8 Comments
⭠ Return to thread

Go read Wilson's record. The first thing he did on taking office was institute Jim Crow in the Federal civil service, which had been a light of progressive hiring and one of the few employers in America that did give Blacks equal treatment in hiring and promotions. When it came to World War I he really did run as a hypocrite "He kept us out of war!" and when he went in, he was the one who got the Espionage Act passed, He sent antiwar activists to some really bad prisons (I knew some of them like Ammon Hennacy back in the 60s and heard the stories of Atlanta Federal Prison first-hand). As to his "internationalism" with the Fourteen Points and all, that was limited to the white Europeans of the countries re-emerging from the wreckage of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; he was fine with carving up the Ottoman Empire between France and Britain and handing Germany's African colonies to the British and South Africans, in the name of "leading them to civilization." When Nguyen Ai Quoc tried to get him to support independence for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos under the 14 Points, he wasn't even given an appointment, being "Asian," so the man who would become Ho Chi Minh and make life difficult for Wilson's successors became a Communist since the Bolsheviks supported "national liberation." Nothing Wilson did was like the "progressive" movement made him out to be until his Confederate white supremacy couldn't be swept under the rug anymore and the truth came out starting in the 60s as those of us who wanted to deal with truth in history began researching how we got into Vietnam.

A word of advice: don't McDoodle with someone who does this professionally.

Expand full comment

Thanks TC for that information … I immediately read up on Thomas Woodrow Wilson. At times, there seems to be so little time with so that I want to do - hence, I sleep less as I narrow in on 4 score.

Expand full comment

Perhaps Wilson's greatest gift to America was his stroke which apparently left him inert.

We've already had a woman lead the country (no offense to the other amazing First Ladies like Dolly Madison and Michelle Obama) and she did just fine.

Expand full comment

and never forget the movie he screened in the White House giving the racists credibility.

Expand full comment

Oh, I get it. Simply said, l found the language a bit hard to take.

Expand full comment

I have a tendency to say it as I see it, and I dislike being nice to the ones who are the problem.

Expand full comment

And TC brings the receipts.

Expand full comment

Fair enough. In your position, I would likely feel the same way.

Expand full comment