Woodrow Wilson TLS as President, October 1918

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• Lot Description
  Wilson, Woodrow (1856-1924). President of the United States (1913-1921). TLS, 2pp, Washington. October 26, 1918, on White House stationery. Addressed to Franklin Lane, Secretary of the Interior. Signed Woodrow Wilson. Wilson applauds the "creation of the Field Division of the Council of National Defense, which by amalgamating the executive functions of the State Councils Section and the Woman's Committee of the Council, has become the single connecting link between the council and the other federal departments and administrations on the one hand and the State Councils of Defense and States Divisions of the Woman's Committee on the other.... Unquestionably this system should be utilized as far as possible. Will you not, therefore, communicate to the heads of such departs and administrations in Washington my wish that when they are considering extensions of their organizations into a State, or new work to be done in the states, they determine carefully whether they cannot make use of the Council of Defense system;... The organization of the country for war can attain its maximum effectiveness only if we all of us utilize to the utmost the resources we have in common.
  
  Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was born in Virginia, and his family fully identified with the South during the Civil War, his father serving as a Confederate Army chaplain for a time. The family moved several times, to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina. Young Woodrow attended Davidson College (NC) for a year before transferring to Princeton. After graduation he attended a year of law school at the University of Virginia until ill health forced him to return home for a while to recover. He studied on his own and was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1882. After less than a year of law practice, he decided this was not what he wanted to do, so he left and entered Johns Hopkins to study history and political science (and German language). He earned a PhD, the only President to hold this degree.
  
  Wilson bounced around in academia and wrote for a while, becoming president of Princeton University in 1902. He started hinting to Democratic leadership that he was interested in national office (and not the Vice Presidency). He was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1910.  In 1912, he was nominated on the Democratic ticket after campaigning for most of the year.
  
  From the time Germany marched into the low countries and France in 1914, Wilson was determined to keep the US out of the war. "He kept us out of war" became his slogan in the 1916 election. Into his second term Wilson tried to establish a League of Nations to end the war, but could not even garner support even from Britain. When Germany backed out of its earlier pledges not to torpedo unarmed passenger ships and decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, it become clear that war was imminent. Since little had been done to prepare for war in Wilson's first term, the nation had some organization to effect. This was clearly one small part of that larger effort.

  Condition

  Small pieces of tape remain on left corners and side from earlier mounting. Light overall toning. A few minor stains.
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