1920: The Year of the Six Presidents by David Pietrusza
"Discover a Common Hate" Review & Notes
I recently received the UIL Social Studies 2014-2015 reading, 1920: The Year of Six Presidents by David Pietrusza. I've never heard of the author or the book, but right away I was intrigued with the novel. Perhaps it's my love of evaluating former presidents and congresses' choices that have led to the present day's situation that really pulled me into this book. The book is primarily focused on the Election of 1920, a year in which six presidents (of course not then-presidents, but men who had been or would soon be presidents) all ran for office and a year in which we're really introduced to the modern election as the results of urbanization and mass media started in. So far I've read only a few chapters in, but it's a good read and Pietrusza offers a very interesting and entertaining voice that keeps the reading fresh.
This chapter mainly focuses on the then-president, Woodrow Wilson and how his two terms preceding the Election of 1920 really affected it. Pietrusza uses an interesting tactic to really draw in the reader to the first chapter and the tactic is telling us immediately about Wilson's debilitating stroke in October 1913, describing first his physical fall ("The President of the United States lay bleeding on the bathroom floor.") and his preceding metaphorical, political fall. From there, Pietrusza acknowledges that to get to the election, he must first start further back with Woodrow Wilson to explain how the election was the way it was and so begins to give a short biopic debriefing about Wilson and how to rose to power.
He was born (December 28, 1856) in the south in Staunton, Virginia, which is important to his political career and his life. For example, his birthplace more than likely made him fiercely loyal to the Democratic party. (Pietrusza also says he "had a deep, powerful dose of Anglo-Saxon racism" but doesn't really elaborate on that.) Apart from his birthplace, he was self-righteous and hard-headed, a fact that Wilson attributed to his "Scotch-blood." One might wonder, at first, if Wilson's hard-headed stubbornness was a positive attribute; he taught himself to read and he pulled himself through about ten years of college which is really commendable. It also, presumably, helped him to go from professor to President of Princeton.
Moving away from the question, for a moment, it's important to note that at Wilson's inauguration as university president was a man by the name of Colonel George Harvey. Harvey was a conservative Democrat who published the North American Review and Harper's Weekly. He became convinced that Wilson was the leader the Dems needed to regain the White House and therefore went back and published the headline FOR PRESIDENT -- WOODROW WILSON. This brought Wilson into the national spotlight and into a position of "presidential possibility."
As president of Princeton, his stubbornness started making itself known as a flaw as he used it to justify hard-fought petty squabbles. In one such argument, his pettiness became overwhelmingly apparent when he said, "Will America tolerate the seclusion of graduate students?" to which Pietrusza answers, "One doubts if America cared then -- or ever -- about such issues..." (one of the reasons I'm really enjoying this book is because of Pietrusza's voice; it's magnificent). However, Pietrusza notes that the 'controversies" Wilson faced put him on the fast track from conservative to progressive, especially after winning in the terms of rhetoric but losing in the terms of financing.
So we go back to Harvey. He thinks that Wilson is a conservative Dem like him and who could possibly help the Democratic party out. With the help of James Smith, Jr., who is described as a "Democratic boss," Harvey got Wilson into the New Jersey gubernatorial (a word I discovered from this fine book and a word which I love) race of 1910. When they found out that Wilson wasn't exactly perfect, they still thought he was a safe bet as "[b]oth Harvey and Smith...thought Wilson could be trusted not to attack [Smith's] machine." He won the governorship.
His first decisive move as a 'Progressive' came with the choosing of the state Senate. Pietrusza explains that during Wilson's time in office, the "Sixteenth" Amendment (I believe this was a typo; it's actually the Seventeenth) had not been enacted yet so the state legislators appointed the state senators. New Jersey held it's first advisory primary and James E. Martine, a man that was seen as a political joke with nicknames like "Farmer Jim," was chosen. Smith wanted back into the Senate and asked Wilson to rally for him instead of Martine, yet Wilson refused, saying, "It was a victory of "Progressives" or both parties, who are determined to live no longer under either of the political organizations that controlled the two parties of the State..."
As his three-year term was coming to an end, Wilson started making a grab for the White House and found himself moving more and more left. Becoming less conservative, he turned to his nasty habit of throwing his friends out after they had fulfilled their usefulness; he threw Harvey and Smith out of his life and befriended another influential and important man. This man went by the name of Colonel Edward Mandell House, a rather shadowy man who happened to be very good at politics. He helped to elect four different Texas governors but found himself bored so he found himself too making a grab for the White House. He found Wilson to be the perfect pawn. (It's worth pointing out that House had anonymously written a book called Phillip Dru: Administrator, about a dictator who implemented his agenda; it is said Wilson read this book.)
Regardless of how shady House was, he helped Wilson make it to the top. He won the nomination, though barely and after forty-six ballots, but he won and put Thomas R. Marshall as his vice president. (To this, Marshall said, "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea, the other was elected vice president. Neither one of them were heard from again.") Wilson won the election -- well, obviously.
The first half of Wilson's presidency seems to be something great. He did many things including
Moving away from the question, for a moment, it's important to note that at Wilson's inauguration as university president was a man by the name of Colonel George Harvey. Harvey was a conservative Democrat who published the North American Review and Harper's Weekly. He became convinced that Wilson was the leader the Dems needed to regain the White House and therefore went back and published the headline FOR PRESIDENT -- WOODROW WILSON. This brought Wilson into the national spotlight and into a position of "presidential possibility."
As president of Princeton, his stubbornness started making itself known as a flaw as he used it to justify hard-fought petty squabbles. In one such argument, his pettiness became overwhelmingly apparent when he said, "Will America tolerate the seclusion of graduate students?" to which Pietrusza answers, "One doubts if America cared then -- or ever -- about such issues..." (one of the reasons I'm really enjoying this book is because of Pietrusza's voice; it's magnificent). However, Pietrusza notes that the 'controversies" Wilson faced put him on the fast track from conservative to progressive, especially after winning in the terms of rhetoric but losing in the terms of financing.
So we go back to Harvey. He thinks that Wilson is a conservative Dem like him and who could possibly help the Democratic party out. With the help of James Smith, Jr., who is described as a "Democratic boss," Harvey got Wilson into the New Jersey gubernatorial (a word I discovered from this fine book and a word which I love) race of 1910. When they found out that Wilson wasn't exactly perfect, they still thought he was a safe bet as "[b]oth Harvey and Smith...thought Wilson could be trusted not to attack [Smith's] machine." He won the governorship.
His first decisive move as a 'Progressive' came with the choosing of the state Senate. Pietrusza explains that during Wilson's time in office, the "Sixteenth" Amendment (I believe this was a typo; it's actually the Seventeenth) had not been enacted yet so the state legislators appointed the state senators. New Jersey held it's first advisory primary and James E. Martine, a man that was seen as a political joke with nicknames like "Farmer Jim," was chosen. Smith wanted back into the Senate and asked Wilson to rally for him instead of Martine, yet Wilson refused, saying, "It was a victory of "Progressives" or both parties, who are determined to live no longer under either of the political organizations that controlled the two parties of the State..."
As his three-year term was coming to an end, Wilson started making a grab for the White House and found himself moving more and more left. Becoming less conservative, he turned to his nasty habit of throwing his friends out after they had fulfilled their usefulness; he threw Harvey and Smith out of his life and befriended another influential and important man. This man went by the name of Colonel Edward Mandell House, a rather shadowy man who happened to be very good at politics. He helped to elect four different Texas governors but found himself bored so he found himself too making a grab for the White House. He found Wilson to be the perfect pawn. (It's worth pointing out that House had anonymously written a book called Phillip Dru: Administrator, about a dictator who implemented his agenda; it is said Wilson read this book.)
Regardless of how shady House was, he helped Wilson make it to the top. He won the nomination, though barely and after forty-six ballots, but he won and put Thomas R. Marshall as his vice president. (To this, Marshall said, "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea, the other was elected vice president. Neither one of them were heard from again.") Wilson won the election -- well, obviously.
The first half of Wilson's presidency seems to be something great. He did many things including
- The Underwood Tariff (1913)
- Federal Farm Loan Act (1916)
- Federal Reserve System (1913)
- the Federal Trade Commission (1914)
- Workmen's compensation system (1916)
- Banning child labor (1916)
- Improved conditions and raised wages for railroad workers.
Then, in August of 1914, his presidency (and life) began to spiral downward. August 1, 1914, found the Germans declaring war on the Russians, and August 6, 1914, found Ellen Wilson, Woodrow's wife, dead from Bright's Disease. Wilson grieved and this affected his duties. Then, he met and fell in love with Edith Galt, another widower; the love was whirlwind and astounded and worried Wilson's political companions who did not approve. They tried to make the romance disappear, specifically by threatening to release compromising letters from an alleged affair Wilson had on his late wife, Ellen. These didn't get out and Edith stayed steady by Wilson's side (they were married in October of 1915).
Despite this downward spiral, Wilson campaigned for another term with the slogan "He kept us out of war," and then promptly, a month after being sworn in, went to war. This is for a variety of reasons, from the sinking of an American ship by Germans to the Zimmerman Note to Wilson believing it was his job to "make the world safe for democracy." America was largely unscathed (war declared in March, troops on French soil in June, fighting in November) and when the war ended on November 11, 1918, Wilson found himself ready to launch his own war.
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This was long, I apologize. The tl;dr version of this is basically:
A lot of history about Wilson. Where he's from, where he went to school, becoming a professor and later the president over Princeton, to becoming President of the U.S. in one of its most tumultuous times. It's a great book and David Pietrusza issues a strong and down-to-earth voice that really helps a reader keep focus.
I'm adding links to people's (and event's) Wikipedia pages where you can read up more and find other sources for this stuff. I recommend it! I also might do some of my own research and try to write.
