the constitution and was an extreme racist
Wilson is perhaps the worst president in our history. A proud Democrat, he hated anyone who disagreed with him, imprisoning lots of people for their speech. He hated American everything, wanting the league of Nations. He was a massive racist and hated black people.
He's revered by today's modern Democrats, which tells you all you need to know about their claims that "the parties switched!" whenever you confront a Democrat about the Democrat party's racist past. If the parties switched, why is Woodrow Wilson still honored and revered as a great leftist president? And why do they not like Calvin Coolidge? Smart Republicans revere Coolidge today and Democrats love Wilson.
The parties haven't switched. Democrats just lie all the time.
Teddy Roosevelt was such a bad ass. He was shot and he finished his speech! Dude.
Wilson was a fascist and a racist. Hated our Constitution. Hated free speech. Turned a stupid European war into a World War. Worse than Joe Biden! That’s right, I said it.
“I just read Wilson’s biography.”
“Take a bath, son.”
He was the Father of the Administrative State and despised actual democracy.
This was the guy that died before he left office.
St Croix, I share your disdain for Wilson, but as a WW1 pedant, I must ped. It was a world war long before we got involved. The first British Empire round was fired by an African rifleman at Kraut colonial troops in what’s now Namibia. The Brit and Kraut navies chased each other in every hemisphere. Russia alone spans two continents and abuts 3 or 4 major seas, depending how you count them. The Anzacs, Canadians and Indians supplied troops for the killing floors in France and Belgium. CC, JSM
He's not alone in wishing that someone would kill him.
Put his political opponents in prison. The Father of the American Stasi. Hated dictators and socialists while adopting all of their methods.
JSM, fair enough.
Wilson had zero interest in protecting democracy. He wanted to rule the world.
Klansman with a PhD. I do not like him.
The Father of the IRS.
Worst First Lady, by far. Hillary Clinton is Snow White by comparison.
"It was a world war long before we got involved. "
In 1918, the war was stalemated. Germany was trying to negotiate a peace treaty, without either side "winning". But the British were confident they could get a better deal if the US got involved. Which is where Wilson's love letters came in.
I’m not saying that Lady Macbeth poisoned him. But that would be a good movie.
She got the Secretary of State fired.
Seeing as we entered in 1917, but we did not to relieve the western front
He was the first to suggest that the Vice President take over from the incapacitated President. She took his ass out.
"Seeing as we entered in 1917 ...".
You're right, of course. I meant 1916.
that was the premise of a novel by the aussie reporter steve dunleavy, the second catholic president, a mobbed up figure like whitey bulger, get elected and his wife takes charge after poisoning him
1. Colonel House was no colonel. That was his first name and he was the secret President.
2. Wilson was a complete nut to think it was a good idea to marry his first cousin! Sick!
no it was something like Edwin,
Thanks Narr: "A Southerner, a Presbyterian, and a Professor . . . but hey, nobody's perfect." Also a Kantian--but then, noone has ever actually been a Kantian.
If you hate wilson for being a "raciss" you must really hate Washington, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison and even Lincoln. Old abe never believed in "Negro Equality".
the colleague of Thomas Dixon, the author of Birth of the Nation, thats gold star racism
Wilson had a relationship with a woman before being elected. Was it just letter and handholding or did it go farther than that? I don't know, but it's natural that he'd feel constrained by the presidency. His wife died and he remarried while he was in the White House and he had to keep his courtship under wraps.
Wilson's contemporary and British counterpart Herbert Asquith was likewise mooning over his pen pal Venetia Stanley when hundreds of thousands were dying. His successor Lloyd George managed to juggle his family, his mistress, and the war effort better than Asquith did.
Wilson forced a greater degree of segregation on the federal government than his predecessors. Other presidents went along with the practices of the time, Wilson wasn't contented with just that. DuBois and Trotter thought African-Americans would get more from Wilson than from Roosevelt or Taft -- more fools they.
He’s not the worst because of his racism. He’s the worst because he hated free speech and the U.S. Constitution and democracy and our right to vote. But believe me when I say that it is white Democrats who love Wilson. Black Democrats do not like him at all. He instituted racial segregation in the federal government.
He did not marry his first cousin. You might be thinking of Jerry Lee Louis.
Lazarus,
Lloyd George's mistress ... singular???
He could put that on his grave. “At least I didn’t marry my first cousin.”
His great grandson was a british agent and ambassador
‘My daughters accept that only my son will inherit my 2,000 acre estate’ https://share.google/gbHPHrXX2CxFp1nK6
Granted, I didn't grow up on a farm, but I've always thought human intercourse was the best kind.
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