The First 100 Days: Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as President of the United States on March 4, 1913. In his inaugural address, Wilson set out his vision for the United States as an exemplary moral force in the world. He said: “Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in the way of strength and hope”. At Wilson's request, no inaugural ball was held to celebrate the occasion. The no-nonsense president got right down to work.
Wilson's first term would result in the passage of a number of unprecedented progressive legislation that would not be matched until FDR's New Deal. Wilson had to contend with sharply opposing policy viewpoints from the Southern and agrarian wing of the Democratic Party that Bryan had led, and the pro-business northern wing led by three urban political bosses—Tammany in New York, Sullivan in Chicago, and Smith and Nugent in Newark.
The first item of his agenda was lowering tariffs. To bring about a reduction of the tariffs, Wilson was able to gain support from some unexpected places. His former rival Oscar Underwood, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Furnifold M. Simmons, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee were allies in this cause. In May of 1913, the House passed what became known as the Underwood Tariff by a vote of 274 to 5. The bill would take longer to pass in the Senate, until that September, but when it did, Wilson signed it into law three weeks later on October 3rd. To gain public support for his tariff legislation, Wilson publicly attacked corporate lobbyists.
Wilson also got to work quickly on his campaign pledge to strengthen antitrust regulation and to introduce reforms to banking and currency matters. While the tariff legislation was working its way through Congress, Wilson proceeded with his plan to reform the banking industry, something he initiated in June 1913 as his first 100 days were coming to a close. Wilson announced that the banking system must be "public not private" and must be under government control so that the banks could be what he called "the instruments, not the masters, of business." Knowing that he would encounter significant opposition for his plans in congress, he tried to look for support by forming a coalition between conservative Republicans, led by Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, and the left wing of the Democratic party, led by William Jennings Bryan. Bryan opposed private banks and Wall Street, who he saw as the enemy of agrarian American. Conservatives wanted a government-owned central bank that could print paper money as Congress required. Wilson was able to broker a compromise, based on a plan that Aldrich authored, but sponsored by Democratic Congressmen Carter Glass and Robert Owen.
Under the plan, the private banks were allowed to control the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, but to appease the agrarians, the controlling interest in the System would vest in a central board appointed by the president with Senate approval. Wilson convinced Bryan's supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan met their demands for a flexible currency. Having 12 regional banks, with designated geographic districts, was meant to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, something that Bryan's supporters wanted. This was also a key factor in winning Glass' support.
The Federal Reserve Act would pass later that year in December 1913. Wilson appointed Paul Warburg and other prominent bankers as directors of the new system. In theory, power was supposed to be decentralized, by the New York branch dominated the Fed as the "first among equals." The new system began operations two years later in 1915.
On the international front, Wilson departed from the previous foreign policy direction of his three Republican predecessors. Instead of continuing an interventionism in foreign policy, Wilson and his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan advocated international co-operation of a sort that would later form the basis of the League of Nations. Bryan had been one of the leading opponents of imperialism and militarism. Bryan asked 40 countries with ambassadors in Washington to sign bilateral arbitration treaties. Under his plan, any dispute of any kind with the United States would lead to a one-year cooling-off period, and submission to an international commission for arbitration. Thirty countries signed these agreements, but among those who declined to do so were Mexico, Colombia, Japan, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
Republican opponents considered Wilson’s intentions to bring about world peace to be genuine, but naive. Wilson lacked experience in diplomacy and had not traveled widely outside the United States. In his first year in office, he had difficulty seeing that well-intended efforts to spread U.S. values would not be respected internationally. His vision was also narrowed by the racism he espoused.
After Wilson's first 100 days had come to an end, in late 1913, the Saturday Evening Post magazine summed up Wilson's first months as president as follows:
"This administration is Woodrow Wilson's and none other's. He is the top, middle and bottom of it. There is not an atom of divided responsibility; the Democratic Party revolves about him. He is the center of it—the biggest Democrat in the country—the leader and the chief."
Wilson's first term would result in the passage of a number of unprecedented progressive legislation that would not be matched until FDR's New Deal. Wilson had to contend with sharply opposing policy viewpoints from the Southern and agrarian wing of the Democratic Party that Bryan had led, and the pro-business northern wing led by three urban political bosses—Tammany in New York, Sullivan in Chicago, and Smith and Nugent in Newark.
The first item of his agenda was lowering tariffs. To bring about a reduction of the tariffs, Wilson was able to gain support from some unexpected places. His former rival Oscar Underwood, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Furnifold M. Simmons, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee were allies in this cause. In May of 1913, the House passed what became known as the Underwood Tariff by a vote of 274 to 5. The bill would take longer to pass in the Senate, until that September, but when it did, Wilson signed it into law three weeks later on October 3rd. To gain public support for his tariff legislation, Wilson publicly attacked corporate lobbyists.
Wilson also got to work quickly on his campaign pledge to strengthen antitrust regulation and to introduce reforms to banking and currency matters. While the tariff legislation was working its way through Congress, Wilson proceeded with his plan to reform the banking industry, something he initiated in June 1913 as his first 100 days were coming to a close. Wilson announced that the banking system must be "public not private" and must be under government control so that the banks could be what he called "the instruments, not the masters, of business." Knowing that he would encounter significant opposition for his plans in congress, he tried to look for support by forming a coalition between conservative Republicans, led by Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, and the left wing of the Democratic party, led by William Jennings Bryan. Bryan opposed private banks and Wall Street, who he saw as the enemy of agrarian American. Conservatives wanted a government-owned central bank that could print paper money as Congress required. Wilson was able to broker a compromise, based on a plan that Aldrich authored, but sponsored by Democratic Congressmen Carter Glass and Robert Owen.
Under the plan, the private banks were allowed to control the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, but to appease the agrarians, the controlling interest in the System would vest in a central board appointed by the president with Senate approval. Wilson convinced Bryan's supporters that because Federal Reserve notes were obligations of the government, the plan met their demands for a flexible currency. Having 12 regional banks, with designated geographic districts, was meant to weaken the influence of the powerful New York banks, something that Bryan's supporters wanted. This was also a key factor in winning Glass' support.
The Federal Reserve Act would pass later that year in December 1913. Wilson appointed Paul Warburg and other prominent bankers as directors of the new system. In theory, power was supposed to be decentralized, by the New York branch dominated the Fed as the "first among equals." The new system began operations two years later in 1915.
On the international front, Wilson departed from the previous foreign policy direction of his three Republican predecessors. Instead of continuing an interventionism in foreign policy, Wilson and his Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan advocated international co-operation of a sort that would later form the basis of the League of Nations. Bryan had been one of the leading opponents of imperialism and militarism. Bryan asked 40 countries with ambassadors in Washington to sign bilateral arbitration treaties. Under his plan, any dispute of any kind with the United States would lead to a one-year cooling-off period, and submission to an international commission for arbitration. Thirty countries signed these agreements, but among those who declined to do so were Mexico, Colombia, Japan, Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
Republican opponents considered Wilson’s intentions to bring about world peace to be genuine, but naive. Wilson lacked experience in diplomacy and had not traveled widely outside the United States. In his first year in office, he had difficulty seeing that well-intended efforts to spread U.S. values would not be respected internationally. His vision was also narrowed by the racism he espoused.
After Wilson's first 100 days had come to an end, in late 1913, the Saturday Evening Post magazine summed up Wilson's first months as president as follows:
"This administration is Woodrow Wilson's and none other's. He is the top, middle and bottom of it. There is not an atom of divided responsibility; the Democratic Party revolves about him. He is the center of it—the biggest Democrat in the country—the leader and the chief."