A Review of Woodrow Wilson: The Man, His Tasks and His Life by William Allen White
- Reviews of the Day: 1924–25
- Insights from “Woodrow Wilson” by William Allen White
- This Author’s Thoughts and Perceptions
Reviews of the Day: 1924–25
“William Allen White admits in the introduction that he knew the war president only slightly, having met him a few times and received several letters from the White House. But he has gone out and talked with hundreds of Wilson’s friends and enemies; his kinsmen and his political adversaries. … He has taken his evidence from persons and from records and has pieced the fragments together into a living vital picture of a man probably as little known as any man in public life. …
“There are no slow reading places. The text reads as colorfully as a novel. … It is not without humor and the reader has a confidence in the biographer because of the fair and impartial way in which he talks about his subject.” The Kansas City Journal-Post, November 16, 1924, p. 8–E
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“There will undoubtedly be a wide variety of opinion as to the essential biographical merits of William Allen White’s new book. … The quality of absolutely impartial detachment is hardly to be expected as yet in the summation of a career so recently brought to a close [Woodrow Wilson had died just six months earlier]. Or of a character and his manifestations in purpose and deed that have not yet emerged into the clear white lights of true historical perspective.
"The literary artistry of the thesis of the author has been worked out—the fascination of style, fancy and glowing expression; the play of humor, satire, and western breeziness of opinion.
“Lovers of good literature will … find ample room for concord [agreement or harmony] of appreciation.”
"The literary artistry of the thesis of the author has been worked out—the fascination of style, fancy and glowing expression; the play of humor, satire, and western breeziness of opinion.
“Lovers of good literature will … find ample room for concord [agreement or harmony] of appreciation.”
The Wichita Falls Record News, November 26, 1924, p. 4
“White has grasped a profound psychological principle that many biographers overlook: a man’s self, by the time he gets into middle age or so, has been pretty much predetermined by what has gone before. … [In the case of Woodrow Wilson] the influence of life-long physical defects such as imperfect eyesight [and a life-long physical frailty of body with its effects on Wilson’s stamina in youth and old age]; of repressions due to parental or other authority; and of early induced or accidental bookishness, can hardly be over-emphasized. …
“Altogether, William Allen White has done an absorbing and powerful biography, vivid and penetrating. It is probably the best thing William Allen White has produced, and probably, the best biography of Wilson that has been written.” [be sure and read the “Author’s Thoughts” section below] The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 13, 1924, p. 12
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Insights from “Woodrow Wilson” by William Allen White
- The Psychological Analysis of Woodrow Wilson and His Supporters and Enemies
“His partisans have idealized his virtues and so have sought to create a superman—some sort of Heaven-sent Messiah to redeem a wicked world from its iniquity. His enemies—alas they have seen his weakness through the green and red glasses of envy and hate, and a fine old striped devil they have made of him.
“He was neither God nor fiend, but in his political career rather a shy, middle-aged gentleman with the hoar frost of the cloister upon his public manner, with an academic respect for facts, and with a Calvinistic addiction for digesting the facts into his own God-given truth.
“On the surface he was half or two-thirds Irish, and so turned to his friends a gay and lovely face. But the dour Scot, big and dominant inside him, turned to his adversaries a cold and implacable heart that transformed even the most amiable of his opponents into ardent foes with a lust for torture.”
“He was neither God nor fiend, but in his political career rather a shy, middle-aged gentleman with the hoar frost of the cloister upon his public manner, with an academic respect for facts, and with a Calvinistic addiction for digesting the facts into his own God-given truth.
“On the surface he was half or two-thirds Irish, and so turned to his friends a gay and lovely face. But the dour Scot, big and dominant inside him, turned to his adversaries a cold and implacable heart that transformed even the most amiable of his opponents into ardent foes with a lust for torture.”
- The Mind Was Right but Political Instincts Were Needed
“That first-class mind, in which he had so much vain pride, had a sorry time in those days of his first administration as he made mistakes and rectified them. He changed always from the worse to the better. … It was lack of experience, chiefly, that hampered him.
"Experience was forever teaching him new things, rather obvious things, which many politicians old in the game knew by instinct.”
"Experience was forever teaching him new things, rather obvious things, which many politicians old in the game knew by instinct.”
- Woodrow Wilson Fought World War I in the “Upper Zone”
“If only force had conquered the Kaiser, he and his kind could return again.
“But the conflict in the upper zone, the weapons of the spirit, the thunderbolts of reason, the shafts of resistless logic, Wilson’s will for a more abundant life on this planet, his vision of a new order, his call to a nobler civilization, the Olympian debate which he began April 2, 1917, and continued for three years until he was stricken—that is a part of the conquest of this war which leaves him a world conqueror. “The only one whose fortifications will not turn to dust.” - The Propaganda War of World War I: The War to End All Wars “What Wilson said was winged across the world as were the words of no other man who ever trod this planet. No accident was this great voice. He set it up himself. The cable, the wireless, every physical machine that would spread his words, Wilson erected and used. … Under Pershing, the physical forces of America were smashing into Germany’s lines. Under Wilson, the spiritual forces of America were smashing the German morale, breaking the iron Prussian purpose. …
“Humanity applauded, not Foch so much for his guns and his drums and his clattering sabers as for Wilson who, men said, had won the battle of the upper air. … It was the greatest victory that had ever come out of any war; not the victory of a conqueror by arms and bleeding men, but the victory of one who had overcome his foe by persuading the civilian population to surrender. |
William Allen White, a member of the Kansas press, was a newspaper editor, author, and a leader in the 20th Century progressive movement [not to be confused with today’s 21st Century progressive movement].
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“If the material world has added new terrors to burn and break and crush the human body, the same world has shown us a new engine of conquest: the words of a righteous man spoken in the passion of a great exhortation.”
- Woodrow Wilson’s Place in History: The League of Nations
“Woodrow Wilson’s place in the history of the world will not be determined by his character. … The relation between character and fame is not of first importance. … Alas, for predictions which are fathered by our desires and mothered by our hopes, fame does not come when a man’s fellow citizens summon it to him. Whether or not Wilson will live as a world figure depends, not so much upon what work he has done as upon what the chance of time and circumstance will do with his work [The League of Nations]. …
“He must live or die in world fame bound up in the League of Nations. If that stands, he may tower beside it as the Washington of a World Federation. If the League of Nations crumbles … then Wilson will become one of the host of good men who spent their zeal striving for futile things.”
“He must live or die in world fame bound up in the League of Nations. If that stands, he may tower beside it as the Washington of a World Federation. If the League of Nations crumbles … then Wilson will become one of the host of good men who spent their zeal striving for futile things.”
In 1925, one reviewer commented that “It will take someone who was much more intimately associated with Wilson to lift the veil of obscurity that has forever hidden the real man.” For William Allen White, the person who lifted his veil of obscurity was Ray Stannard Baker—in 1931, seven years later.
Thus my thoughts.
Thus my thoughts.
This Author’s Thoughts and Perceptions
This book was fascinating reading. Some chapters really stood out: “In Which We Shift the Scene,” “An Evil Messenger Comes,” “How the Magician Won the War,” and “The Path of Glory Ends.”
The writer, William Allen White, at times seemed to be almost writing poetry rather than prose. His prose is insightful, questioning, and as one reviewer stated above—in the case of Woodrow Wilson, psychological. Several of the reviews commented on the book’s psychological bent. It was this characteristic that made the book very enjoyable to read—seeing inside Woodrow Wilson’s mind, but it also raised questions about if the material wasn’t going too far with some of its balanced but very-personal, psychological insights. Then I looked up a 1931 review—seven years after the publication of this book by William Allen White. Another set of books written by Ray Stannard Baker on Woodrow Wilson was released. The difference in the approaches between the two authors is that William Allen White wrote from interviews with some key players in the life of Wilson, current-events, and some personal experiences, but in fact, with no true access to the deep details going on behind the scenes. |
Ray Stannard Baker had complete, unhindered, and open access to all of Woodrow Wilson’s letters and memoranda for his work. Mr. Baker also had a long relationship with the former president including serving as his press secretary in Europe at Versailles.
Here is what William Allen White wrote after reading Stannard Baker’s Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters Volume IV and V. Which one more time, for emphasis stake, was written seven years after the publication of this book.
Here is what William Allen White wrote after reading Stannard Baker’s Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters Volume IV and V. Which one more time, for emphasis stake, was written seven years after the publication of this book.
“Somehow or other I had never been an admirer of Woodrow Wilson. I think it must have been because I, like thousands of others, believed him to be just a schoolmaster. But I’ve changed my view. I’m inclined now to believe he wasn’t much of anything I thought he was, and on the contrary, everything I thought he wasn’t. …
“I now bow my head to the memory of a man who was more—and far more—than I ever thought he was, a man’s man, college professor and all, who dared to defy bossism in all its degrees in the battle for what was right as he saw it and as millions of other good and true Americans saw it. … “Mr. Baker has set down in these new volumes a record of Woodrow Wilson, “Governor” and “President,” that will undoubtedly live forever as the outstanding record of the man and his achievements. … |
Image of a seven-volume set of Ray Stannard Baker’s “Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters.”
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“He has written … what all the world should read—especially by skeptics such as I was before reading these two volumes.”
William A. White, The Pittsburgh Press, December 20, 1931
I don’t think that one biographer could pay another biographer a stronger compliment than to write that the work of a peer has: “Changed my view.” It is also a testimony to the character of William Allen White that he put this in writing in the general press. My estimate of Mr. White’s character was already high after reading some of his other works, but it went up another notch after reading his 1931 revelation.
Mr. White’s book is a recommended read, but after reading the statement above, I think he would say, “You should read Ray Stannard Baker’s masterpiece first: Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters—and this author would concur. I have learned from the interaction of these two very reputable authors and the works they produced, that access to the personal letters and files when writing a biography is truly important.
I wish I had such access to Thomas J. Watson Sr.’s letters during his lifetime such as Ray Stannard Baker had to Woodrow Wilson’s. Maybe then I could produce a few volumes of work that would have a similar effect on other researchers and historians as Ray Stannard Baker’s work had on William Allen White—at least those individuals of character and integrity.
It is amazing that I was challenged more by Mr. White’s observations written seven years after this work, than the work itself. Such is the divergent, ever-fruitful path of studying history—for truths rather than just facts. Here is how William Allen White was viewed by his peers in journalism, and what he said at the time when he was drafting this biography.
Mr. White’s book is a recommended read, but after reading the statement above, I think he would say, “You should read Ray Stannard Baker’s masterpiece first: Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters—and this author would concur. I have learned from the interaction of these two very reputable authors and the works they produced, that access to the personal letters and files when writing a biography is truly important.
I wish I had such access to Thomas J. Watson Sr.’s letters during his lifetime such as Ray Stannard Baker had to Woodrow Wilson’s. Maybe then I could produce a few volumes of work that would have a similar effect on other researchers and historians as Ray Stannard Baker’s work had on William Allen White—at least those individuals of character and integrity.
It is amazing that I was challenged more by Mr. White’s observations written seven years after this work, than the work itself. Such is the divergent, ever-fruitful path of studying history—for truths rather than just facts. Here is how William Allen White was viewed by his peers in journalism, and what he said at the time when he was drafting this biography.
“William Allen White is in ability too big a man to be intensely partisan. There have been numerous occasions in the past eight or ten years when Mr. White has found it difficult—in the extreme, to maintain his partisan equilibrium. In fact, there have been times when his sympathies were so strongly for measures opposed by his own party that they were noticeable to the public and he was practically aligned against the Republican Party [Republican Party of the 1910s and 20s] in everything except on election day, when he deposited his ballot.
“William Allen White said the following about his upcoming biography on Woodrow Wilson:
“ ’I’m trying to write a kindly and sympathetic biography of Woodrow Wilson, whose aims I have always believed in, though I sometimes despised his methods. I would make the world’s worst President, and I may make the world’s worst biographer, but that will be a calamity suffered only by my readers.’ ”
The Cass County Democrat, March 27, 1924, p. 10
Thank you, William Allen White, for your honesty and character in 1924 and then again seven years later in 1931.
Your book was a pleasure to read.
It wasn’t a calamity!
Cheers,
- Peter E.
Your book was a pleasure to read.
It wasn’t a calamity!
Cheers,
- Peter E.