Wilson was a racist, but hardly ignorant. He had a Ph.D. (in political science) from Johns Hopkins, at a time when such degrees were still rare. He was President of Princeton University. So racist, but not ignorant.
As for getting us into WWI, that is arguable. The only way we would have stayed out was to not produce arms & war material for Britain and France, or to only have their ships carry material. US war profiteers were making a ton of money and US banks had helped fund Britain’s war. You think those commercial interests were without a say in Congress?
Then there was that little kerfluffle over the Zimmerman Telegram. Germany proposing to aid Mexico if they invaded the US was both provocative and desperate. Germany also went back to unrestricted attacks on shipping at the same time. Several US ships were sunk.
Wkipedia has this to say about Wilson after he delivered his speech asking for a state of war.
After returning to the White House, Wilson sat alone in the Cabinet Room with his aide Joe Tumulty. “Think of what it was they were applauding,” he told Tumulty. “My message today was a message of death for our young men. How strange it seems to applaud that.” He spoke to Tumulty about the pressures he had been under, read aloud from one of the few sympathetic notes he had received, and lowered his head to the table and sobbed.
Wilson was a racist, but hardly ignorant. He had a Ph.D. (in political science) from Johns Hopkins, at a time when such degrees were still rare. He was President of Princeton University. So racist, but not ignorant.
As for getting us into WWI, that is arguable. The only way we would have stayed out was to not produce arms & war material for Britain and France, or to only have their ships carry material. US war profiteers were making a ton of money and US banks had helped fund Britain’s war. You think those commercial interests were without a say in Congress?
Then there was that little kerfluffle over the Zimmerman Telegram. Germany proposing to aid Mexico if they invaded the US was both provocative and desperate. Germany also went back to unrestricted attacks on shipping at the same time. Several US ships were sunk.
Wkipedia has this to say about Wilson after he delivered his speech asking for a state of war.
After returning to the White House, Wilson sat alone in the Cabinet Room with his aide Joe Tumulty. “Think of what it was they were applauding,” he told Tumulty. “My message today was a message of death for our young men. How strange it seems to applaud that.” He spoke to Tumulty about the pressures he had been under, read aloud from one of the few sympathetic notes he had received, and lowered his head to the table and sobbed.