Would Woodrow Wilson have become President without Harper's Weekly?

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[ProgressingAmerica]

If anybody wants on/off the revolutionary progressivism ping list, send me a message

Progressives do not want to discuss their own history. I want to discuss their history.

[Banjoguy]

..good for you!

[NRx]

A fascinating topic. IMHO Wilson was the worst President in the history of the United States.

[BenLurkin]

Wilson — Worse than Carter — a genuine disaster for history in general, and America in particular.

[biggredd1]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B_Yi57zUYAALHu5.jpg:large

[Fiddlstix]

I don't know if I'd say he's the worst....BUT...way up toward the top of that list.
Right now I'd have to say 0bozo is the worst....however wilson and bammy do have a lot in common..
How about:
1) Bammy
2) FDR
3)Wilson
4)LBJ
5) Carter

And so forth....

[NRx]

As bad as Zero is, he is not the founder of the Federal Reserve, nor has he dragged us into a World War that was none of our damned business. FDR is one about whom I have decidedly mixed views since I do believe that World War II was our business. Without his political skill I fear we would have stayed out until it was too late. On the other hand his economic polices were disastrous.

[Fiddlstix]

Those are very good, valid points....
I am in agreement..
However...
I think history may well see bammy as much worse than we are seeing now...

[bigbob]

Andrew Johnson wasn’t much of a peach either

[Fiddlstix]

No he wasn't.

Maybe we should make lists of the ones we consider the worst and later compare notes. lol

Seems like there's a lot to work with here.

[NRx]

You may well be right. I have lived just long enough to grasp the futility of predicting the future. But yes, the man worries me... a lot.

[NRx]

Andrew Johnson was a mean drunk and a bigot. But happily he had a hostile Congress and there were limits to the damage he was able to do.

[Fiddlstix]

Yes. He was. There are difficulties in choosing who is the worst (or who is the best for that matter)
The bad ones have been very bad each in his own way.

[x]

Harper & Brothers published Wilson's A Short History of the People of the United States, and excerpts appeared in the magazine in 1901 and 1902.

Subscribers can read them online. Google books also has some pages from Harper's Weekly with comments other papers made on Harvey's promoting Wilson for president.

NY Times subscribers can also read this article from 1912: WILSON ASHAMED, HE TELLS HARVEY; Tactlessly Hurt "a True Friend" and Consents to Apology Being Made Public.

Harvey made a fortune in street railways with Whitney and Ryan (J.P. Morgan was assumed to be involved as well). Harvey promoted Wilson as a conservative Democrat in opposition to Bryan's populist wing of the party. Later he broke bitterly with Wilson, who he felt had turned too sharply to the left.

Harvey went on to back Hughes and Harding in the next two elections. Wilson had a history of bitter breaks with friends and allies, so one can wonder just what it was that actually caused the breach. Wilson's famous tactlessness maybe?

[ModelBreaker]

“I think history may well see bammy as much worse than we are seeing now...”

It depends on what history brings. If it brings about the Brave New World that Zero is so frantically executive ordering, then it will be “Saint Zero.”

[Fiddlstix]

What you say could be true too....
But I hope it doesn't go his way....
History will tell....

[tet68]

nor has he dragged us into a World War that was none of our damned business.

Give him time, he’s still got two years to go.

[TBP]

Good question. Wilson was a virulent racist.

TR helped too, by splitting the anti-Wilson vote.

[Dalberg-Acton]

This guy had a big part in getting Wilson in office.