I recently finished reading a looooooong biography of President Woodrow Wilson as part of my insane goal of reading a bio of each U.S president. I blogged about it Monday. Along with the history itself, the leadership insights, the other-worldliness of presidential life, I also find the trivia fascinating. Here are some fun facts:
Mottoes associated with Wilson:
- After a policy of neutrality in world affairs, he led the nation into the Great War (World War I) in order to make the world “safe for democracy.”
- His second election offered the motto “America First.”
- “Peace without victory.”
- Was attributed with the slogan “the war to end all wars.” Actually came from the title of a book by H.G. Wells called The War That Will End War.
Firsts for President Wilson:
- Established the convention of a president holding a White House press conference.
- Utilized the President’s Room in the U.S. Capitol more than any president before him. This is an ornate corner room just off the Senate chamber. George Washington had proposed this room so the president and senators could conduct joint business together, but it didn’t come into existence until the mid-19th century. Wilson used the room a good deal at the beginning of his presidency but that tapered off as his relationship with Congress faltered.
- Established the convention of addressing a joint session of Congress in person instead of having the annual message read. Since John Adams, no president had delivered the state of the union in person, partly to keep it from feeling like a king addressing his subjects.
- His wife Edith became the first First Lady to “embrace the humanitarian potential of her position, the ability to draw attention to social injustices.”
- Established a presidential tradition for historic bill signings, utilizing two or three gold pens to sign and then gifting those pens to the congressmen and senators who had most helped him get it passed.
- Officially established Flag Day—June 14—to commemorate the day in 1777 on which Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes.
- During the Great War, he introduced Daylight Saving Time to create an extra hour of farm work each evening and to save an hour of artificial light, thus reducing the use of electricity and coal.
Random trivia:
- As president, he made time for recreational reading and asked the Librarian of Congress to keep him supplied with detective novels.
- Urged citizens to pledge their allegiance to the United States of America instead of honoring the hyphen that linked every American to the country of their ancestry.
- Theodore Roosevelt, while campaigning against Wilson, said, “Instead of speaking softly and carrying a big stick, President Wilson spoke bombastically and carried a dishrag.”
- His incapacitating stroke while in office was one of the century’s greatest secrets. His wife Edith became the gatekeeper of information and work coming to the president during this time. Some have even referred to her as the first female president.