WOODROW WILSON
Wilson was born December 28, 1856, at the Presbyterian
manse in Staunton, Virginia. His father was Joseph Ruggles Wilson (1822-1903),
Presbyterian minister; His mother was Janet “Jessie” Woodrow Wilson
(1830-1888). Woodrow was the third of four children. He had two older sisters
and one younger brother-Mrs. Marion W. Kennedy, Mrs. Annie J. Howe and Joseph R.
Wilson.
Woodrow Wilson firs marriage was with Ellen Louise Axon
when he was 28 and she was 25 years of age, on June 24, 1885, at the home of the
bride’s paternal grandfather In Savannah, Georgia. Unfortunately she died of
bright’s disease in the white house on August 6, 1914. Wilson remarried with
Edith Bolling Galt when he was 58 and she was 43 on December 18, 1915, at the
home of the bride in Washington D.C.
Wilson had three daughters by his first marriage- Margaret
Woodrow Wilson(1886-1944), singer, businesswoman; Jessie Woodrow Wilson
(1887-1933); Eleanor Randolph Wilson (1889-1967).
Wilson learned the basics of his education at home from his
parents. At age 12 he attended the school of
Charles Heyward Barnwell in Columbia. In 1873 he entered Davison College
but due to his poor health he dropped after his first year, after his health got
better he entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1875. He
graduated with a 90 average in 1879. He entered the university of Virginia Law
School but dropped again for health reasons. He continued studding law on his
own and was admitted to the bar in October 1882. After practicing law for a
while in Atlanta he decided to enroll at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore
where he earned a Ph.D. in political science in 1886. Wilson was the only
president to earn a Ph.D.
Wilson never served in the Military. He thought at
different schools subjects from Political science and Law to History before
getting the position of president
of Princeton University. He ran for governor of the State of New jersey and won.
He served from 1911 to 1913.
He began his campaign for the presidential nomination on a
speaking tour of the west in 1911. He was nominated by the Democratic party at
their convention in Baltimore in June 1912. He was elected president for his
first term in November 5, 1912. he was reelected for a second term in November
7, 1916.
As president he had contracted influenza during the epidemic of 1918 and thereafter he suffered acute asthma attacks that deprived him of sleep and sapped his strength. On October 2, 1919, he suffered a stroke paralyzing his left side and affecting his speech. In January 31, 1924, he experienced acute indigestion and grew steadily weaker. He felt unconscious on February 2nd but opened his eyes for 10 minutes shortly before his death in February 3, 1924, 11:15 A.M.
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