Woodrow Wilson and World War I

April 15, 2014
President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) often appears just below the top tier of our former presidents. In the century since his presidency (1913-21), Wilson's popularity has risen and fallen along with the tide of how Americans view the Progressive Era and the advent of an activist government. Striner (history, Washington Coll.), well known for his studies of Abraham Lincoln, here takes a critical look at Wilson's actions as a wartime leader. The author is unsparing in his criticism of Wilson's lack of preparation for America's eventual entry into World War I and derides him for his naive belief in his powers of personal diplomacy in dealing with the complexity of the Allied cause. Striner concludes that Wilson was generally incompetent when it came to managing America's war effort. Given that Wilson knew he lacked experience in foreign affairs, one may find Striner's criticism a bit unfair. Wilson certainly had his faults, but how much his performance displayed incompetence and how much it simply reflected the remarkable complexity of fighting a modern war is a matter of opinion. VERDICT This well-written and well-researched book deserves attention in academic libraries but should be balanced with other recent works by John Milton Cooper Jr. or A. Scott Berg.--Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

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