Wilson, (Thomas) Woodrow 1856-1924
28th President of the USA, and Nobel Prize winner

Born in Staunton, Virginia, he studied at Princeton and Johns Hopkins University. He then practised law at Atlanta, lectured at Bryn Mawr and Princeton, became president of Princeton in 1902, and Governor of New Jersey in 1911. In 1912 and 1916, as Democratic candidate, he was elected President of the United States. Wilson's administration, ending in tragic failure and physical breakdown, is memorable for the prohibition and women's suffrage amendments to the Constitution, trouble with Mexico, US participation in World War I, his part in the peace conference, his 'fourteen points' plan for peace, which led to the Armistice, his championship of the League of Nations, and the Senate's rejection of the Treaty of Versailles which led to his breakdown. He wrote a History of the American People (1902) and other works, and was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.

Bibliography: Arthur C Walworth Woodrow Wilson (3rd edn, 1978)