Comments on: Woodrow Wilson by H.W. Brands

By: Bob Timmermann

Bob Timmermann — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:14:07 +0000

Carter and Wilson both have Nobel Peace Prizes.

By: John Stodder

John Stodder — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:43:38 +0000

What a terrible president Wilson was. The worst of the 20th century. Arrogant, almost a monomaniac, a racist, a menace to civil liberties, naive in his pursuit of gossamer ideals and ignorant of the likely blowback. Trading off the League of Nations in order to allow France and England to impose crushing reparations on Germany was a worse trade than Pedro for Delino.

The history of the US and the world would have been so much better had WWII been avoided, but Wilson left us with an inevitable future conflict on an epic scale.

Plus, he single-handedly revived the Ku Klux Klan! And launched J. Edgar Hoover.

You can talk about your Hardings, your Nixons, your Carters. None of them changed the country’s historical trajectory in the wrong direction the way Wilson did.

By: Bob Timmermann

Bob Timmermann — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:23:02 +0000

It’s doubtful that the Germans had a realistic chance of doing this. And Mexico would have had a lot of trouble fighting against the U.S. in the middle of a civil war.

Inflammatory statements were quite the thing during World War I.

By: Judy Sanchez Moorhead

Judy Sanchez Moorhead — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:03:07 +0000

Fascinating bit about Germany trying to get Mexico on their side by promising them the Southwest.

By: Rob McMillin

Rob McMillin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:55:19 +0000

It’s an interesting view of Wilson. (I used to live on Wilson St., oddly enough.) Mencken blamed Wilson for agitating to get into World War I, which pretty clearly conflicts with the view presented here.

By: Penarol1916

Penarol1916 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:56:33 +0000

I thought that the Andrew Johnson biography was pretty interesting. It’s actually kind of a crazy story how a guy like that got to be President. It’s actually kind of interesting that the last two biographies are of the two Presidents who did the most to impede civil rights in post- Civil War America.

By: Penarol1916

Penarol1916 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:47:06 +0000

Would you be shocked if I told you I was a descendent of Henry Clay (It’s not true, but would you shocked)?

By: fanerman

fanerman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:07:18 +0000

Woodrow Wilson’s biography at least seems more interesting than Andrew Johnson’s.

By: Bob Timmermann

Bob Timmermann — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:54:17 +0000

If it’s Penarol1916, I would bet on Andrew Jackson.

By: fanerman

fanerman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:53:24 +0000

So, who’s first?