President Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States and won due to President William Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt splitting the vote in the election of 1912.
President Woodrow Wilson had many flaws, which included naivete and racist tendencies. However, he was a visionary who saw the need for an oversight committee that could govern world affairs. While his initial idea would fail, it would lead to the United Nations; that is the legacy of Woodrow Wilson.
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First Term
March 4, 1913: President Woodrow Wilson delivers his inauguration address.
April 8, 1913: Wilson becomes the first President since John Adams to address Congress in person.
May 19, 1913: The Webb Alien Land-Holding Act is passed.
May 31, 1913: The 17th Amendment is passed.
October 3, 1913: President Woodrow Wilson signs the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act, which reduces tariffs significantly.
October 10, 1913: The Panama Canal is finished.
December 23, 1913: President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act. This would be the first nationalized banking act since Andrew Jackson.
April 9, 1914: Woodrow Wilson orders the U.S. Fleet to Tampico Bay in response to trouble with Mexico and its capture of Americans.
April 21, 1914: The United States military seized the Mexican customs house at Vera Cruz
August 1 - 4, 1914: Archduke Ferdinand from Austria is assassinated and sends shockwaves through the world. The result would be World War I.
October 14, 1914: President Woodrow Wilson signed the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, which strengthened the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
November 3, 1914: Democrats gain five seats in the Mid-term elections.
February 8, 1915: The first film, Birth of a Nation, is produced by D.W. Griffith.
May 7, 1915: German U-boat sinks the Lusitania. This would become a rallying cry for the United States to join World War I with the Allies.
July 29, 1915: The United States sends Marines to Haiti.
December 4, 1915: The Ku Klux Klan receives a state charter from Georgia. The racist Democrat, President Woodrow Wilson, did nothing and most likely encouraged it. Most Democrats in history encourage racism.
January 28, 1916: President Woodrow Wilson appointed Louis B. Brandeis to the Supreme Court. This would be the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice.
March 9, 1916: Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa leads 1,500 Mexican guerilla fighters across the border into New Mexico. They killed 17 Americans, and in response, President Woodrow Wilson ordered Brigadier General John "Black Jack" Pershing to pursue the fighters. The Americans killed a total of 120 Mexican fighters in response.
April 24, 1916: German U-boat torpedoes French steamship the Sussex, killing many Americans onboard. President Wilson offered Germany an ultimatum on unrestricted firing on merchant vessels they believed may be trading with the enemy. Germany ignores the ultimatum.
May 16, 1916: The United States sends U.S. Marines to the Dominican Republic to restore order. They remain there until 1924.
June 21, 1916: After Americans refused to leave, the Mexican military opened fire on the U.S. Army, killing 17 Americans. The Mexicans lost 38 men.
July 17, 1916: President Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Farm Loan Act.
July 30, 1916: An ammunition depot explodes in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is believed to have been destroyed by German spies.
August 4, 1916: The United States buy the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million.
September 3, 1916: To avoid a railroad strike as the nation prepares for possible War, President Wilson signs the Adamson Act, which set a workday for most railroad workers to 8 hours a day.
January 17, 1917: Another explosion takes place in New Jersey. It is again believed to be the work of German spies.
January 28, 1917: The War Department recalls General Pershing's troops from Mexico after his failure to capture Pancho Villa.
January 31, 1917: Germany announces that it will resume submarine warfare in the Atlantic and begin targeting military and neutral vessels.
February 3, 1917: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany.
February 5, 1917: Despite Wilson's veto, Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1917, which requires that all immigrants pass a literacy test. It also creates an "Asiatic Barred Zone," affecting many immigrants from India.
February 24, 1917: Britain intercepts a memo from German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador of Mexico. The Zimmermann Note proposes an alliance between Germany and Mexico in which the Germans would help win back land they had lost during the Mexican-American War 80 years prior to the Presidency of James K. Polk. President Wilson asked permission to arm merchant ships.
Second Term
March 4, 1917: After winning the election of 1916, Woodrow Wilson delivers his second inauguration address and prepares the nation for war.
March 12, 1917: The Russian Revolution (Also known as the Bolshevik Revolution) ends the era of the Czars when Czar Nicholas II is forced to resign.
April 4-6, 1917: The House and Senate both vote for a Declaration of War against Germany. Among the members who did not vote for the war was Montana congresswoman Jeanette Rankin, who was the first woman to serve in Congress.
April 24, 1917: President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill launching the first Liberty Loan drive, allowing the Treasury Department to offer $3 billion in interest-bearing war bonds to the public.
May 18, 1917: Congress passes the Selective Service Act, which requires all men between the ages of 21 - 30 to register for military service. This was in August to include ages 18 - 45.
June 15, 1917: Congress passes the Espionage Act, which makes public criticism of the government or military punishable by up to $10,000 in fines or 20 years in prison. This act was controversial and was similar to the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by John Adams when he was President.
July 28, 1917: The War Industries Board was established to coordinate the nation's war industry production.
August 10, 1917: Congress passes the Lever and Fuel Control Act, which gives the President the right to ration natural resources such as meat during the war.
September 5, 1917: The Federal government raided the Industrial Workers of the World in 24 cities across the United States.
October 24, 1917: The Russian Civil War begins and will last until 1922.
December 18, 1917: The 18th Amendment is passed, and Prohibition begins.
January 18, 1918: President Woodrow Wilson addresses Congress and gives his famous "Fourteen Points" speech that speaks on the League of Nations.
March 3, 1918: The Russian Bolshevik government signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, ending hostilities between the two nations.
May 16, 1918: Congress passes the Sedition Act.
June 4, 1918: The U.S. Second Division halts a German offensive at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry.
June 6 - 25, 1918: At the Battle of Belleau Wood, the United States retake territory that had been lost to Germany.
June 23, 1918: A British force lands in Murmansk, Russia, in order to protect Allied supplies from falling into German or Bolshevik hands and to force Germany to fight a two-front war. In August, a joint British-French force lands in Archangel. On September 4, an American force joins the British in Murmansk to seize a railroad. The Allied involvement in northern Russia leads to a virtual war between the Allies and Bolsheviks.
July 15, 1918: The Allies win the Second Battle of the Marne.
July 18 - August 6, 1918: 250,000 U.S. troops join French Troops in the Aisne-Marne counterattack against the Germans. The offensive helps change the course of the war.
August 8, 1918: Allied forces attack the Germans at Amiens.
September 12, 1918: The United States takes 15,000 German POWs at the Battle of St. Mihiel.
September 26 - November 11, 1918: In the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne, The Allies cut off German rail supply lines.
November 5, 1918: The Republicans take back the majority in the House and Senate during the mid-term elections.
November 9, 1918: World War I ends, and Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates the throne.
January 18, 1919: The Paris Peace Conference begins with President Woodrow Wilson in attendance. Wilson speaks of the need for a League of Nations.
January 29, 1919: The 18th Amendment gets ratified by the states, and Prohibition becomes law.
March 3, 1919: In the case of Schenck v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that American civil liberties may be curtailed by the federal government if there is a "clear and present danger" to law and order.
May 19, 1919: The 19th Amendment is passed, and women are given the right to vote.
July 10, 1919: Wilson submits his Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations for ratification with Congress.
August 31, 1919: The Communist Labor Party was founded in the United States.
September 4, 1919: President Woodrow Wilson begins an exhaustive tour to promote the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. On this tour, Wilson suffers a serious stroke.
October 28, 1919: The Volstead Act was passed to enforce prohibition.
November 19, 1919: The Senate votes against the Treaty of Versailles, which means that the United States would not join the League of Nations. This was a major defeat for Wilson.
April 1, 1920: American forces withdrew their last troops from Northern Russia, where they were aiding the Russians who were against the Bolshevik Revolution.
June 8 - 12, 1919: The Republican Party nominates Warren G. Harding as their next candidate for President. He proposes a return from normalcy.
June 28, 1920: The Democrats nominate James M. Cox for President, who then selected future president Franklin D. Roosevelt as his running mate.
August 26, 1920: The 19th Amendment is officially passed and grants Women's Suffrage.
November 2, 1920: Warren G. Harding is elected President.