605301
Woodrow Wilson
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Woodrow Wilson, 1856-1924. 28th President of the United States, 1913-1921. Beautiful 7” x 10” formal portrait photograph inscribed and signed, To my good friend Hon. Jerry B. Sullivan from Woodrow Wilson.
Since this half-length portrait is by Harris & Ewing of Washington, D.C., the official presidential photographers, Wilson most likely signed it as President.
Wilson, the son of a Presbyterian minister, was born Thomas Woodrow Wilson in Staunton, Virginia. He abandoned a struggling law practice to pursue a doctorate at Johns Hopkins University, then taught college for five years before joining the faculty of Princeton University as a professor of jurisprudence and political economy. He later served as president of Princeton from 1902 until 1910.
Wilson’s growing national reputation led some conservative Democrats to consider him as a potential presidential nominee. New Jersey’s Democratic political machine nominated him for governor, and he won, in 1910. He endorsed a progressive platform during the campaign, however, asserting his independence of both the conservatives and the machine.
Two years later, in 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt challenged his hand-picked successor, William Howard Taft, and split the Republican vote, Wilson was elected President of the United States. He campaigned on a program called the New Freedom, which stressed individualism and states’ rights. He received only 42% of the popular vote but an overwhelming electoral vote.
World War I began during Wilson’s first administration. Wilson tried to keep the United States neutral, and he won reelection in 1916 on the slogan “He kept us out of war.” But in January 1917 Germany forced Wilson’s hand by announcing that it had begun unrestricted submarine warfare. After four American ships were sunk, Wilson asked Congress to declare war, and it did on April 6, 1917.
His speech to Congress on January 8, 1918, on the “Fourteen Points” was a decisive stroke in winning the war, for people everywhere saw in Wilson’s peace aims the vision of a world in which freedom, justice, and peace could flourish. At the Versailles peace conference, Wilson convinced the other nations to include the Covenant of the League of Nations in the treaty, but he suffered a stunning defeat at home when the United States Senate narrowly refused to ratify American membership in the League. The strain of Wilson’s massive effort to secure popular support for the League among American citizens caused Wilson to collapse on September 25, 1919, and a week later suffered a cerebral hemorrhage from which he never fully recovered. An invalid, he completed the remaining 17 months of his term with the help of his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, and died in retirement three years later.
This photograph is in fine condition overall. The upper right corner has been repaired with archival tape, and there are a ¼” crack in the lower right margin and some pencil notations and mounting remnants on the back. There is also a small ink deposit on the image to the left of Wilson’s pocket, possibly from Wilson’s pen.
Unframed. Please ask us about custom framing this piece.
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