Woodrow Wilson the 28th President of the United States was an intriguing guy.
Written by Patricia O’toole, The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made reveals with remarkable nuance a person who wanted to accomplish so much more than he would ever be capable. To an even greater extent, Wilson wanted to be perceived in a greater light than was close to accurate, let alone realistic.
O’toole carefully describes the who, what, where, when, and why as it relates to Wilson the person, academic, and politician. In virtually every aspect of life Wilson tended to have bold asperations. Many of them noble and moral.
Wilson often announced – to anyone who would listen – outlandish and outsized goals or status’ of himself. Wilson would achieve many if not the majority of the goals. However many – including the most morally correct – were abandoned or flat out ignored. This despite Wilson being in a position to facilitate their realization.
As with virtually any politician, Wilson had a huge ego, that needed constant feeding. The need was so strong, many surrounding Wilson had to create a setting of complete fantasy to present something that was no where close to being true.
O’toole’s narrative style provides for a great and easy read.
———– Jeff’s Thoughts and Other Worthless Trivia ———-
If you are willing to take O’toole’s narrative as accurate (which I would) politics, government and war, especially at the Federal Level in the first 20 years of the 20th century seem no different than the 21st century. The names may change, the party might change, the issues might change, but gosh it feels no different… not one bit.
