President Woodrow Wilson: Progressive? Warmonger? Overrated?

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 20th Century is up and running and the next President in our series, Woodrow Wilson, is in for a challenge. Reconstruction is over, Europe is on the precipice of war, and women are campaigning for suffrage. So how does this two term presidency play out?

From granting women the right to vote to segregating the Federal Government, how progressive was the 27th President? Where did Wilson stand on American isolationism during the First World War? And where did the League of Nations come from?

Don is joined by Dr Michael Kazin for this episode. Michael is a professor of History at Georgetown and author of several acclaimed books including 'What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party' and 'War Against War: The American Fight for Peace, 1914-1918'.

Produced by Freddy Chick and Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	April 24th, 1913, New York City.
0:05.0	A brilliant celebration is set to mark the opening of the Woolworth Tower in downtown Manhattan.
0:11.0	At 792 feet, it is now officially the tallest building in the world, a marvel of modern engineering and
0:18.9	American ambition.
0:20.9	Financed by Frank W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W. W, the retail magnet, designed by architect Cass Gilbert,
0:26.0	the structure is a lofty symbol of the nation's industrial prowess and cultural transformation.
0:32.0	A month earlier, the new president of the United States was
0:34.8	inaugurated at the U.S. capital, facing the stark realities of shifting economic and social priorities
0:40.9	across the country, with millions of citizens moving to the cities for factory jobs
0:45.8	and technology altering the fabric of everyday life.
0:49.3	Woodrow Wilson seeks to meet the call for national leadership that can keep pace with the progress and the struggles.
0:56.0	The Woolworth Tower ceremony will fit the spirit of these times.
1:00.0	The event will be marked by the illumination of the building's 80,000 light bulbs, a dazzling display,
1:07.0	making of the Woolworth a beacon of this modernist age.
1:11.0	As the invited guests and dignitaries here in New York toast the promise of their era,
1:16.0	200 miles to the south in Washington, D.C.
1:19.0	President Wilson is poised to push a button,
1:22.0	igniting all those bulbs, to light the way ahead into a new century
1:26.2	full of hope, commerce, and supreme challenges no one could
1:40.0	day listeners to another episode of American History
1:42.5	Hip. I'm Don Wildman. Welcome.
1:44.3	It's feeling increasingly exciting
	...

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