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Woodrow Wilson's Presidency 1913-1921
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), the 28th U.S. president, served in office from 1913 to 1921 (two terms) and led America through World War I (1914-1918). An advocate for democracy and world peace, Wilson is often ranked by historians as one of the nation's greatest presidents. -
WWI Timeframe
World War I essentially started on July 28, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918.
1. The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 in Bosnia was carried out by the Black Hand, a nationalist Group of Serbs and Croats who resented the annexation of Bosnia from Turkey and taken into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. -
WWI Timeframe and War Rages
- July 28, 1914 Austria declared war on Serbia as a result of the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
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WWI Timeframe and War Rages
August 1, 1914 Germany declared war on Russia as Germany supported Austria and Russia supported Serbia. -
WWI Timeframe and War Rages
August 3, 1914 Germany declared war on France
August 4, 1914 British declaration of war against Germany. -
The Great Migration
The Great Migration occurred generally between 1915 and 1930 and refers to the relocation of hundreds of thousands of African Americans from the rural areas of the South to urban areas in the North. -
Lusitania
A ship, the Lusitania, which was carrying many American passengers was sank by the Germans. -
Lusitania
Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat, which was a British owned steamship -
Lusitania
The sinking of the Lusitania killed 1,128 people, including 128 Americans. -
Lusitania
The sinking of the Lusitania immediately strained relations between Germany and the neutral United States, which created anti-German sentiment and eventually led to the US entering the War. -
Lusitania
Germany broke naval rules by declaring waters around the British Isles a war zone. -
Lenin and the Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a violent revolution and marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of csarist rule. The Bolsheviks would later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. -
Year of First Woman Elected to Congress
Jeannette Pickering Rankin was the first woman to hold federal office in the U.S She was elected in 1916 from Montana, and again in 1940. -
Year of First Women Elected to Congress
Jeannette Rankin was also the only member of Congress to cast a vote against participation in both world wars. -
Year of First Women Elected to Congress
Rankin moved to Washington State, where she joined the women’s suffrage movement, a fight that culminated in 1910 when Washington became the fifth state in the Union to grant women the right to vote. -
Year of First Women Elected to Congress
Statue of Jeannette Rankin was given to the National Statuary Hall Collection by Montana in 1985. -
Year of First Women Elected to Congress
Rankin was one of the founding members of the Committee on Woman Suffrage, which led the fight in the House of Representatives for a constitutional amendment that would grant women nationwide the right to vote. -
US Declares War on Germany
The United States of America declared war on Germany in response to the sinking, by German U boats, of US ships. -
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 was created to prohibit interference with military operations or recruitment, to prevent insubordination in the military, and to prevent the support of US enemies during wartime. -
Influenza (flu) Epidemic of 1918
The influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people. One fifth of the world's population was attacked by this deadly virus. Within months, it had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history. -
Wilson's 14 Points
Wilson’s proposal called for the victorious Allies to set unselfish peace terms with the vanquished Central Powers of World War I, including freedom of the seas, the restoration of territories conquered during the war and the right to national self-determination in such contentious regions as the Balkans. -
Wilson's 14 Points
One of Wilson’s purposes in delivering the Fourteen Points speech was to present a practical alternative to the traditional notion of an international balance of power preserved by alliances among nations—belief in the viability of which had been shattered by World War I—and to the Bolshevik-inspired dreams of world revolution that at the time were gaining ground both within and outside of Russia. -
Wilson's 14 Points
Wilson's Fourteen Points were a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson. But his main Allied colleagues (Georges Clemenceau of France, David Lloyd George of the United Kingdom, and Vittorio Orlando of Italy) were skeptical of the applicability of Wilsonian idealism. -
Wilson's 14 Points
The devastation and carnage of the First World War illustrated to Wilson the unavoidable relationship between international stability and American national security. He sought to placate American isolationists by stating that the world must “be made fit and safe to live in; and particularly that it be made safe for every peace-loving nation, wishes to live its own life, determine its own institutions, be assured of justice and fair dealing against force and selfish aggression.” -
Wilson's 14 Points
Wilson’s Fourteen Points played an essential role in world politics over the next several years. The speech was translated and distributed to the soldiers and citizens of Germany and Austria-Hungary and contributed to their decision to agree to an armistice in November 1918. -
Sedition Act of 1918
The Sedition Act of 1918 extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses such as speech and expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds. It outlawed the use of "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, its flag, or its armed forces or that caused others to view the American government or its institutions with contempt. -
Selective Service Act of 1917
The Selective Service Act of 1917 authorized the US federal government to create a national army during WWI through through a mandatory draft process -
WWI Timeframe - Armistice Signed
November 11, 1918, the Armistice is signed at 11 am in the French town of Redonthes in a railway car, bringing the war to an end. -
Treaty of Versailles rejected by US Senate
By a vote of 39 to 55, far short of the required two-thirds majority, the Senate denied consent to the Treaty of Versailles. President Woodrow Wilson personally negotiated the treaty following World War I, promoting his vision for a system of collective security enforced by a League of Nations. -
Treaty of Versailles Rejected by US Senate
When the treaty arrived in the Senate in July, Democrats mostly supported the treaty, but Republicans were divided. The “Reservationists,” led by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, called for approval of the treaty only if certain reservations, or alterations, were adopted. The “Irreconcilables” opposed the treaty in any form. -
Schenk vs. U.S. in 1919
Schenck v. US was a landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning enforcement of the Espionage Act of 1917 during World War I. A unanimous Supreme Court concluded that defendants who distributed fliers to draft-age men, urging resistance to induction, could be convicted of an attempt to obstruct the draft, a criminal offense. Case was argued in January 1919 and decided on March 3, 1919. -
Treaty of Versailles rejected by US Senate
Senate Rejects Treaty of Versailles. On Nov. 19, 1919, the Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles based primarily on objections to the League of Nations. The U.S. would never ratify the treaty or join the League of Nations. -
Treaty of Versailles Rejected by US Senate
In November Lodge sent the treaty with 14 reservations to the Senate floor, prompting an angry Wilson to urge Democrats to reject Lodge’s plan. On November 19, 1919, a group of Democratic senators joined the Irreconcilables to defeat the treaty. -
Treaty of Versailles Rejected by US Senate
The United States never ratified the Treaty of Versailles, nor did it join the League of Nations. In 1921 Congress approved resolutions formally ending hostilities with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian government. -
19th Amendment of the Constitution
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. It was adopted on August 18, 1920. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the United States. It effectively overruled Minor v. Happersett (1875) in which a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment did not give women the right to vote. -
Harding Wins Presidential Election
Warren G. Harding, a Republican, running for office wins election by a landslide. He won 60% of the popular vote and 75% of the electoral vote. Harding dies from a stroke in his San Fransisco hotel room and Vice President Calvin Coolidge ascends to Presidency in 1923. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of US President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. Before the Watergate Scandal, the Teapot Dome Scandal was regarded as the most sensational example of high-level corruption in the history of U.S. politics. -
German Reparations
Germany, burdened by reparations payments imposed by Treaty of Versailles, suffers hyperinflation. One American dollar is now worth 7,000 German marks. -
The Liberty Memorial
Construction on the classical Egyptian Revival-style monument was completed in 1926 in Kansas City, MO and the Liberty Memorial was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge in front of more than 150,000 people. -
Hoover Elected as President
Herbert Hoover, a Republican, running for office maintains Republican dominance of the White House. -
Stock Market Collapse
The American stock market collapses, signaling the onset of the Great Depression. The Dow Jones Industrial Average peaks in September 1929 at 381.17—a level that it won't reach again until 1954. The Dow will bottom out at a Depression-era low of just 41.22 in 1932.
