COLUMBIA, S.C. --The life and career of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States and one of two presidents who lived in South Carolina, is reviewed in the “mini-exhibit” Wilson 150: The Exhibition, now at the South Carolina State Museum.
Wilson 150 juxtaposes Wilson’s political achievements with his less familiar private life. “Often perceived as a humorless, schoolmaster type, Wilson was in fact a passionate man who doted on his wife and three daughters,” said State Museum Chief Curator of History Fritz Hamer.
The exhibit, created in 2006 for the sesquicentennial of Wilson’s birth, chronicles his life in public office as well as his private life through political memorabilia as well as personal effects such as his signature top hat, formal wear, and powerful photographic images. While the exhibition examines Wilson as a determined president, educator, world statesman and peacemaker (he received the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the League of Nations), it also provides a rare insight into his everyday pleasures and paints a deeper portrait of his humanity.
“Wilson’s is a compelling, complex story,” said Frank Aucella, executive director of the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, D.C. “Visitors to this exhibition will come away with a fuller appreciation of the man who served two terms as president of the United States, and a kinder understanding for the humanity of the man who was a peacemaker during the turbulence of the First World War.”
Born in Staunton, Va., in 1856, Wilson came from a family of Presbyterian ministers. Though well-educated, he ironically was a poor student early in life, and did not learn to read until he was 12 years old.
Wilson was graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and became a lawyer, a college professor, president of Princeton and governor of New Jersey.
Wilson was elected to the presidency in 1912 in a three-way race with Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. He offered Congress a reform package in his first month in office, and the entire package, including tariff, banking, labor and tax-related issues, passed in Congress by the end of his first year in office.
He expanded the executive branch by the creation of the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission and the Internal Revenue Service. During Wilson's eight years as president, Congress passed two constitutional amendments: prohibition (18th); and women's suffrage (19th). Two other amendments were ratified while Wilson was president: income tax (16th) and direct election of Senators (17th).
While in office, Wilson also opened the Panama Canal, started air mail service, endorsed the creation of an interstate highway system, appeared in one of the first filmed campaign advertisements, used a microphone for the amplification of his voice, and witnessed the birth of radio.
“Woodrow Wilson enriched the world as an educator, author of more than a dozen books and world statesman,” said Hamer. “A world leader who sought peace, he was founder of the League of Nations, which became the foundation for the United Nations. He was a man who used the power of his office to bring about positive domestic reform and led the nation through the First World War with determined leadership.”
WILSON 150: The Exhibition can be seen in the lobby of the State Museum through Sept. 28.
The life and times of President Woodrow Wilson can be enjoyed in the mini-exhibit Wilson 150: The Exhibition through Sept. 28 at the South Carolina State Museum. Through photographs and artifacts, including one of his familiar top hats, museum guests can learn more about our 28th president, who lived in Columbia as a youth.
Photo courtesy of Woodrow Wilson House/S.C. State Museum