Woodrow Wilson's Administration and AchievementsLord, Frank B.
History
Woodrow Wilson's Administration and Achievements
Lord, Frank B.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1913-1921; Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
But Mr. Wilson's domestic policies in spite of their magnitude have
been obscured by his foreign policies. Had there been no war, these
policies in themselves would have given to the Wilson Administration a
place in American history higher than that of any other since the Civil
War. What some of his predecessors talked about doing he did, and he
accomplished it by the process of making himself the responsible leader
of his party in Congress--a process that is simple enough but capable
of fulfillment only in the hands of a man with an extraordinary
capacity for imposing his will on his associates. Mr. Wilson's control
over Congress for six years was once described as the most impressive
triumph of mind over matter known to American politics.
_Mr. Wilson's Foreign Policies_
When we begin the consideration of Mr. Wilson's foreign policies we are
entering one of the most remarkable chapters in all history, and one
which will require the perspective of history for a true judgment.
The first step in the development of these foreign policies came in Mr.
Wilson's refusal to recognize Huerta, who had participated in the plot
to murder President Madero and made himself the dictator of Mexico by
reason of this assassination. The crime was committed during Mr. Taft's
Administration. When Mr. Wilson came into office he served notice that
there would be no recognition of Huerta and no recognition of any
Mexican Government which was not established by due process of law.
What was plainly in Mr. Wilson's mind was a determination to end
political assassination in Latin America as a profitable industry, and
compel recognition, to some extent at least, of democratic principles
and constitutional forms. On this issue he had to face the intense
opposition of all the financial interests in the United States which
had Mexican holdings, and a consolidated European opposition as well.
Every dollar of foreign money invested in Mexico was confident that
what Mexico needed most was such a dictatorship as that of Huerta or
American intervention. Mr. Wilson's problem was to get rid of Huerta
without involving the United States in war, and then by steady pressure
bring about the establishment of a responsible government that rested
on something at least resembling the consent of the governed. Only a
statesman of high ideals would ever have attempted it, and only a
statesman of almost infinite patience would have been able to adhere to
the task that Mr. Wilson set for himself.
Mexico is not yet a closed incident, but Mr. Wilson's policy has been
vindicated in principle. For the first time since Mr. Roosevelt shocked
the moral sense and aroused the political resentment of all the
Latin-American states by the rape of Panama, faith in the integrity and
friendship of the United States has been restored among the other
nations of the Western Hemisphere.
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