Dates in Office: 1913-1921
Important Information:
- He led the Democratic Party to control the White House and Congress for the first time in nearly two decades.
- The Democratic Congress passed a legislative agenda including the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, The Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act and income tax.
- Child Labor was curtailed by the Keating-Owen Act of 1916 but was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1918.
- President Wilson also passed the Adamson Act, which imposed an 8-hour work day for railroads.
- Wilson was considered "deeply racist in his thoughts and politics" and his administration segregated federal employees and the Navy.
- After winning reelection, his second term was dominated by the American entry into World War I.
- American non-interventionist was strong at the time.
- After a series of events, Wilson asked Congress to declare war in April 1917 to make "the world safe for democracy".
- The U.S. began it's first draft since the American Civil War.
- Wilson established new Federal Reserve Banks and Liberty Bonds & set up the War Industries Board.
- He also promoted labor union cooperation and supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act.
- President Wilson suppressed anti-war movements with the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918.