nowack on wilson

Although he could hardly be considered the most racist president, especially in comparison to his successor, who was (allegedly) inducted into the KKK in the White House, and while he did a great deal of good which cannot be ignored, he set a highly toxic precedent which long outlasted him.

In the wake of the Irish-American backlash against this, Wilson accused Irish- and German-American groups of threatening the League of Nations and America with propaganda, saying

Equally disturbing as his racial policies were his blatant abuses of civil rights.

While it has been suggested that this was an attempt to appease Australia, and indeed if Australia was not resistant to it other political pressures may have overridden Wilson, Australia's racial philosophy was hardly out of line with his own, not to mention his own discriminatory policies could have been threatened if it passed.

After congress thwarted an attempt to establish a legislative program that would curtail the civil rights of blacks, his administration simply pursued its racial agenda through other avenues, using his presidential powers to remove blacks from roles they had traditionally held and preventing black federal employees from using the same bathrooms, cafeterias, and workspaces as white employees.

According to Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James W. Loewen, there is strong evidence that Woodrow Wilson was, as opposed to the image of the progressive idealist we are so often given, in fact a vehement white supremacist who pursued highly anti-democratic and even inhumane policies both in America and around the world.

He was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 10 years in prison according to the provisions of the Sedition Act. He remained in prison, languishing, his conviction having been upheld by the Supreme Court, until Warren G. Harding became president.

Although he could hardly be considered the most racist president, especially in comparison to his successor, who was (allegedly) inducted into the KKK in the White House, and while he did a great deal of good which cannot be ignored, he set a highly toxic precedent which long outlasted him.