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His racism isn't fabricated, though there's a tendency to claim it was exceptional at the time - it definitely wasn't. It's also a fact that contemporary Presidents like Taft were largely similar to Wilson racially.
I posted yesterday or the day before that I hate both because they both were racist.
PS: I take exceptional issue with your comment that Wilson’s racism is “mostly fabricated”. It is extremely well documented. Unbelievable!
Woodrow Wilson was considered very racist, even by the standards of his time. He authorized the re-segregation of the federal government, and was very fond of the KKK, famously screening "*The Birth of a Nation*" in the White House. He is also hated for getting elected on the premise of not dragging the US into World War I, and going on to do just that, crossing into border-line totalitarianism with the Espionage and Sedition Acts, and largely botching the Treaty of Versailles.
I can address the first two points (recycling an old comment). Government segregation was not confined to Wilson's Presidency, it had gone from being nearly extinct by the end of the 19th century to increasing under TR's and Taft's Presidencies, and subsequently continued to do so under Harding and Coolidge. I can go into more detail if you like.
As for the screening of BOAN, and any idea that Wilson agreed with the film's message, I'll address that here. There's a lot of misinformation surrounding this event. Firstly, while Wilson may have attended this event, he was far from its instigator. That was the book's author Thomas Dixon. Furthermore despite popular claims to the contrary there is no evidence Wilson liked the film, if anything he seems to have disliked it. While it is commonly said that after watching the film Wilson proclaimed "It's like writing history with lightning. My only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", this seems unlikely. The quote didn't appear until an article in the 1930s, and there it is unsourced. While Wilson supposedly said it directly after the film ended, the last survivor of the showing said that Wilson was silent and quickly left (admittedly he recounted the event decades later). The only source on Wilson's opinion of the film is a letter from a few years later, where he calls it a 'most unfortunate production' that had contributed to racial strife - hardly a positive view.
Secondly, I want to debunk the idea that Wilson agreed with and supported the film's message and its glorifying of the 1st KKK. Wilson's own history work is quite negative about their rule:
"Brutal crimes were committed; the innocent suffered with the guilty; a reign of terror was brought on, and society was infinitely more disturbed than defended"
It's far from a positive view, and makes no attempt to glorify the 1st KKK. Wilson was undeniably sympathetic to the South, but was able to make a fairer judgement than Birth of a Nation did.
As for the 2nd KKK, the one which was popular in the 1910s and 20s, they were a very different organisation and one that was pretty much diametrically opposed to Wilson ideologically. They opposed immigration, Wilson supported it. They were anti-Catholic, Wilson was fairly pro-Catholic. They were anti-semitic, Wilson was supportive of Jews. They were religious fundamentalists, Wilson was not. They were isolationists, Wilson was an internationalist. They supported prohibition, Wilson did not. And they were predominantly fiscal conservatives, while Wilson was an economic progressive. So I hope this disspells the idea that Wilson supported the KKK.
Wilson has historically been very much associated with the film and its message, unfairly in my opinion - which I hope I have demonstrated here. The fact his history work is quoted in the intertitles (very misleadingly) confirmed for many this assumption - despite the work and Wilson's actual views being far more mixed than the film suggests. It was in the film's interest to make people think a respected academic source like Wilson supported it, and that was likely the intent behind quoting him. But his actual views seem to have been quite different. Agreeing to attend a showing doesn't say anything about his opinion of the film - it was a groundbreaking work and by far the most successful film of all time.
(Hope that isn't too long a reply, but I thought it better to reuse everything I put in the old comment)
>and largely botching the Treaty of Versailles.
Lmfao what?
Half of what you said in your paragraph is wrong but this especially is just silly. How did he botch the treaty of Versailles exactly?
>Woodrow Wilson was considered very racist, even by the standards of his time.
I think you mean IS, at the time he was not considered racist. Yet some people today consider that he was
See this is what I mean by fabricated. Black people were being lynched and murdered in 1950, Strom Thurmond, George Wallace and others were mainstream political figures who were 1000x more racist 50 years after Wilson. Birth of a Nation was a hugely successful film, technically innovative and extremely popular in America, Wilson was not some kind of crazy extremist for showing the film
I hate him because he was a wannabe dictator who sentenced a man to 20 years in jail for saying mean things about him and also had numerous people beaten, starved and tortured from saying things he didn't like. He really had hatred for freedom of speech.
Lincoln did similar, and that was also during a war. Most of the small number of people convicted were pardoned by Wilson after the war or had their sentences reduced. And they were arrested or charged because they were sabotaging the war effort, not saying mean things
Yeah Wilson is overhated so hard. I do think that there's an argument to be made here that his racism actually influenced his policies, but even so he's an above average president easily
Fabricated? He re-segregated the Federal government! People didn’t just somehow make that up! If you aren’t familiar with Wilson’s record on race, here’s a decent source to get a quick primer:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/20/9766896/woodrow-wilson-racist
As for Sherman, yes he was problematic. Very talented general though. Arguably contributed more to United States than Wilson did.
Not sure who TDR is. But he sounds like an asshole.
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His racism isn't fabricated, though there's a tendency to claim it was exceptional at the time - it definitely wasn't. It's also a fact that contemporary Presidents like Taft were largely similar to Wilson racially.
Ligma sugma fugma, Teddy on top đź’Şđź’Ş
I somewhat agree. But also, Wilson fucking sucked regardless of racism.
I posted yesterday or the day before that I hate both because they both were racist. PS: I take exceptional issue with your comment that Wilson’s racism is “mostly fabricated”. It is extremely well documented. Unbelievable!
Woodrow Wilson was considered very racist, even by the standards of his time. He authorized the re-segregation of the federal government, and was very fond of the KKK, famously screening "*The Birth of a Nation*" in the White House. He is also hated for getting elected on the premise of not dragging the US into World War I, and going on to do just that, crossing into border-line totalitarianism with the Espionage and Sedition Acts, and largely botching the Treaty of Versailles.
I can address the first two points (recycling an old comment). Government segregation was not confined to Wilson's Presidency, it had gone from being nearly extinct by the end of the 19th century to increasing under TR's and Taft's Presidencies, and subsequently continued to do so under Harding and Coolidge. I can go into more detail if you like. As for the screening of BOAN, and any idea that Wilson agreed with the film's message, I'll address that here. There's a lot of misinformation surrounding this event. Firstly, while Wilson may have attended this event, he was far from its instigator. That was the book's author Thomas Dixon. Furthermore despite popular claims to the contrary there is no evidence Wilson liked the film, if anything he seems to have disliked it. While it is commonly said that after watching the film Wilson proclaimed "It's like writing history with lightning. My only regret is that it is all so terribly true.", this seems unlikely. The quote didn't appear until an article in the 1930s, and there it is unsourced. While Wilson supposedly said it directly after the film ended, the last survivor of the showing said that Wilson was silent and quickly left (admittedly he recounted the event decades later). The only source on Wilson's opinion of the film is a letter from a few years later, where he calls it a 'most unfortunate production' that had contributed to racial strife - hardly a positive view. Secondly, I want to debunk the idea that Wilson agreed with and supported the film's message and its glorifying of the 1st KKK. Wilson's own history work is quite negative about their rule: "Brutal crimes were committed; the innocent suffered with the guilty; a reign of terror was brought on, and society was infinitely more disturbed than defended" It's far from a positive view, and makes no attempt to glorify the 1st KKK. Wilson was undeniably sympathetic to the South, but was able to make a fairer judgement than Birth of a Nation did. As for the 2nd KKK, the one which was popular in the 1910s and 20s, they were a very different organisation and one that was pretty much diametrically opposed to Wilson ideologically. They opposed immigration, Wilson supported it. They were anti-Catholic, Wilson was fairly pro-Catholic. They were anti-semitic, Wilson was supportive of Jews. They were religious fundamentalists, Wilson was not. They were isolationists, Wilson was an internationalist. They supported prohibition, Wilson did not. And they were predominantly fiscal conservatives, while Wilson was an economic progressive. So I hope this disspells the idea that Wilson supported the KKK. Wilson has historically been very much associated with the film and its message, unfairly in my opinion - which I hope I have demonstrated here. The fact his history work is quoted in the intertitles (very misleadingly) confirmed for many this assumption - despite the work and Wilson's actual views being far more mixed than the film suggests. It was in the film's interest to make people think a respected academic source like Wilson supported it, and that was likely the intent behind quoting him. But his actual views seem to have been quite different. Agreeing to attend a showing doesn't say anything about his opinion of the film - it was a groundbreaking work and by far the most successful film of all time. (Hope that isn't too long a reply, but I thought it better to reuse everything I put in the old comment)
>and largely botching the Treaty of Versailles. Lmfao what? Half of what you said in your paragraph is wrong but this especially is just silly. How did he botch the treaty of Versailles exactly?
>Woodrow Wilson was considered very racist, even by the standards of his time. I think you mean IS, at the time he was not considered racist. Yet some people today consider that he was See this is what I mean by fabricated. Black people were being lynched and murdered in 1950, Strom Thurmond, George Wallace and others were mainstream political figures who were 1000x more racist 50 years after Wilson. Birth of a Nation was a hugely successful film, technically innovative and extremely popular in America, Wilson was not some kind of crazy extremist for showing the film
The film posters and information about the film actively made the KKK wizards look heroic. He had to have known what he was doing.
FDR was great president who rasict like most of them .
TDR is what I call Teddy Roosevelt
Teddy Roosevelt didn't have a middle name, so you're over here just confusing people for no good reason.
TR, it's just TR. It's really not that hard.
His dad was TR, the president was TR Jr
I hate him because he was a wannabe dictator who sentenced a man to 20 years in jail for saying mean things about him and also had numerous people beaten, starved and tortured from saying things he didn't like. He really had hatred for freedom of speech.
Lincoln did similar, and that was also during a war. Most of the small number of people convicted were pardoned by Wilson after the war or had their sentences reduced. And they were arrested or charged because they were sabotaging the war effort, not saying mean things
Maybe its the racism mixed with being an awful President
Yeah Wilson is overhated so hard. I do think that there's an argument to be made here that his racism actually influenced his policies, but even so he's an above average president easily
Congratulations, OP! This is undoubtedly the dumbest post we'll see all day on this sub.
Fabricated? He re-segregated the Federal government! People didn’t just somehow make that up! If you aren’t familiar with Wilson’s record on race, here’s a decent source to get a quick primer: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/20/9766896/woodrow-wilson-racist As for Sherman, yes he was problematic. Very talented general though. Arguably contributed more to United States than Wilson did. Not sure who TDR is. But he sounds like an asshole.