Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States of America. He remained the President from 1913 to 1921.
During his Presidency, the World War I broke out and under his leadership USA played an important part in the war. He was also instrumental in the creation of the League of Nations.
Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia on December 28, 1856.
Woodrow Wilson was born in Virginia. During his early years, his family moved around a number of southern states, so Wilson spent most of his early years in the states of Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. He attained formal education at an early age and then went on to study history at the College of New Jersey.
He later decided to study law and passed the bar exam in 1882. Then he practiced law for a time but soon abandoned it and went to teach at the Princeton University.
For the next 15 years, he taught Political Science at Princeton. Later, he was made the president of the Princeton University and he remained at this post for 5 years.
Initially, Wilson had no interest in doing politics. Instead, he liked to write about politics and using his knowledge of history and political science, he wrote many papers about how the government should function.
Eventually, he did enter politics and was made the Governor of New Jersey in 1911. He proved to be a very good governor and was asked by many people to run for Presidency.
So he ran for the office during the 1912 Presidential elections. His opponents included the incumbent President William Taft and the former President Theodore Roosevelt. Wilson was able to defeat both of them and became the next President.
During his first Presidential term, Woodrow Wilson focused on the American economy and government. He implemented many new systems which have since become a permanent part of the American government.
These include the Federal Reserve System which Wilson implemented to regulate economy effectively. He also implemented a new tax system according to which people with lower incomes would pay lower taxes and those with higher income would pay higher taxes. This tax system is still in use today.
One of his major achievements during his first term was that he kept America out of World War I. This was exactly what the people wanted, so he was elected to the office a second time. However, during his second Presidential term, Germany started attacking American ships and America had to participate in the World War I.
Under his leadership, USA played a very important part in the war. Once the war ended, Wilson led he efforts for the establishment of a League of Nations, so as to avoid future wars. For these efforts, he received the Nobel Prize in 1919.
Woodrow Wilson suffered a major heart stroke in 1919. He survived and continued to serve as President until 1921. But his health had suffered because of the stroke and died on February 3, 1924 in Washington, D.C.
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