Examines the political principles of Woodrow Wilson that influenced his presidency and the impact he had on United States and the progressive movement.

Woodrow Wilson's contribution to American foreign policy is well known, but his role in the development of American political thought and institutions is less recognized. In this volume, Wilson scholar Ronald J. Pestritto presents and introduces the statesman and president's seminal essays on such topics as: state theory; the idea of political liberty and the purpose of government; reform of Congress, the presidency, and political parties; and leadership in politics and administration. This collection makes available in a single volume the most relevant political speeches and writings of this important American leader. It will serve students and scholars as both useful teaching tool and invaluable reference source on the twenty-eighth president of the United States.

The first major biography of America’s twenty-eighth president in nearly two decades, from one of America’s foremost Woodrow Wilson scholars. A Democrat who reclaimed the White House after sixteen years of Republican administrations, Wilson was a transformative president—he helped create the regulatory bodies and legislation that prefigured FDR’s New Deal and would prove central to governance through the early twenty-first century, including the Federal Reserve system and the Clayton Antitrust Act; he guided the nation through World War I; and, although his advocacy in favor of joining the League of Nations proved unsuccessful, he nonetheless established a new way of thinking about international relations that would carry America into the United Nations era. Yet Wilson also steadfastly resisted progress for civil rights, while his attorney general launched an aggressive attack on civil liberties. Even as he reminds us of the foundational scope of Wilson’s domestic policy achievements, John Milton Cooper, Jr., reshapes our understanding of the man himself: his Wilson is warm and gracious—not at all the dour puritan of popular imagination. As the president of Princeton, his encounters with the often rancorous battles of academe prepared him for state and national politics. Just two years after he was elected governor of New Jersey, Wilson, now a leader in the progressive movement, won the Democratic presidential nomination and went on to defeat Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft in one of the twentieth century’s most memorable presidential elections. Ever the professor, Wilson relied on the strength of his intellectual convictions and the power of reason to win over the American people. John Milton Cooper, Jr., gives us a vigorous, lasting record of Wilson’s life and achievements. This is a long overdue, revelatory portrait of one of our most important presidents—particularly resonant now, as another president seeks to change the way government relates to the people and regulates the economy.

Woodrow Wilson's contribution to American foreign policy is well known, but his role in the development of American political thought and institutions is less recognized. In this volume, Ronald J. Pestritto, a scholar of Wilson and of American political thought, presents and introduces the statesman and president's seminal essays on such topics as a theory of the state; the idea of political liberty and the purpose of government; reforming Congress, the presidency, and political parties; and leadership in politics and administration. This volume shows us the development of a great American leader's political understanding and ideals.

American Progressivism is a one-volume edition of some of the most important essays, speeches, and book excerpts from the leading figures of national Progressivism. It is designed for classroom use, includes an accessible interpretive essay, and introduces each selection with a brief historical and conceptual background. The introductory essay is written with the student in mind, and addresses the important characteristics of Progressive thought and the role of Progressives in the development of the American political tradition. Students of American political thought, American politics, American history, the presidency, Congress, and political parties will find this reader to be an invaluable source for insight into Progressivism.