THOMAS WOODROW WILSON was the 28th president of the United States. Born December 28, 1856, he was an American scholar and statesman best remembered for his noble mind and for leading the United States in World War I. Wilson was born to religious and well-educated people, mainly of Scottish descent. Wilson's father, Joseph Ruggles Wilson, studied for the clergy at the Presbyterian-run Princeton University. He married Janet Woodrow, and in the early 1850s the Wilsons moved to Virginia, where he became minister of a church in Staunton. There, in 1856, Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born, the first son and third child. Apparently dyslexic since childhood, Wilson did not learn to read until he was 10 and never became a fast reader. However, he developed passionate interests in literature and especially politics. He attended Davidson College in North Carolina for a year before entering Princeton University in 1875. At Princeton he blossomed intellectually, reading widely, participating in debates, and editing the college newspaper. After graduating from Princeton in 1879, Wilson studied law at the University of Virginia, hoping it would lead to politics. However, he became impatient with the finer points of the law and only reluctantly mastered them. While his work was great, he found public speaking and political history more satisfying. Despite intermittent illness, he earned a law degree and in 1882 settled in Atlanta, Georgia, where he opened a law practice. In 1883 he tired of studying and abandoned his legal career to study government and history at Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1886. Wilson's doctoral thesis was also his first book, Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics (1885), which further developed the comparison between American and parliamentary government and suggested reforms that would make the American system more efficient and more responsible to public opinion. Accepted and published in early 1885, it sold well. Influential reviewers found Wilson's attitude toward American democracy new and challenging. Wilson had been engaged for several years to Ellen Louise Axson and they married in June 1885. Competent and lively, Ellen proved the perfect match for her husband. She gave him unconditional support and helped him clear his mind of all... media... Assembly of Nations. Wilson left the White House in March 1921, a broken man. The 1920 election was a landslide victory won by conservative Republican Warren Harding, who called for a return to "normalcy" and the repudiation of all of Wilson's domestic and foreign policies. After leaving office he retreated to a house in Washington, D.C., and disappeared from public view for much of the time. Wilson died in his sleep at his home in Washington. His remains were interred in the newly begun National Cathedral; he is the only president buried in the capital. During World War II, Wilson's reputation soared, as he was seen as an unjustly unheard prophet whose policies would prevent global calamity. The United Nations and collective security pacts are seen as the fulfillment of Wilson's internationalist vision. Bibliography: Mason, KJ, Experience of a Nationhood Author Unknown, The complete American History to 1990 Lentin, A, Lloyd George, Woodrow Wilson and the guilt of Germany Encarta '95 Encyclopedia Britannia http://www.encarta.msn.com/ http://www.britannia.com/