Woodrow Wilson: The Worst Great President?

[@Biographics]

Check out Squarespace: squarespace.com/BIOGRAPHICS for 10% off on your first purchase.

[@master_eagle]

make a video on Dr BR Ambedkar.

[@MotherAlsaud]

When are you going to do a video on Abraham Lincoln the real greatest president in US history 🥰🥰

[@Swm9445]

Do you have any plans to make a video on Pierre Trudeau and the FLQ crisis?

[@Biographics]

@@MotherAlsaud He's on the list!

[@jackcrosby448]

Please could we have a video (or five!) about the Cambridge Five?

[@BoyNamedSue4]

Make no mistake. Wilson wasn’t a racist during a time of extreme racism. Even back then, he was known for being insanely racist.

[@jameswatson5807]

I am surprised people have not made comments, about him, excusing his racism that he was a product of his era.

[@jameswatson5807]

@inchulkman Your comment is made in a way that he was asking you, but the guy is telling facts. This president made, it hard for good honest hardworking middle class blacks. You would have thrived in that era but me, I would struggle because I am not white. Do you think it is ok that black people struggled in that era, just because they are black.

[@gphjr1444]

@@jameswatson5807 Spoiler alert: They're perfectly fine with it.

[@jameswatson5807]

@@gphjr1444 Oh yeah I know.

[@theawesomeman9821]

@@jameswatson5807 people aren't that stupid. Nobody wants to be canceled on a dead man's account

[@pyromania1018]

Wilson's grandson, Francis B. Sayre Jr., would go on to spit on his grandfather's legacy by openly opposing segregation, even going so far as to participate in the Selma March alongside MLK. He was also a vicious critic of McCarthy, labeling him as a "pretended patriot".

[@kellychuang8373]

Now that's something and if Woodrow Wilson witnessed that he'd be horrified.

[@JK-gu3tl]

McCarthy was correct that communists infiltrated the government but he was def. doing it for the sake of political power. His own cousin, Frank Hubert of Dune fame, warned that expanding gov't powers in search of communists could lead to unintended consequences.

[@agett12]

That made me smile

[@pyromania1018]

@@JK-gu3tl There undoubtedly were, but he just as often went after folks he simply didn't like.

[@lawsonj39]

@@JK-gu3tl To the minor extent that communist infiltration was a thing, it was harmless compared to the disaster that total right-wing domination of our foreign policy became after the McCarthy purges. The right-wingers' anti-communist hysteria led directly to Vietnam and our support for countless dictatorships, from Franco in Spain to the Shah in Iran.

[@rami_ungar_writer]

I remember a story my American History professor told my class about Wilson when I was in college. While Wilson was advocating for all these new nations to be created from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and whatnot, a delegation from Ireland for Irish independence came to meet him and ask him to advocate the same principles of self-determination for them as well. Wilson, who was recovering from a cold at the time, just looked at them and said, "Of course, I didn't mean you." That story has stuck with me for years, and it has helped define my view of Wilson over the years as I have learned more about him.

[@erraticonteuse]

This is where I ultimately fall on Woodrow Wilson: he was so *frustratingly* hypocritical. Almost on par with Thomas Jefferson, but at least Jefferson knew he was a hypocrite. Votes and self-determination for Czechs and Poles in their homelands, but not for the Irish or African-Americans

[@pyromania1018]

@@erraticonteuse Jefferson had his virtues, and while his view towards slavery was insultingly patronizing by modern standards, he may have had a point when he said that keeping them would also protect them from being lynched; he also refused to whip them, banned the international slave trade, and was against expanding it. And he did believe that women should get an education, and supported early suffragists.

[@celieboo]

Wow! Just wow.

[@erraticonteuse]

@@pyromania1018 Dude, Jefferson was a hypocrite, get over it. And he absolutely did not support women's suffrage or even education really - he told his daughter Martha that the only reason she was getting educated was because he couldn't trust that whatever husband she eventually ended up with would himself be educated up to his standard and could leave her in a bad financial situation. If someone teaches a kid to swim so they don't drown, that's not the same thing as encouraging an Olympic career. In Jefferson's "perfect" world, his daughter wouldn't have been educated.

[@kellychuang8373]

@@erraticonteuse Which sadly that is so sadly true and you can only wonder what would happen if this guy witnessed our times.

[@tonypintarelli877]

I absolutely LOVE your Presidential videos. Your ability to pull apart and examine the good, the bad, and the ugly is both fantastic and refreshing.

[@samsimpson4083]

It’s interesting to hear about this side of Woodrow Wilson. I remember in school we were just taught how Wilson was so progressive and a major advocate for all the new independent nations, and how he was instrumental in saving Europe. Not once was there a mention his racism or authoritarianism.

[@johngreen3543]

This is an example of Trumpian American history that Trump wanted to bring back to American schools. Thank goodness that present day texts cover both the positive and negative aspects of his time in office.

[@samsimpson4083]

@@johngreen3543 I was born in the 80’s and I live and grew up in the UK. I don’t think I can blame Trump in this case!

[@Glitter_H_Hoof]

@@johngreen3543 Because America is the only country in the world and Trump is somehow related to every woe Man has ever known.

[@spzaruba5089]

@@johngreen3543 Wilson was a highly educated Progressive identitarian who used virtue signalling identitarianism and propaganda to expand totalitarian power while accomplishing nothing for the country. A Democrat through and through.

[@JohnChristenNizzaDiCorsi]

He wasn't racist at all. He advocated for each group to develop culturally separately. For example: he never had anything negative to say about American Indian Tribes, in fact, he called us as strong as intelligent as the White man. Coming from a man who supposedly perceived the non Whites are inferior I'd have to say it's not correct, he didn't think Natives were inferior and he supported that we ought to continue being independent Nationalities separated from the United States.

[@alessandrodelogu7931]

Here in Italy Wilson is remembered mostly because of his 14 points, while his internal policies, racism and wars in Latin America are generally ignored. Wilson after WWI became really unpopular in our country, sometimes truely hated, because Italy didn't gain the Dalmatian coastline, in modern day Croatia. The Italian nationalists wanted Dalmatia because it had been a territory of the ancient republic of Venice, and there were many Italians there, but due to Wilson's criteria of nationality the region was given to Jugoslavia. We still obtained other lands, but the nationalists protested against this "mutilated victory", as they called it. Their insatisfaction, among other things, contributed to the rise of Fascism.

[@Benepene]

Same Here in Germany

[@kayzeaza]

I think people don’t realize that Wilson’s 14 point were never put into effect. The other Allies did most of the treaty of Versailles

[@kayzeaza]

@@night6724 nah Europe destroyed Europe with the treaty of Versailles

[@kayzeaza]

@@night6724 yeah, the other allies did that, not Woodrow Wilson

[@bovnycccoperalover3579]

Wilson was irrelevant in the reconstruction of WW1 Europe. He only provided cannon fodder for the winning side. None of his ideas were implemented, including his 14 freedoms either in the US or Europe. He was so hated in the US that the Senate ratified A separate treaty with Germany in 1920. The US remained very "mostly" neutral until Pearl Harbor in 1941. There were some in Europe who blamed the US's isolationism for the failure of "The League of Nations".

[@ThatGUY666666]

“…it was both.” Those three words summarize Wilson better than anything else I have ever heard on the man. This is the President I was perhaps most looking forward to seeing covered on this channel and you did not disappoint. On the one hand he was a true economic progressive on issues like worker’s compensation, child labor, trust busting and other such topics. So much so that much of the modern American economy began with Wilson. But on the other hand he was a horrific racist even by the standards of the 1910’s, his actions in Latin America were imperialistic and idiotic, and he was responsible for truly horrific civil liberties violations during WWI. I understand why a lot of people hate him and he certainly does not belong on any top 5 lists of greatest presidents. Unfortunately, we have had worse men in office. One example would have to be James Buchanan whose weakness and inaction was a key factor in allowing the Civil War to reach such a point it nearly destroyed the country. Though that is only one example.

[@kellychuang8373]

Also by the description you described and for people living in now we can be glad we're not living then though sadly for ancestors or anyone unfortunate to be living then it really was a horror.

[@1776SOL]

Buchanan, Pierce, Wilson are my worst 3. On top off Wilson's vile & repugnant racism, snobbish elitism, & an ego only recently surpassed by Obama & Trump, Wilson's allowed those horrific traits to interfere with the Treaty of Versailles alienating both Germany & Japan setting the stage for WWII. As for domestic... Wilson too many horrific policies the vast majority we're still trying to overcome a century later. Federal Reserve Bank since 1st Federal Reserve Note was issued in 1915 we've had a cumulative inflation of 2748%. Fragments of the wildly unconstitutional Espionage & Sedition Acts not fully repealed are still used to against US Citizens from time to time. The fiasco trials of Schenck v US & Abrams v US based upon the Unconstitutional Espionage Act which though have been overruled still get used as excuse to go after US Citizens for free speech & civil disobedience. I know draft dodger gets tossed around as a pejorative, hell I used it against Bill Clinton until I realized that the draft is Unconstitutional as violation of Equal Protection & Involuntary Servitude (pressed into military service against ones will is certainly involuntary servitude). But to escalate protesting draft WWI or otherwise to the level of Espionage is tyrannical. If I did a video documenting the repercussions of Wilson, it would be well over 1hr. While Wilson may not be the worst POTUS ever, he is the worst 20th century POTUS in my opinion.

[@Louis_Davout]

@@1776SOL Great points, all! He was especially evil in driving black people from the Federal Civil Service... Reprehensible man, and an academic...

[@1776SOL]

@@Louis_Davout What's interesting about Woodrow Wilson, is that while he instituted progressive reforms specifically for the white working class, he hated the white working class too. It was a different kind of hatred, bourne out of scholastic elitism. If you read writings & speeches while Pres of Princeton University he had both a deep disdain & paternalistic pitty for the "working class". The man was just an awful, awful person. Personally I think only 3 things stopped him from going all genocidal dictator. The balance of powers in the Constitution, his faith, & his age/health. I think had he been a little younger & healthier, & unrestrained by his faith & the Constitutional delegation of powers we could've seen him on the list of 20th century genocidal dictators.

[@kellychuang8373]

@@1776SOL I can say that description he makes what Eric Cartman and Montgomery Burns from South Park and Simpsons look like a ditz and picnic in comparison and he'd be spinning in his grave seeing the times now.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:25 - Chapter 1 - Southern man 5:20 - Chapter 2 - Rage against (the) machine politics 9:00 - Mid roll ads 10:25 - Chapter 3 - Reform & resegregation 14:20 - Chapter 4 - The shadow of war 17:30 - Chapter 5 - What is good for ? 21:10 - Chapter 6 - Winning the war, losing the peace ?

[@waynemccormick4773]

This was very balanced. Most of what I've seen about Woodrow Wilson was skewed to one side or the other. You did a good effort at balacing w/o glossing over the bad or the good.

[@gazinggoat5869]

Have you ever glossed over a nice taught pair of hemingways?

[@sherryberry776]

He hated monopolies so much that he made it to where the government was a monopoly.

[@ricky4673]

He was the first communist republic president.

[@matth.7073]

@@ricky4673I think you need to to read up on what communism is

[@jakebate1533]

Except a True Monopoly is when Government has control over everything. The term "Monopoly" is simply Anti-Capitalist Propaganda by Progressives. What red-pilled (or yellow-pilled due to Libertarianism) me on that was the book "How Capitalism Saved America" (2004) by Libertarian Thomas J. DiLorenzo. These days Americans cannot even tell the differences between Free-Market Capitalism & Crony Capitalism nor Market Entrepreneur & Political Entreprenuer.

[@ajax1812]

​@@jakebate1533 as an anti capitalist, I don't see the core capitalism as inherently bad, but it allows for evil people to abuse it like it is right now. For capitalism to work it needs major reforms and a way to stop the rampant corruption that permeates every facet of American life. Modern Capitalism props up those that already have exponential amounts of money and blocks out those that don't. Yeah it is possible to go from poor to rich but it is unnecessarily difficult to do so. You are more likely to go rich to poor than poor to middle class. No political ideal is perfect, but we shouldn't advocate for an ideal that actively puts it's citizens down

[@bigmackstar1]

​@@ajax1812 I also think we need major reforms, mostly to combat monopolies and anti-competition practices. But you said you are an "anti-capitalist", what then would you suggest as an alternative?

[@anthonyhunter6882]

Woodrow Wilson is like a presidential infomercial. Whenever you say how horrible he was for our country and society, we get “BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!” James Buchanan was inept. Wilson was evil with a God complex.

[@M0rmagil]

@@anthonyhunter6882 like SO many “progressives”!

[@user-kv2vc3is8h]

It’s fascinating to imagine how different the world could have been had TR either got the R nomination or had won the presidency.

[@Iamthestig42069]

War ends sooner and communism doesn’t happen

[@user-kv2vc3is8h]

@@Iamthestig42069 The US would’ve entered the war much quicker and yes it likely would’ve ended a lot quicker. If he had been at the table dictating terms, perhaps the conditions that led to WW2 wouldn’t have led to Hitler. Meanwhile on the domestic side there would have still be progressive reforms (anti trust, square deal type anti corruption) and no federal push for segregation.

[@user-kv2vc3is8h]

@@night6724 Taft would’ve been very unhappy. But his wife would’ve been thrilled.

[@user-kv2vc3is8h]

@@night6724 that and pride/anger at TR

[@arandommemer9926]

It would probably be a better world.

[@douglasskinner6348]

You missed 2 things rather important against Wilson: 1. He wrote a book glorifying the South and the Klan, which was used to justify the Klan's resurgence in America, and 2. Wilsonian Doctrine, which was a practice of global policing for the sake of democracy, which has been used by nearly every US President since to start wars all over the world and has kept the US in constant military conflict ever since. There's a reason he's a horrible President. OH! And not to mention that he only got the Federal Reserve Act passed was because he basically held a secret vote in Congress during the Christmas holidays, when most of the Republican Party was out of Washington, and it can be argued that the Federal Reserve (a private institution) aided the Great Depression and has little to no government oversight, like during the 2008 crash where they lost something like 9 billion dollars that has never been found.

[@theawesomeman9821]

I see you're a conservative person

[@Evocatorum]

@@night6724 and then turned around and invaded several countries because "Democracy".

[@EMO_alpha]

@@theawesomeman9821 You say it like it's a bad thing. The left is much much worse than you could ever imagine.

[@gilbertovega3976]

Wasn’t citizenship given to puertoricans just to be able to draft them? I think I had heard or read something along these lines. Anyone care to clarify?

[@nickschulte3915]

I’ll leave the FED out of this, but you’re right. He set back race relegations by decades, ruined our foreign policy, and corrupted Progressivism, making it just a way to expand government power. People also forget that on the list of countries he invaded, a big one is missed, Russia. Wilson’s mishandling of WWI and the peace talks led directly to the rise of Lenin and the USSR as well as Hitler and WWII.

[@theawesomeman9821]

When I was in high school history, I never learned about how bad Wilson was just that he helped make America a world power. Had no idea that its mainstream these days to hate the guy until I read my neice's history book.

[@starkilr101]

FDR wasn’t much better. He tried to pack the Supreme Court, had no issue putting klan members on the court with justice Hugo Black and even called him Benito Mussolini that admirable Italian gentleman” after he took power in Italy

[@darthvenator2487]

Classical North American Hypocrisy.

[@lukelee6436]

I promise you if he were a republican the democrats would never shut up about how bad he was

[@starkilr101]

@@lukelee6436 Word. It’s interesting how some of the worst or craziest presidents were Democrats. Not saying that there weren’t bad Republicans, but which party was the party of slavery, lynchings, segregation and the Klan?

[@Adam-cu9xo]

@@starkilr101 Fair point, but Republicans lost credibility with minorities once Lyndon B Johnson signed the civil rights act of 1964,1968. Not to mention after that most Dixiecrats ended up endorsing Republican candidates who would continue certain dog whistles.

[@nicholasbarber3644]

it ironic how the candidates for president in 1912 all went to ivy league schools roosevelt went to harvard wilson went to princeton and taft went to yale

[@nicholashoover931]

Woodrow Wilson and great should never be in the same sentence.

[@almighty3946]

Well nothing is truly black and white

[@savagedarksider5934]

I prefer Karl Habsburg over Wilson.

[@olayinkaamara385]

That's why academics have never ranked him lower than 13th place 😏

[@PearComputingDevices]

Amen to that!

[@ApostleOfDarkness]

He was the greatest at making the worst

[@Bruski_Two_Zero]

In the words of The Cynical Historian; "WIIIILLLLLLLLSOOOOOOOOONNNNN!!!!!!!!"

[@JK-gm6kk]

I don't get this reference. All I can think of is the Phish song

[@robertoleary5470]

@@JK-gm6kk the guy who runs the cynical historian channel hates Wilson.

[@nerdguru86]

@@robertoleary5470 he despises him with a passion... So do I.. 😂😂😂💀💀

[@jenniferb4439]

Discovery zone from gathering history and lived through none of it! Just kidding we have been enjoying his time until today unless anyone wants to change it;) His ideas live inside 2022.

[@justinpipes85]

YES!!!

[@aaron8977]

He really is the DEFINITION of polarizing. It doesn’t happen often but I was actually shocked to hear how great and terrible he was all at the same time. What a fascinating person

[@shakiMiki]

If you White & are okay with racists. The more you learn about him the inexplicable the esteem with in which he is still held. How Princeton still can still have buildings named after him is a scandal. And that tedious man of the time nonsense doesn't work. Teddy Roosevelt was quite the imperialist with sense of White Man burden. Wilson was all that with utterly vile poison. Irredeemably awful. Did his part to pave the way to WWII.

[@aaron8977]

@@shakiMiki take a break

[@changer_of_ways_999]

He conjures up the term "at least the trains ran on time."

[@CentristDad155]

From 5th best president ranking to 13th from the bottom: I can vouch for that. All my political science professors loved him. One of them pretended he was Wilson: affecting his look and mannerisms. What a change of perspective from 30 years ago!

[@aodhganmerrimac]

Wilson is a great lesson for modern Americans who often condemn or canonize. Very few individuals-including the "great", or "famous" are all good or all bad & it's simplistic thinking to view the world that way.

[@William-the-Guy]

You are clearly racist for saying that. Shame on you. But hey, everyone look at me! I am calling out racism! Look at my virtue!

[@aodhganmerrimac]

@@William-the-Guy Sure, whatever you say.🤨 Must be nice living in that world of only saints & sinners. Seems to me your the one screaming out your virtue. SMH

[@William-the-Guy]

@@aodhganmerrimac I thought it was pretty obvious I was being sarcastic...

[@aodhganmerrimac]

@@William-the-Guy Sorry, it was not obvious.

[@William-the-Guy]

@@aodhganmerrimac I will take that more as a commentary on our times, than on myself. I tried to make what I said as comically ridiculous as I could possibly immagine. But no matter how ridiculous I tried to sound, it still seemed like something a modern person would seriously say. Anyways I DID agree with your first comment.

[@segluis777]

Wilson was a monster, and I'm so glad history is finally giving him his comeuppance.

[@tlguyton]

Very well said. I totally agree.

[@idoobbberz_tv6676]

I'm so glad that history isn't biased and shows the wrongdoings of everybody, not just the more publicized figures of the world. (Ex. Stalin, Mao, Hit-her, Pol Pot, etc.)

[@jessicajujubean5004]

Hindsight is always 20/20.

[@trusoujah2002]

Never seen somebody use comeuppance in a sentence.👍🤷‍♂️😅

[@almighty3946]

As I’ve said before, never judge history as being purely black and white. There’s a lot more to Wilson than just being a racist.

[@thomasgarrison1088]

Simon, in the near future please consider doing a video on US President Rutherford Hayes. Among the forgotten Presidents, he's probably one of the ones we should remember more than we do. He's criticized for ending Reconstruction and dooming Southern Blacks to Jim Crow and for starting the pattern of crushing workers strikes with federal troops. On the other hand, he successfully avoided a 2nd Civil War, which almost broke out in the aftermath of the 1876 Election (perhaps the most contentious and explosive election in US history). He also began the process of federal reforms preventing corruption, and reestablished faith in the US Presidency which had been lost due to the Grant Administration's many scandals through his consistent transparency and honesty. He entered office with the unfortunate nickname Rutherfraud and His Fraudulency, but he left it praised as being one of America's great Presidents. Time has left his legacy as forgotten, and his reputation among scholars as average at best. A video about him could be fascinating to say the least.

[@MrCaptainA]

And for my part, I'm hoping you do a video on Abraham Lincoln at some point.

[@badluck5647]

1876 Election would be an interesting Into the Shadows

[@andrewsutherland133]

All of that stuff happened because of grant (and they already made a video about him) Hayes was pretty much the firecracker that surrounded it in the end, but he wasn't in power at the time. He might have fought against Jim crow more, but if he did, it would have invalidated the agreement and likely would have caused another civil war

[@thomasgarrison1088]

@@badluck5647 agreed

[@Svensk7119]

Grant was an honest man in a sea of scoundrels. A great general, and a President who expended his popularity to try to bring Reconstruction to completion when America was too tired of fighting to care anymore... And then he fought his last battle, fighting to write his memoirs against the cancer that was killing him. An underrated President, I think. Simon, do you do videos like this on British prime ministers? Besides Churchill and Chamberlain?

[@FutureRobert]

Simon I'm not English, and we don't have a personal relationship, but with how much I watch your videos, you've taken up the role of Uncle in my life. I hope you never stop making these awesome History videos (Edit) This is also one of the best post-nut content on KZbin to watch until you fall asleep

[@RetroChibii]

Uncle Sim

[@johnhutchinson1663]

Parasocial relationship

[@chrisrobertson7982]

@@RetroChibii better than Uncle Simp...I'll take it

[@RetroChibii]

@@chrisrobertson7982 🤣 Uncle Simp 😂

[@specialknees6798]

@@johnhutchinson1663 truly. I get looking up to celebrities and enjoying their content but this kinda thing can be unhealthy

[@nicfeller]

Federal reserve and income tax. This guy is the literal devil...

[@gazinggoat5869]

Then I'm a princess

[@jakebate1533]

Especially the Federal Reserve because it is constantly devaluing the US Currency whenever it often prints too much money. At least the US caught Al Capone for Tax Evasion.

[@josephgriffin2388]

Yep

[@askask2721]

Income taxes were put in place because of prohibition, you should blame Wayne Wheeler and the anti-saloon league for the income tax.

[@Ryanlexz]

Exactly! Federal reserve is the worst

[@dulio12385]

Wilson has a funny legacy here in the Philippines; Those who know of him applaud him for providing a difinitive pathway to independence but in hindsight some of us would have rather become the 51st state ahead of Hawaii or Alaska.

[@kennethdierii8891]

P08 lol o88lp9

[@kennethdierii8891]

8o07u loo p80p pop o 0o i 9o9 💩 o

[@kennethdierii8891]

O imp o.o puio opp o9o9ll9 poi ppl p08 o\ O it poo 9p on. 0 0+0

[@kennethdierii8891]

Ooo 0p oi0poo9oooi okp po ooooo

[@William-the-Guy]

I thought Truman was the one who did that.

[@danielrichwine2268]

He was really really bad.

[@CaminoAir]

I read John M. Barry's 'The Great Influenza' in January. That book covered Wilson's response to the constantly escalating war fever in America. Yes, Wilson's administration is probably the closest America has ever come to being an authoritarian state, but it has to be emphasised that that was precisely the mood of the nation and Wilson's draconian rule was applauded. Almost total fervor for war and whatever was required to wage and win war was the default attitude of the country and no opposing view was tolerated. Wilson's own doctor diagnosed him as having contracted the influenza virus while Wilson was negotiating the preliminary terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson had been unmovable in arguing that the terms did not just punitively punish Germany, but after contracting the virus Wilson became listless, lost his mental focus, began to suffer from irrational preoccupations and the whole impetus behind the Treaty negotiations fell to the French. This had obviously terrible consequences within 20 years.

[@MatthewChenault]

>Wilson. >”Most authoritarian state.” FDR called, he wanted to stack the Supreme Court with more justices to get his way.

[@CaminoAir]

@@MatthewChenault You have to read about exactly what was happening in America during the lead-up to America's entry into WWI and during the Great War. Nothing else in American history has been so extreme and involved such widespread fervor in support of authoritarianism. Wilson took advantage of that national 'mood' and ran with it, but he was fully backed by almost the entire country.

[@MatthewChenault]

@@CaminoAir, I think you’re confusing him with FDR.

[@thephoenixxm4160]

@@MatthewChenault I'm sorry but did FDR straight up ban people from speaking out against the government and anyone who did no matter how subtle it was was called a traitor and imprisoned? The only imperial thing you can say about FDR is the Japanese camps and even then he got rid of them before he died. Wilson had no regrets about the Espionage and Sedition acts. Plus, he conquered a lot of countries and ran them like an Empire. You can't say that about FDR. I think you are believing FDR's long-term as him being imperial instead of anything he did. He was a liberator not a conqueror like Wilson.

[@do-ol2540]

Finally I’ve been asking for this for months I don’t think may people see him in that light of the worst president because of ‘Modern politics’. To put it lightly.

[@andrewsutherland133]

As someone who has followed the history community in the past few years, it wasn't modern politics, it was just history remembered him as the Victor of world war 1. For years, he was among the best, but a few years back, the cynical historian published a video of how bad he was and it led others to do research. Nowadays, pretty much everyone hates his presidency, almost to the point where people just follow the crowd because it's unfashionable to praise him My perspective, he was on a similar scale as George w bush. He started off good, but overall ended in a disaster. I don't judge presidents on how their policies have aged, I view them by their leadership of the time, and in 1920, he was literally not competent to do anything

[@iCrapBubbles]

@@andrewsutherland133 It’s funny how people have the image that Wilson won WWI when America did next to nothing during the war, comparatively speaking. The war was already won by the time America got involved. They even depended on British and French guns and weapons as they had none for themselves. I’m sorry, Wilson is literally one of the worst presidents ever in my opinion haha.

[@andrewsutherland133]

@@iCrapBubbles well I could get into a complicated argument about the role of the US in ww1 but it's alot simpler to point out that without a doubt, Wilson represented the Americans on the winning side of the war and thus, view him as the war victor the same way that Britons view Churchill as the great leader of world war 2 even though if he fought them without the Americans or soviets, it probably would have been a losing fight.

[@iCrapBubbles]

@@Nicholas8535 You’re right, it was a huge morale blow for the Germans when America joined. In their eyes, they still had a chance of winning, but all hope was dashed when news broke that the US declared war on them. I think that’s when most of the German soldiers knew they were losing this war, despite the fact that they were being starved out of it anyway. So with American intervention, the was ended sooner, but it was still going to be a victory for the allies, so you’re bang on.

[@laurabennett6692]

@@andrewsutherland133 Putting his politics aside Wilson was objectively a crappy human being. Inperiod the fact that he could look those people in the eyes and tell them that their situation was not humiliating, a situation he had caused, but was beneficial and better for everybody including them is disgusted.. Hes probably one of the presidents we would have been better off if he'd have been assassinated.

[@davidswift7776]

Wilson’s position on race revealed his intense bigotry and simply destroyed his legacy. Humanity matters and in this respect Wilson failed miserably and deserves being despised. • ironically The League of Nations was designed to save humanity • further, he was responsible for the only female president (in proxy) Edith *** Thank you for a very pragmatic and insightful Biography on KZbin 👍

[@JohnChristenNizzaDiCorsi]

He didn't have a negative view of Native American Tribes and wanted us to continue as separate Nationalities from Anglo America, which is also what we wanted. Don't see anything racist about that at all.

[@davidswift7776]

@@JohnChristenNizzaDiCorsi perhaps, nevertheless he set racial equity back horrendously with our black Americans. Simply disgraceful.

[@brendanbrown3100]

And Warren Harding reversed a lot of Wilson’s evil stuff. Time to give the Ohio boy some credit.

[@bryanscollick8305]

Harding’s biggest fault was his choice of political allies and friends aka The Ohio Gang. Ans his inability to stand up to them.

[@chheinrich8486]

Allthough for Europe that was a little late

[@m.hughmungus121]

Oh, the man who signed us onto fiat money and gave the rights to issue *our* currency to private banks? Gee, it's really hard to gauge how "great" he was...

[@MatthewChenault]

No. Woodrow Wilson wanted a central bank, which led to the formation of the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve was meant to help prevent monetary instability, which, during the 1920’s, it was able to do. However, FDR was the one who abolished the Gold Standard and changed the Federal Reserve to be the corrupted entity it is. Wilson is blamed for the mistakes of other presidents.

[@erraticonteuse]

@@MatthewChenault OMG no. NIXON abolished the gold standard. I wish people would get this right, because *for some reason* it's always pinned on Democratic Presidents, even though it is EXTREMELY well-documented that the Republican Nixon did it.

[@adammccallion8640]

@@MatthewChenault He still banned freedom of speech and was a hardcore racist

[@MatthewChenault]

@@adammccallion8640, based.

[@Gomjabbar28]

@@MatthewChenault without the federal reserve there wouldn't be a need for perpetual war

[@michaelsinger4638]

Wilson is responsible for a lot of terrible stuff that is still a problem to this day. The fact that some see him as “great” baffles me?

[@therealgigglebop]

Because he was a globalist leftist like today’s reality curators.

[@PhuckYT12]

@@therealgigglebop Globalism is a core tenet of conservatism, not liberalism.

[@otisdylan9532]

He's great in the sense that he's important and influential.

[@semaj_5022]

@@therealgigglebop Constant foreign military intervention isn't exactly a leftwing policy choice, to say nothing of Wilson's other policies. Globalism is deeply ingrained in Liberal(in the economic sense, not the US political spectrum sense) and Neo-liberal ideology though, which is generally held by most conservatives today. Things you don't like aren't always automatically attributable to your opposed political faction.

[@me0101001000]

@@therealgigglebop there is nothing leftist about anything the American presidents have done. The US has two right wing parties. Democrats are center right, while republicans drift further and further to the far right. Neoliberalism has been the hegemonic ideology since the 70s. American liberals and conservatives both fall under neoliberal thought.

[@SiVlog1989]

In a piece about him a few years ago, CBS reporter Mo Rocca said of Woodrow Wilson: "...on one issue he was decidedly unprogressive. " under his watch, the District of Columbia and the Federal government were segregated, Racially. [It's] a big backward step,"

[@tadroid3858]

" . . . to an unbelievable degree." "Hold my beer." Justin Trudeau

[@jameslarkin3973]

Awesome! You've knocked out 2 of my top 3 biographies not covered by you within the last two weeks with Wilson and Selassie. The other one: J Edgar Hoover

[@Biographics]

Glad to hear it! And Hoover is on the list.

[@burningphoenix6679]

This is an amazing video showing the 2 sides of Wilson. A progressive, yet a pro confederate racist. Anti imperialist yet imperialist. Despite some good that came from him, Things would have likely been far better had Teddy not been cheated out of the Republican nomination by Taft (Teddy had more delegates, but they were literally kicked out of the convention by Taft’s people). Had Teddy gone 1 on 1 against Wilson, he would have certainly won. Teddy had all the good policies of Wilson without most of the bad ones.

[@kentneiljumao-ascandido2409]

man of contradictions

[@calebgamer1720]

That’s the democrat party for you, they’ve been that way since the beginning of the party

[@burningphoenix6679]

@@calebgamer1720 nah. The ones who simp for the confederacy now are republicans. Just look at how they adore the confederate flag and statues.

[@otisdylan9532]

One thing that would probably have been different is that our entry int WW1 would likely have come sooner. It's debatable whether that would have been a good thing, but in other ways, TR would have been better.

[@unc54]

I love Teddy but he was in the wrong between him and Taft. Teddy was too much of a control freak.

[@semaj_5022]

Mostly great video, but I'd have to argue that Wilson was in many ways even worse than you made him out to be. He worked as hard as he could to make life as difficult and miserable as possible for black people during his time in office, and starting the federal reserve was an absolutely horrible decision. I can understand many Europeans seeing him as something of a savior, but I can only imagine how much better they'd have felt if he hadn't waited so long to finally agree to aid in the war and prevented countless deaths while he was puttering around looking for excuses to stay out of it. Not to mention the effect his "shining city on the hill" ideology has had on so many places and America's current, well deserved public image abroad.

[@VeteranR]

He's also pretty much responsible for today's US global intervention policy.

[@semaj_5022]

@@VeteranR Yup. I could have easily kept going. But you know, I didn't wanna spend my whole day shitting in Wilson on a youtube comment, fun as that sounds. Lol bit we definitely have him to thank for the modern version of American imperialism. Not that Teddy was anti-interventionalist, but Wilson's version was, (and with the advent of the Cold War became even moreso) much worse.

[@alessandrodelogu7931]

@@semaj_5022 in Italy Wilson wasn't loved. The Italian nationalists hated him because after WWI he gave Dalmatia to Jugoslavia and not to us. Their insatisfaction contributed to Mussolini's rise to power.

[@VeteranR]

@@semaj_5022 BritMonkey made like 2 or 3 videos shitting on Wilson and I'll tell you right now. There's no other video out there that helped me open up my eyes as much as BritMonkeys. Highly recommended it!

[@hughdrew9810]

He should have stayed out of Europe and let Germany and the Allies slug it out. Would have stopped such punitive reparations on Germany and hence would have stopped the rise of Hitler

[@duncancurtis1758]

Wilson is honoured by Poland 🇵🇱 for the country's creation from the iron grip of Prussia and Russia in 1919 but, alongside Versailles inadvertently set the path for the horrors of the future.

[@redjirachi1]

I can never think of this president without hearing The Cynical Historian. However you rank Wilson, he's an undeniably important figure in US history

[@Louis_Davout]

Indeed he is... A lot of things happened in his administration that restrains our rights today... A man that can be considered as ""notorious"; a designation that swings both ways...

[@kyletucker3811]

Reading this comment, I just had a flashback to Ollivander from Harry Potter. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things--terrible, yes, but great." 🤣

[@Redshirt434]

"WIIILLLLSSSSOOONNNN!!!!" 🔥

[@MichaVelli1983]

To certain Americans

[@bamacopeland4372]

Or vlogging through history absolute hatred towards him

[@LuckyCrust]

This video was way better and way less biased than the one Monsier Z made recently.

[@JonMI6]

He was racist. He streamed The Birth of a Nation at the WH (first movie screened there) which was a propaganda movie about the Klan being shown in a positive light

[@jibrilly]

Birth of a Nation was based on a book called the Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan. This was written by Thomas Dixon Jr., an old friend of Wilson’s. Contrary to popular belief, there is no proof that Wilson liked the movie adaptation or even read the Clansman, although as a historian, he did like stories about the antebellum south. We can then say that his streaming of Birth of a Nation was intended more as a friendly gesture to an old friend or as the curiosity of a historian than the propagandistic move of a rabid racist. Although Wilson was racist, he wasn’t Klansman level racist, and he did try to oppose lynching as both New Jersey governor and President of the United States.

[@JonMI6]

@@jibrilly why stream a movie that you don’t like or endorse? As a public figure, what you do is under heavy scrutiny

[@locochang6533]

@@JonMI6 To show why you don't like or endorse it. You have to know your enemy

[@JonMI6]

@@locochang6533 you’re a public figure

[@Stable_Genius]

@@JonMI6 yer mom is a public figure.

[@JBrodo]

Coming back to Biographics after watching lots of The Casual Criminalist is wild 😂. Seeing Simon read the script without adding his asides doesn't feel natural anymore!

[@briandinh9169]

Funny how The Casual Criminalist could also be applied to the subject of this video

[@BoudicasGhost]

I know...I also find myself adding my own memes and tangents internally - then having to go back and watch again because I missed most of it. 😅

[@badluck5647]

It is wierd that he keeps talking about WW1 without making a tangent about that one time he bought groceries.

[@JBrodo]

@@badluck5647 bahahah exactly!

[@bagsmohess]

Pretty great not having to hear him talk about his wife and kids for the nth time.

[@williamnelson4588]

The latter intro was not strong enough to show how terrible of a President Wilson was. Wilson was indeed the very worst president America has ever had. Reluctantly advocating for women’s voting rights out of concern for his image after mercilessly punishing those women; Wilson’s liberty record is appalling. Catastrophic wars and non-stop interventionism, mismanaging the Spanish Flu pandemic, creating the Federal Reserve, and signing the Adamson Act are just some of his failures. The icing on the cake is Wilson's racist actions that set all advances of Blacks back to before the Civil War. Wilson was a hard-core white supremacist who tried to get Congress to pass legislation to restrict the civil liberties of blacks. He put whites in jobs that his Republican predecessors had given to blacks, and he encouraged some of his cabinet members to re-institute racial segregation in federal agencies. He vocally opposed a statement on racial equality in the document that governed the League of Nations. Racial violence escalated during his administration, along with lynchings, anti-black race riots, and of course the birth of the second Ku Klux Klan.

[@hozonkai9967]

Imagine causing so much damage, it lingers for 100+ years

[@joeclaridy]

@@hozonkai9967 Imagine causing so much damage, and it lingers for 100+ years and the victims of his actions continue to support his party.

[@semaj_5022]

@@joeclaridy It's not the same party in hardly any aspect except the name. It's not a whole lot better, but just the apparently daily reminder that Democrats and Republicans have long since swapped places in most of their flagship ideologies.

[@joeclaridy]

@@semaj_5022 no its the same party. They just got better at branding and marketing their message to the masses.

[@sidiqabdul-kareem5544]

@@joeclaridy Dude. Just stop. Intelligent people know the truth about the parties swapping.

[@vincentbaltus8830]

In Montluçon, France, you can visit the "Jardins Wilson" (Gardens Wilson), so named in the honor of the president. Yes, in Europe it's rather his "Doctor Jekyll" side which is remembered. His "Mister Hyde" side is largely unknown.

[@ladyagnes7781]

Before Princeton, Wilson taught at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. He is quoted as not liking it , because he felt teaching women was beneath him. Also, Women's Sufferage was not something Wilson was in favor of. He was fine with Sufferagists being arrested & tortured during his presidency. Theamendment went through 10 months AFTER his incapacitating stroke .

[@xgcsurreal2608]

When allegedly his wife might’ve been the one actually running things

[@ladyagnes7781]

It is rumored that his wife's secretary sent the memo to Tennessee to request a last-minute vote. She was a suferigist who knew about Wilson's incapacity. If Mrs. Wilson suspected her, the fact that she knew Woodrow wasn't running the country made her impossible to be targeted.

[@JustSt3f]

This channel taught me more than I've ever learnt in history classes definitely worth subbing to all Simon's channels

[@ChestZeroeski]

As long as you cross reference friend. Of course you can't always include everything in around 20minutes but after watching over 20 finished products I'd say there is obvious slant to the priority of info given.

[@Biographics]

Thanks for the sub and the love, but Chester is right. Check out the source list to learn about and get a more complete picture. Our writers can't fit everything in about a person so many things get left on the cutting room floor, and we even make mistakes sometimes (or so the comment sections tell me).

[@JustSt3f]

@@Biographics thanks a lot man I appreciate it I mean we don't always get it right every time but the content is always worth it

[@1blackice1]

Im starting to think The Cynical Historian, might have almost single-handedly started downfall of Wilson's legacy.

[@Lordknightfallshandala]

The truth will set you free

[@CJ87317]

Hardly. He's too important a President to be taken down that much. The current era focusing so much on historical race relations has done far more damage, but Wilson will probably always be rated in the top third or so by historians.

[@Charles_Anthony]

@@CJ87317: Who cares about race? He created the Federal Reserve which is as Federal as "FedEx" and started this whole nonsense of "policing the world for democracy" which is literally how every war outside of WW2 was declared. Vietnam? Protecting Democracy. Iraq? Protecting Democracy from WMDs Afganistan? Spreading Democracy And rvery minor regional squabble we dipped out toes into has a direct tie to the Wilson Doctrine more so than the Monroe Doctrine.

[@CJ87317]

His views on race are why the vast majority of people started to re-examine his legacy. The banking system before the Federal Reserve was a disaster. Basically from the time Jackson killed off the national bank until the creation of the Fed the banking system was always either running rampant or falling into mini-depressions. Not that the Fed is particularly great either - but it's better than what we had before. Officially we have had no war declared since WWII to technically speaking. As far as being the world policeman that you are aghast about - sure it has had its drawbacks. However, the umbrella of the UN and NATO has kept a relative peace for the last 80 years. Tiny wars since? Yeah numerous. No massive wars like the World Wars of the 20th century though. At least not yet.

[@Charles_Anthony]

@@CJ87317: You're praising the Federal Reserve? I bet you're in love with the IRS too. Man, I never thought I'd meet someone who was so warped. Supporting America's roll ib destroying so many once independent nations is disgusting.

[@lordnavjot5921]

please, make an episode on George carlin. Reasons to make an episode on him : 1) he is funny 2) he is controversial 3) you will get views.

[@darinblass]

A word about his incapacitation: his wife ran he country for months. All communication to Wilson passed through her, and even before his stroke, she had access to classified documents and sat in on cabinet meetings. After his stroke, she met with cabinet secretaries and dignitaries, claiming she merely passed messages to her husband while he was convalescing. Visitors never laid eyes on the president, and he didn't speak publicly for months. Her actions were, decades later, cited as an example of the need for he 25th Amendment when it was being debated and agreed on. Also, Wilson's predecessor, Taft, is also a fascinating figure, not least of which because not only was he the president, but also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a job he liked far better than the presidency. Taft would also be worth a video at some point.

[@Biographics]

We'll get to all of the presidents eventually.

[@m3rl707]

Taft was actually an alright President. He carried on a lot of Roosevelt's policies, and even broke up more monopolies and trusts than Roosevelt. The only downside I can think of was 'dollar diplomacy' which was 50/50 in its effectiveness.

[@antman1001000]

@@m3rl707 Roosevelt really should have just either tried to negotiate with Taft or accept waiting until 1916 to run.

[@AZVIDS]

Sounds like Biden from Day 1 in office (actually during basement campaign).

[@mikeporten8174]

He was absolutely one of the worst presidents ever. It drives me crazy that he’s ranked so highly.

[@madgavin7568]

His legacy is far more nuanced than that. Woodrow Wilson was no Andrew Johnson or James Buchanan.

[@JohnChristenNizzaDiCorsi]

He was the best one by far. There'd be no Europe today if not for his actions.

[@thomasgarrison1088]

For what it's worth, at least everyone remembers Wilson. That's not true for most POTUS Pre-WW2. Whether he's remembered fondly though, that's a different story. As a graduate student of Political Science, I can say first hand that the rising generation of political scientists in the US views Wilson must more negatively than previous generations did, both liberals and conservatives. Obviously we still have our biases and fallacies, but at least good old Woodrow's reputation is starting to get a much deserved thumping. I can see why he's still very liked in Europe though.

[@MomoKawashima5]

He is viewed positively in Europe because when he *finally* decided to join WWI it was the fresh American troops that helped turn the tide of the war in favor of the Entente Powers. In their eyes he was the original savior from Austrian/German aggression/expansion

[@badluck5647]

Is being remembered always a good thing? For example, a certain German chancellor who ruled in the 1940s is one of the most recognizable figures in history.

[@chrissiek8706]

Let me tell you, in Lithuania we certainly aren't thought in schools about Wilson's US politics, i had no idea on his stance on racism, just his role in WW1 and immediately afterwards, so the majority if knows something about him, it is positive.

[@MrGiygas1]

*The Cynical Historian left the chat

[@andrewgilbertson595]

Here’s a Biographic Idea: Diego Armando Marandona Been a while since the channel’s covered a sports star, and Maradona was one of the greatest sporting icons of the 20th Century; a God in his homeland, and adopted Naples. Also maybe the most fascinating footballer ever seen off the pitch.

[@sandybarnes887]

Hand of god

[@andrewgilbertson595]

@@sandybarnes887 with the goals he scored that day it might just be the most iconic performance of all time

[@jeffbybee5207]

@@andrewgilbertson595 you meen he played soccer?

[@gerrysander7309]

Wilson's name was taken off the building at Princeton University. He served as the 13th president of the institution. He was the 1st University President who was not an ordained minister of the Gospel.

[@michaelciarla3836]

This was a great video! Amazing job! I give thanks to some of the things Wilson has passed, but I never liked this president. I grew up in New Jersey and I remember what I learned about Wilson in school. The topic I remember the most was he was a champion of Eugenics, The sterilization of the mentally ill and minorities. I was in 5th grade when we learned about that. Again, great video!

[@almighty3946]

Thank you. Finally we’ve got him

[@girldaddividendinvestor]

Not that all your content isn't thoroughly researched, this was fantastic in the time provided. Woodrow Wilson was something else. I went to a very Liberal University, and I remember my History of Presidents professor assigning me Wilson for independent study, and sarcastically telling me, a glutton for history, "you're going to get a kick out of this guy." I sure did. As far 'worse" presidents. I would have to go with Andrew Johnson, Buchanan, Harding, and Andrew Jackson but 'Ol Woody right there. 🤣🤣🤦🏿‍♂️

[@lostbutfreesoul]

Easily places in the top five, doesn't he? While I have one or two I consider worse, hello there Jackson, it really is hard not to place Wilson pretty high on that list.

[@kayzeaza]

I mean for me Wilson would be one of the greatest presidents if he wasn’t the worlds greatest racist

[@epa2349]

@@night6724 Tell that native Americans or to African Americans. Heck you can tell that to Supreme Court, since he is the only president to openly disobey supreme court verdict.

[@FazeParticles]

@@kayzeaza i guess you love the invention of the income tax and federal reserve. f*ck that.

[@hsholtz06_22]

I was fired for being caught watching Sir Whistler during work hours. No regrets

[@Biographics]

Did you tell them it was educational?

[@danielbretall2236]

@@Biographics of course, it would have been a lie.

[@StefanMedici]

IANAL but you might have an employment case against them. 😂

[@theblackstone75]

That sucks but at at least it was a good video.

[@maxwellt91]

Really excellent video. I didn't know much about Wilson other than him being the president during WW1.

[@pro12222222]

Great stuff, Simon.

[@SlyCave]

Wilson gave the FEDERAL RESERVE the authority and chance to take over America.....1913 Jeckyll Island

[@JMD501]

Ya I think the guy is a disgrace.

[@eddiehancockii]

Many presidents have been terrible men but effective in office. Others have been reasonably good men who did not belong in the executive mansion. All in all, I think Wilson was a product of his time. He watched the Civil War come to an end. His VA home life was probably gravely disrupted as a child because of it and growing up in reconstruction era America put something in him that forever poisoned his soul. Here's a question I has while watching this video. He up ended the federal government by firing and demoting blacks, replacing them with whites. Some of those whites might have been less equipped to do this or that specific job. (I said MIGHT. Don't be a Todd. I'm speculating here toward a larger point.) Could his harmful actions toward blacks in particular have planted some seeds of the eventual Great Depression??? He singlehandedly tried to disenfranchise an entire segment of the population. Economically alone, that's going to cause issues down the road.

[@MatthewChenault]

The issue is I don’t even think Wilson did it because of any prejudices he had. Rather, he did it because he knew that it was the rest of his own party that hated them. He was openly opposed to many of the actions taken against the black community, such as lynchings, based on his upholding of law and order, which would have placed him in conflict with more radical and highly influential members of his own party. If anything, his methodology was more along the lines of instituting segregation as a means to prevent racial conflict rather than any prejudices he held. The problem, of course, is we don’t know his personal views all that well. We know some of them, but they are always stained with a strong sense of devil’s advocacy that he likes to play.

[@Mountainair0101]

Really appreciating your work. Thank you for it.

[@diamondtiara84]

I like these biographies of presidents, and hope they'll be more of them, and also the first ladies.

[@olayinkaamara385]

Let's be honest, this is the presidential video we have all been waiting for?

[@Ibelikemj]

Poor Millard Fillmore

[@v.emiltheii-nd.8094]

Here in Romania we kinda thank Wilson for legitimizing Greater Romania....even if our Queen did most of the work convincing him.

[@goattier7728]

What type of work did she do to convince him?

[@Perririri]

The Ardeal was particularly difficult, as there were and still are many Hungarians there!

[@davidswift7776]

Perfectly objective and fair : Wilson’s accomplishments diminished by his blatant racism… a microcosm of American history as a whole. An awkward reality. Thank you for a comprehensive view of Wilson .

[@gejost]

His international accomplishments weighed against his racist domestic policies

[@parrotraiser6541]

Wilson's eminence grise, "Colonel" Edward House and the book he wrote, "Phillip Dru, Administrator" probably played a part in Wilson's demagoguery.

[@greenlawler]

It's really hard to evaluate Presidents based on their time frame. What is more beneficial is to evaluate them on the progress they made at the time they were the President.

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

Hopefully Biographics with be able to make a video on these former presidents/politicians in the foreseeable future: Charles Evans Hughes Eugene V Debs Henry A. Wallace Robert La Follette Sr. Grover Cleveland Andrew Jackson Chester A. Arthur John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe William Howard Taft James Garfield John Quincy Adams

[@Biographics]

We'll get to them all eventually.

[@hakeemfullerton8645]

@Fries I would love to see a biographics video on Charles Evans Hughes

[@adamcuneo7189]

As an American, Wilson gets criticism for being a racist, but he was a bad President in other ways, for example he created the income tax and the IRS, and his weakness on the world stage helped get us into WWI.

[@JohnChristenNizzaDiCorsi]

His isolationism was in the protective interests of the country.

[@mayuri4184]

He DID lead the US to a path of interventionism in the name of democracy, for better or for worse.

[@lollol9772]

‘in the name of democracy’ lol

[@mayuri4184]

@@lollol9772 This was meant to be neutral, albeit negative leaning.

[@thefreelich4875]

I don't like Wilson, but it's incredibly silly to say that Wilson created American imperialism. Thomas Jefferson was an imperialist, as he stole native land in the Louisiana Purchase; James Monroe was an imperialist, as he took native land when buying Florida; John Tyler was an imperialist for annexing Texas; James K. Polk was an imperialist for buying Oregon and taking land from Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; Millard Fillmore was an imperialist for making Japan trade with the outside world using military force; Franklin Pierce was an imperialist for the Gadsden Purchase; Ulysses S. Grant was an imperialist for trying to annex the Dominican Republic; Benjamin Harrison was an imperialist for taking Samoa and Hawaii; William McKinley was an imperialist for taking Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico; Theodore Roosevelt was an imperialist for the Big Stick policy. American imperialism existed long before Wilson ever drew breath.

[@semaj_5022]

@@thefreelich4875 They likely meant "modern American imperialism," of the sending troops every which way in the name of "freedom and democracy" while supporting dictators, facilitating coups and uprisings, toppling governments and leeching all money earned(stolen) in in process back to America's rich and powerful.

[@thefreelich4875]

@@semaj_5022 I suppose.

[@Muscats1980]

Most famous for being Bart's fake name while writing prank loveletters to Mrs Krabappel.

[@chickencharlie1992]

Thanks for making this!

[@jtmcgee]

It would be nice to be able to meet him in his waning years and whisper to him that he will be remembered at a stain on the office, racist and bigoted and most in America will either forget him or look down on him.

[@CJ87317]

I don't think so. He's generally still rated in the top third of presidents by historians. He's not ending up near the bottom any time soon.

[@epa2349]

Lmao is still ranked among top 15, even better than Obama by many historians.

[@eduardogutierrez4698]

You could whisper into his ear that his policies indirectly led to the US changing his immigration law in 1965 ,which led to the US becoming less white with each passing generation.....That would freak him out.

[@romanfan250]

And all that is small time compared to his financial decisions. Good ol' Wilson and the reserve.

[@Kaiserland111]

Simon, thanks for trying to accurately show how each person, each leader of history, is much more nuanced than people often think. Great men and women have flaws, and terrible men and women usually have some redeeming qualities, so it's important to cover all aspects fairly to come to a conclusion as to a person's overall character. Viewing him as a whole person, I think Wilson is a very poor president and human being, despite the few good things he did for Europe and some American workers.

[@josephkmeyer5178]

I think George Wallace would make a great video. His trip from moderate to hard segregationist back, his presidential runs and back to moderate.

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

9:26 Insane how the narration became much serious with a consistent voice today and it's MUUUUUUCH better

[@jlit3160]

Wow you found a picture where he was smiling This is the first time I’ve ever seen a picture of Woodrow Wilson smiling

[@KaliChernenkov]

"WILSOOONNN!!!!!!!!!" -Cypher the cynical Historian..EDIT: I never knew he was so revered in Central Europe and he actually , did some arguably good things there

[@arutka2000]

"Did some arguably good things" is an indictment in and of itself. The world would have been better off with out him as president.

[@KaliChernenkov]

@@arutka2000 I do agree with what you say the only reason I stated that is because I was presented with new information about him in no way I'm seeing that Woodrow Wilson was a good present he was an abhorrent racist and wilsonian doctrine has gotten the US and inevitably my country which is their Northern neighbor and one of their biggest allies (Canada) involved in conflicts based on that ideology (wilsonian interventionism) I just did not know he was revered in Central Europe for helping them establish the nation states that currently exist that's the only reason I gave him a smidgen of credence to the disgusting legacy that he left upon the world. As for US presidents he is definitely on my worst us presidents list.

[@arutka2000]

@@KaliChernenkov No, I get it. It's always possible for terrible people to do good things, just as the opposite is possible. As a whole though, yeah...he was a terrible president. As for those Central European nations that revere him....they may not understand the context of Wilson's awfulness. He helped free them after all. After all, can't let white people not be free.....

[@otgenesis7410]

At first I admired him for his efforts. But the moment I found out he was really racist, even too racist for his time.....I was dumbfounded.

[@R3demptionzz]

You can reasonably admire some efforts while despising others, observing the nuance inherent in all humans. Make no mistake, I'm not defending any of the mans actions, I simply believe that ignoring the good someone did because they were imperfect or in Wilsons case DEEPLY flawed is foolish and will never allow us to move forward in a meaningful way.

[@otgenesis7410]

I couldn't agree better

[@johngreen3543]

You can not be blamed for not knowing this, since our school books in the fifties were written by authors like Henry Steele Comanger, who called black people "Sambos" and whitewashed race history to the point of near total omission when it came to black history.

[@JK-gu3tl]

It's only logical that a big gov't man that distrusts individualism would also harbor racist thoughts.

[@Svensk7119]

I had no idea that he was so racist. He was a great man.... with an unwavering flaw that should never be forgotten. He seems like a well-spoken but bigoted version of Donald Trump. That is, he makes Donald Trump, as divisive as he is ( I think we can all agree on that) look much better by comparison. Good thing we don't worship our Presidents, just elect them.

[@starkilr101]

Wilson reminds me a lot of my professors in college and various progressive politicians today in how things are viewed and displayed in their POV with segregation being mad to be a good thing, censorship on large levels and creating a international state

[@squid.com8927]

and here I think we have the source for at least half of the crap Wilson gets. Its a right-wing conspiracy. The right has been brainwashing themselves into believing the delusions that you just spewed about progressives and democrats. So they cling to the actions of one racist democrat from a hundred years ago to convince themselves that there creepy conspiracy theories are true.

[@joehuiras4955]

woodrow wilson is the hp lovecraft of presidents

[@jotnarymir1393]

Wilson wasnt the only one doing all of this since he is part of the executive branch which enforced laws written by congress. So he may have been the driving force behind his policy but also a majority in congress at that time must have also been agreeing with his ideas to pass laws that went with his ideas right?

[@MatthewChenault]

For the most part, yeah. Wilson simply continued a trend that had started under William McKinley in the 1890’s. The institution of federal segregation was seen less as a “oppress the minorities” more than it was as a means of keeping the nation from devolving into mob violence all the time. Wilson, for instance, absolutely detested vigilante Justice, which was one of his reasons for his deep-rooted disdain for the KKK. He would have seen segregation as a means of preventing everything from devolving into reconstruction-era violence by separating the racial groups as much as possible. However, we don’t know what, exactly, Wilson believed in when it came to race because Wilson was, and still is, an enigma.

[@hozonkai9967]

PLEASE do Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko (aka OG Biden)

[@thomaswateren3967]

Thank you Simon. Your observation is immaculate yet again. He was one of those many examples that exist to this day branded as "a necessary evil". Though on the flip side he could have been easier on the racist factor. And i do believe teddy would have handled this war in more nobel and strategic form.

[@tuckerstephen8322]

Simon, you should really check out the fascinating book that recently came out called “The Road less traveled” since you stated Wilson didn’t have many options to avoid WW1. It’s a real scholarly overview of the backroom peace negotiations that Wilson tried to lead, and failed at, before the start of US involvement in ww1

[@christoffellner84]

An influential President, that changed many rules and will be remembered both in good and bad ways.

[@dacrohnswarrior]

“Wilson is the evilest and worst President” bUt WhAt AbOuT jOe BiDeN?! 🤓

[@chickenpurple6704]

Yeah I swear. There's so many people saying it's Biden or Trump. It's so dumb when the only presidents you know are the ones in your lifetime.

[@huntercollum869]

All of the great presidents are the worst to somebody. Wilson was special though he gets his own kind of hype in elementary school and they never really cover anything about him except the war effort

[@fashfront]

I hate Taft for letting this presidency happen, he should have let Teddy brigade the democrats as a progressive and repented for his acts of treachery against the American people for corporate overlords. Hasn’t been an ounce of real trust busting since, unless if you count that bollocks with Microsoft back in the day. Teddy should have never let Taft take the reigns, oh how I’d love to have an America that saw Teddy in the oval through till his death.

[@jibrilly]

@@fashfront in pretty much every way Wilson and Roosevelt’s presidencies were the exact same. Both were progressives, tough on corporations, wanted an income tax, and were friendly towards the white lily movement. The only differences were the, admittedly, awful infringements on constitutional rights, and the actually proportionally less interventionist policies of Wilson.

[@huntercollum869]

@@jibrilly Infringement of constitutional rights isn't a trivial difference though lol having rights can be the difference between living in a democracy or a dictatorship I'd call it enough to say that they weren't "the exact same" in "pretty much every way"

[@MomoKawashima5]

@@fashfront actually Taft lost the 1912 election because of Teddy. Teddy ran as a third party candidate and split the Republican vote which allowed Wilson to win more easily.

[@Axel1051]

All credit to Wilson he wasn't Buchanan, Johnson (Andew not Lyndon), Nixon, Bush the sequel or Trump. But he wasn't exactly Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt (both of them), Kennedy, Reagan or Obama. Firmly in the middle of the road, possibly between Chester A Arthur and Gerald Ford, which is a very odd place to be.

[@MomoKawashima5]

Nixon, Bush, and Trump didn't support the KKK or expand the role of the federal government. And Obama ran one of the worst economies in American history and divided America on race relations every time one was killed by police. And if the Roosevelt you are referring to is Franklin then you're sadly mistaken on his greatness. FDR put hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans into filthy horse stalls and kept them there until he died. He also prolonged the depression with socialist policies and crippled the American dollar by taking it off the gold standard, and the US economy didn't return to Pre-Depression numbers (such as unemployment, GDP, Average income) until WWII.

[@badluck5647]

Between segregation, WW2, military adventurism, Spanish flu censorship, and suspending civil liberties, there are plenty of failures of Wilson to make him the worst modern president. Nixon, Bush, and Trump all had very successful presidencies that got tarnished by scandals (Watergate, no WMDs in Iraq, post-election coup attempts). Obviously, you are just a progressive who is trying to elevate the image of democrats.

[@JK-gu3tl]

Most of those folks were terrible presidents. Switch each of them into each other shoes and you get the same results. Washington made a deal for DC to be located down the street from his Mount Vernon. Warren G. Harding recovered the economy and shrunk the size of the military (leading the world in that as a matter of fact) but he's lowly regarded b/c he didn't do "great things" like war.

[@badluck5647]

@@JK-gu3tl Obama is ranked highly on many lists mainly because his scandals were were minor and because nothing really happened under his watch. Being a lame duck was actually an accomplishment to these scholars.

[@JK-gu3tl]

@@badluck5647 It's ridiculous to even judge him so soon afterwards but his administration had its share of scandals: Fast and Furious, Spying on Trump, and Hillary's emails. His foreign poilcy was a disaster: needless redline in Syria, and overthrowing Qaddafi. Plus, he helped create the biggest economic bubble in history, the one that still ongoing. He reminded me alot of the potus that preceeded him.

[@samuelblack4792]

I really like your description of him in the title. He can probably be counted among the great presidents, like FDR, Theodore Roosevelt, etc., but he'd also probably be the worst and most shaded of them all.

[@colinr1960]

He and Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes did not see eye to eye…. “…Chided later by Wilson in the debate on the German Pacific colonies because Australia represented only a small country of five million people, Hughes replied simply: ‘I speak for 60,000 dead.’ As the story of the confrontations spread around Paris, Hughes became something of a folk hero.”

[@Red-xg2ym]

Worst US Presidents Ever: 1)Donald Trump 2)James Buchanan 3)Andrew Johnson 4)Woodrow Wilson 5)William Harrison 6)Franklin Pierce

[@AZVIDS]

Biden is clearly #1🧠🔥🥔

[@Tuturial464]

Reshuffle that list.

[@sasuke13855]

Where I come from in Oklahoma Woodrow Wilson is one of the greatest presidents we ever had.

[@JohnChristenNizzaDiCorsi]

He's considered great because he wanted our Tribes to continue as completely separate Nationalities from Anglo America. Which is considered the opposite of assimilation.

[@wilji1090]

I think what you missed is how the Lily White Movement was a product of the Progressive Era and one that even Roosevelt caved to after his controversial dinner with Booker T. Washington. Likewise, Taft and Wilson both continued the Lily White Movement. But also, Wilson did speak out against lynching.

[@otisdylan9532]

I'd say the end of reconstruction is what really brought in the Lily White Movement.

[@Fuzz32]

A funny story about Wilson. When he and his second wife married the man who catered their wedding reception was Chef Hector Boiardi. He is known nowadays as Chef Boyardee. I don’t know if that’s true or not but it’s a funny story.