The presidency of the United States is one of the toughest jobs there can be. On any day, the president may have to deal with anything from an economic crisis to an ultimate war of destruction between countries. The president may find that the fate of the U.S. rests on his shoulders, sometimes it may even be the fate of the world on the president’s shoulders. That’s why the United States was lucky when it elected President Woodrow Wilson in 1912. Wilson was a very hardworking and effective president.

To be elected for his first term, Wilson battled extreme odds in his early life and kept working towards his goals. For starters, as a young boy, he had difficult problems. It took him ten years to read, and it’s not because he was a slow learner; it was because he had dyslexia. Despite this learning disability, Wilson was able to work hard and earn a Ph.D. from Princeton University. Another obstacle Wilson faced was when he ran for president, he had to go up against Republican Teddy Roosevelt and Republican William Howard Taft. This was especially difficult because both Roosevelt and Taft had been the president before. Just about everybody thought that Wilson was going to lose, but he took most people by surprise when he won the title of president.

As soon as Wilson was elected into office, he got right down to business and began his work. In his first term, he was able to make tariffs. Tariffs put extra money on items from other countries. This helped the jobs in the U.S. increase by making products from other countries more expensive. People began buying things made from the U.S. more often and more jobs stayed in the U.S. Another thing that he did was that he created the Federal Reserve.  The Federal Reserve is like insurance for the economy, if the money is needed. It seemed that all was going well until on August 6, 1914, when his wife died from a kidney disease. Wilson was a widower, but he had to keep his head held high and not lose hope. To make things even tougher, World War I had broke out in Europe. Wilson said that the U.S. should support either side and wanted to keep peace for Americans. He did not want drag them into the war. But then on May 7, 1915, Germany sank an unarmed British ship called the Lusitania, and one hundred and twenty-eight Americans died. This shocked Wilson and he thought that firing at unarmed ships was savage. But instead of jumping into war, he used his words and kept his temper.He soon convinced the Germans not to fire at unarmed ships. This kept the U.S. out of war, for only a short amount of time.

Wilson’s second term was a term that gave him extra work. In the spring of 1916, running on the slogan, “He kept us out of war,” Wilson was re-elected. Meanwhile, the Germans were trying to starve out Great Britain. In order to do so, they did what they said they wouldn’t and they sank unarmed ships. The Germans knew that this would most likely bring the U.S. into the war, but they thought that the U.S. would be too slow to come in. They misjudged the U.S. and Wilson’s determination. On April 2,1917 Wilson asked congress to declare war on Germany. In his speech to congress, he said, “The world must be safe for democracy.” When the U.S. forces got to France, they were just in time to help against a major German attack. It gave hope to the French and British; they had been worn out from all those years of fighting, and now they had the support of the United States.

Before the war was over, Wilson dreamed of peace throughout the war. He created an organization called the League of Nations. This organization was for settling arguments between different countries, and he hoped it would prevent future fighting. By 1918, Germany was defeated and World War I was over, and a year later, Wilson had been successful in creating his peaceful organization for the world. He received the 1919 Noble Peace Prize for creating the League of Nations.Unfortunately he soon suffered a stroke and became partially paralyzed.His health never got fully recovered. He decided not to run for a third term and retired to his home in Washington D.C. On February 3, 1924, Woodrow Wilson died.

Wilson had to work hard with all his disabilities, and that the odds were not in his favor for being elected president. He got right down to business when he came into office, and he was put into some of the hardest times that there could be. Some of the achievements he made are still around today. He didn’t just do small acts; he achieved great things.

 Woodrow Wilson Bibliography

1. Green Robert  Profiles of the Presidents: Woodrow Wilson.

Compass Points Books. Minneapolis, 2003.

2. http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Woodrow-Wilson

3. http: //georgewbush-whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ww.28.html