Today in Supreme Court History: December 28, 1856

12/28/1856: President Woodrow Wilson's birthday. His administration would initiate the prosecutions under the Sedition Act that gave rise to Schenck v. U.S., Debs v. U.S., and Abrams v. U.S.

 

Comments

[Mr. Bumble]

Happy Birthday to America's most racist President

[Sarcastr0]

Wilson sucks, and sure was extremely racist. But the right wing have made a shibboleth of hatting him *extra*. I think due to residual Bircherist anti-UN stuff.

IMO Andrew Johnson should get the prize, though Jackson is a good one as well.

[Dan Schiavetta]

On most issues, Wilson was on the right side of history. We don't realize how pigheaded his opponents were.

[Mr. Bumble]

Not even close to being true.

[Ed Grinberg]

from OP:

[Wilson's] administration would initiate the prosecutions under the Sedition Act

captcrisis says:

On most issues, Wilson was on the right side of history. We don’t realize how pigheaded his opponents were.

I think I'd rather be "pigheaded" than join your & President Wilson's "right side of history"...

[Dan Schiavetta]

What we criticize Wilson for were actually bipartisan matters. There was no serious opposition to the sedition laws. Nor did anyone go after him on race matters. It was a low point in American history on both issues.

Wilson was certainly correct as to national self-determination. A people should be independent. We did not follow this principle, in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Cuba, and other places. It did not turn out well, certainly not for the people involved.

The work he did in 1919 in Versailles was indispensable, subsequently ruined by the isolationist morons in this country. He opposed the outsized punishment of Germany, which led to the Nazis taking over. He was certainly right about that.

Think also of his idea of a League of Nations. It was impotent, and useless in opposing Hitler, because we did not join.

Think about it. Hitler incarcerated Jews, destroyed their lives, rolled over all of Western Europe. And we did nothing. The anti-Wilson ideology was still gripping Congress. If it hadn’t been for Pearl Harbor, and Hitler’s stupid declaration of war on us, we would have happily twiddled our thumbs throughout the Holocaust. Gas chambers? Other people's problem.

[Mr. Bumble]

Had Wilson not stupidly involved us in WWI (he had promised we would stay out of it) a good argument can be made that the rise of Hitler and WWII would never have occurred.

[Dan Schiavetta]

Germany put us in a position where we couldn’t stay out any more. Our overseas shipping was being torpedoed. Going to war was a bipartisan decision. The vote in the Senate was 82-6. In the House, it was 373-50.

[Mr. Bumble]

I am not defending any of the participants in the war, but Germany was attacking US shipping because we were violating our supposed neutrality and supplying war material to England.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

America joined WW I only because Wilson and his cronies had backed so many war loans for so much war production sold to Britain that they could not afford to let Britain lose, and therefore pulled as many strings against Germany as possible until the Kaiser decided he had no choice.

WW I was the Kaiser's war, but Britain betrayed their own policy of balancing European powers by guaranteeing Belgium's neutrality by treaty. If they had stayed out, WW I would have been a repeat of the 1870 war and been over just as quickly.

But America joining it was Wilson and his cronies saving their own financial skin and entirely unnecessary. American public opinion was against joining, since most of the population was either immigrants who had fled their absolute monarchies or their descendants.

As for racism, Jackson and Johnson were slave owners when that was legal, and no worse than most slave owners. Wilson had no such excuse. His actions revived the KKK and set back race relations by decades.

[Bob from Ohio]

“It was impotent, and useless in opposing Hitler, because we did not join.”

The French were unwilling to use force to stop the Rhineland reoccupation. This was a violation of Versailles. They didn’t need the L of N, they had a legal reason to intervene. They lacked the will. The US being in the L of N wasn’t going to change anything.

Has the UN stopped many wars? Liberals think scraps of paper and debating societies can keep the peace. Naive nonsense.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

"The work he did in 1919 in Versailles was indispensable, subsequently ruined by the isolationist morons in this country."

The League of Nations was hardly a panacea, but the onus for its defeat, if you want to deplore the defeat, belongs to Wilson.

Here are the reservations Wilson could have approved in order to get his precious League: Congressional approval required for U. S. participation in League wars, or for taking on mandates (colonies in disguise) and other League activities, no League meddling in U. S. domestic concerns, continued U. S. adherence to the Monroe Doctrine, disavowing Japanese seizure of Chinese territory, no extra votes for countries with colonial possessions. Those were the main ones - oh, and if the League is in a war, the U. S. doesn't have to lock up enemy citizens or take their stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodge_Reservations

"He opposed the outsized punishment of Germany"

Did he, though? The Versailles Treaty, which he pushed, provided for that "outsized punishment." Wilson thought that an acceptable price to pay for his League, but the Lodge Reservations were too much? Straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel.

[jdgalt1]

If we had had the wisdom simply to laugh at the Zimmerman Telegram (Mexico invade us? Yeah, right!) and refuse to join in WW1, WW1 would have ended a year earlier, with Germany winning, and neither (the European part of) WW2 nor the Holocaust would have happened. Wilson’s “14 Points” were a rotten excuse for going to war unnecessarily.

[David Nieporent]

It's obviously absurd to say that Wilson was as racist as some of the 19th century guys, many of whom actually owned slaves and the remainder of which mostly supported slavery. But in the context of their respective eras — racism over replacement, for those of you who follow advanced baseball stats — Wilson might be the worst. (In other words, Jackson was a vicious racist, but the baseline for racism was much higher in the 1820s than it was a century later.)

He was bad in so many other ways, too. Locked up political opponents, and generally led a mass crackdown on dissent. Got us involved in a war that (unlike its successor) we could have stayed out of if we had handled foreign policy better. And then handled the aftermath badly (though he has an excuse in that he was mostly incapacitated soon afterwards.)

[Mr. Bumble]

Thank you for a balanced look at Wilson. I would point out as I mentioned above that Wilson was President 50 years after the end of the Civil War, but that didn't seem to temper his racial animosity.
Also, had the Civil War not occurred when it did (Wilson was only a child at the time) he might have been a slave owner since his family was a strong supporter of the Southern cause and his father was a slave owner.

[Bored Lawyer]

Thank you. Saved me from posting. I would add two points:
(1) The federal civil service was integrated until Wilson. He segregated it:

SEGREGATION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
When Woodrow Wilson won the Presidency 1912, Washington, D.C. was home to a flourishing Black middle class with African Americans making up nearly a third of the city’s population. Still, racism and inequality plagued the nation’s capital, as it did the rest of the country, with neighborhoods, schools, and private institutions segregated across the city. The federal government, however, had been integrated in the early days of Reconstruction and continued to be so up to Wilson’s arrival at the White House. Making up at least 10% of the federal workforce, African Americans federal workers had the professional opportunities and resources to build a network of thriving, though segregated, educational and communal institutions in Washington, D.C.

With the new Wilson administration, all that changed.

As the first Southerner to ascend to the Presidency since before the Civil War, Wilson brought with him a segregationist ideology and sympathy for the “Lost Cause” narrative. With segregation laws becoming more entrenched across the South —and segregation in northern states bolstered by redlining—Wilson gave his newly appointed cabinet the permission to segregate their departments. As historian Eric Yellin explains, segregation did not simply separate Black and white workers in the federal government, it halted Black professional advancement and restricted hiring in the desirable positions for which these men and women were qualified having passed the requisite civil service exams.

Though Wilson did not officially direct the implementation of these segregated policies, he welcomed them under the guise of the argument that it would reduce “friction” among government workers. But as William Monroe Trotter put it, just before Wilson kicked him out of the oval office for protesting these disgraceful policies, “We [had] appealed to you to undo this race segregation in accord with your duty as President and with your pre-election pledges to colored American voters. We stated that such segregation was a public humiliation and degradation, and entirely unmerited and far-reaching in its injurious effects. . . .”

https://www.woodrowwilsonhouse.org/wilson-topics/wilson-and-race/

2. It's not true that everyone else was racist. Teddy Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House, and was excoriated for it. He did not seem to care. (Although some sought to excuse it as merely lunch, not dinner. Which seems bizarre that that would diminish the so-called scandal.)

While it's certainly true that blacks were not equal to whites when Wilson came the presidency, he did a lot to set them back by decades.

[David Nieporent]

2. It’s not true that everyone else was racist. Teddy Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House, and was excoriated for it. He did not seem to care. (Although some sought to excuse it as merely lunch, not dinner. Which seems bizarre that that would diminish the so-called scandal.)

And Wilson's successor, Harding, went to Alabama and gave a major public speech denouncing lynching and calling for political, economic, and educational equality of the races. (Not social equality, of course.)

[The Margrave of Azilia]

In Woodrow Wilson park in Birmingham.

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/164410

[Bob from Ohio]

"It’s not true that everyone else was racist. "

Of course its true.

Inviting one guy one time to the White House does not make TR a non-racist, look at some of his public comments.

Truman desegregated the military but his private letters contained racial slurs. Earl Warren advocated imprisoning people because of their race.

Ike was probably the most non-racist president until Carter but even he had racist comments on his record. LBJ certainly was a racist despite his passing civil rights laws.

Face facts. 99%[+/-] of white Americans until circa 1950 held racist views. Some worse [often much worse] than others of course.

[Mr. Bumble]

While you may want to equate comments to racism, actions speak much louder than words. In that regard Wilson was most certainly a racist.

Also, the idea that only Whites can be racist is absurd. Racism, to some degree, exists among people of all colors (a bad way to define race) and ethnicities.

[Frank Drackman]

as the great Yankee Catcher Yogi Clemenceau said
"Mr. Wilson bores me with his Fourteen Points; why, God Almighty has only Ten!"

Frank

[wolfefan]

This is good!

[Dan Schiavetta]

A cheap, easy laugh.

Go and actually read the Fourteen Points (if it's not too much trouble) and come back here and tell us which ones you disagree with.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Go and educate yourself on how much Wilson actually believed his own talking points. Ho Chi Minh came to Europe and the Versailles conferences to get Indochina out from under France's thumb, and Wilson brushed him aside as just another tiresome peasant.

Woodrow Wilson did nothing to help his own claimed cause. It was all for show.

[Frank Drackman]

Cheap and easy? you say that like it's a bad thing.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

This wasn’t even in the 14 points, but Wilson lured Germany with these fair words:

“We have no jealousy of German greatness, and there is nothing in this programme that impairs it. We grudge her no achievement or distinction of learning or of pacific enterprise such as have made her record very bright and very enviable. We do not wish to injure her or to block in any way her legitimate influence or power. We do not wish to fight her either with arms or with hostile arrangements of trade if she is willing to associate herself with us and the other peace- loving nations of the world in covenants of justice and law and fair dealing. We wish her only to accept a place of equality among the peoples of the world, — the new world in which we now live, — instead of a place of mastery.”

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-woodrow-wilsons-14-points

Who knows what would have happened if Wilson and his allies had done what Wilson promised the Germans? Maybe certain German politicians wouldn’t have had as much discontent to exploit in order to seize power.

As it is, Wilson's promise should rank far higher in infamy than other Presidential remarks like "read my lips, no new taxes," "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," "I am not a crook," etc.

[Bob from Ohio]

Turning Germany into a constitutional monarchy under a younger son or grandson of Wilhelm would have rallied conservatives to the new situation and denied radicals like Hitler oxygen.

[Dan Schiavetta]

i>Synanon Foundation, Inc. v. California, 444 U.S. 1307 (decided December 28, 1979): Rehnquist denies stay of order allowing California Attorney General to intervene in affairs of charitable organization suspected of corruption; Synanon claimed it was a church but First Amendment provides no special protection (I was glad to see Synanon get their comeuppance; their "attack therapy" was much praised when I was first working in that field and it seemed to me monstrous)

[not guilty]

Schenck was a truly horrible decision.

[David Nieporent]

Made worse by the fact that it gave rise to that idiot quote about "shouting fire in a crowded theater" (which isn't even an accurate quote!) that every would-be censor cites.

[Sarcastr0]

It's a powerful quote - making a self-evident point. And the false is assumed.

When I am arguing with those who deploy it, I find the most effective thing to point out is:
1) In Schenck, the facts were not analogous to the scenario, being used to censor something which we now know is absolutely protected.
2) Similarly, censorship those deploying the fire quote are advocating for isn't analogous either.
So 3) They're doing the same blank check nonsense the Court did in Schenck.

[David Nieporent]

It's a powerful quote because it's content free. Taking it most charitably, all it is saying is "The first amendment is not absolute." Which, I mean, fine, but that's utterly useless, since everyone knows that and it provides no guidance as to where the lines actually are. The implied, "…and therefore this particular speech that I don't like is unprotected" isn't to be found in the text of Holmes's opinion.

There's a guy who runs a twitter account under the persona of the First Amendment (@USConst_Amend_I), and every time someone trots out the Schenck quote he says, "So you're saying that someone can be imprisoned for handing out leaflets opposing a military draft?" and they all fall into his trap by reacting with a "No, what? What are you talking about? That's crazy."

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

A bit of trivia: Wilson was the only US President who lived as a child in the Southern Confederacy. Whether or not this contributed, he was certainly racist. Arguing whether he was more racist than Jackson or Johnson seems a little silly.

[Mr. Bumble]

Democrats of a feather flock together.

[Mr. Bumble]

Also a Democrat.

[Mr. Bumble]

Irrelevant stronzata.

[not guilty]

Tennessee was a bellwether for almost a century, but no more. From 1912 until 2004, Tennessee voted for only two unsuccessful presidential nominees (John W. Davis in 1924 and Richard Nixon in 1960). Since 2008, it has been solid red (except for Nashville and Memphis).

[Mr. Bumble]

More stronzata.

[Mr. Bumble]

Given that Wilson assumed the Presidency 50 years after the Civil War which freed the slaves and ended slavery in the US and undid many of the attempts of reconstruction to integrate Blacks more fully into society, I would say he was more racist.

From Wikipedia:
Notwithstanding his accomplishments in office, Wilson has received criticism for his record on race relations and civil liberties, for his interventions in Latin America, and for his failure to win ratification of the Treaty of Versailles.[330][329] Despite his southern roots and record at Princeton, Wilson became the first Democrat to receive widespread support from the African-American community in a presidential election.[331] Wilson's African-American supporters, many of whom had crossed party lines to vote for him in 1912, found themselves bitterly disappointed by the Wilson presidency, his decision to allow the imposition of Jim Crow within the federal bureaucracy in particular.[311]

Ross Kennedy writes that Wilson's support of segregation complied with predominant public opinion.[332] A. Scott Berg argues Wilson accepted segregation as part of a policy to "promote racial progress... by shocking the social system as little as possible."[333] The ultimate result of this policy was unprecedented levels of segregation within the federal bureaucracy and far fewer opportunities for employment and promotion being open to African-Americans than before.[334] Historian Kendrick Clements argues "Wilson had none of the crude, vicious racism of James K. Vardaman or Benjamin R. Tillman, but he was insensitive to African-American feelings and aspirations."[335] A 2021 study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that Wilson's segregation of the civil service increased the black-white earnings gap by 3.4–6.9 percentage points, as existing black civil servants were driven to lower-paid positions. Black civil servants who were exposed to Wilson's segregationist policies experienced a relative decline in home ownership rates, with suggestive evidence of lasting adverse effects for the descendants of those black civil servants.[336] In the wake of the Charleston church shooting, some individuals demanded the removal of Wilson's name from institutions affiliated with Princeton due to his stance on race.[337][338]

[Mr. Bumble]

So Wilson was more polite than Johnson.

[Mr. Bumble]

Yes, the founder of the modern Democrat party. You must be so proud.

[defaultdotxbe]

Jackson and Johnson were products of their time trying to preserve the order they had always known. Wilson was actively regressive trying to return to the time of Jackson and Johnson despite half a century of progress. A case could certainly be made either way.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

On behalf of the victorious liberal-libertarian mainstream, I thank Republicans and conservatives for embracing southern racists, removing those losers from the Democratic Party and enabling better Americans to defeat right-wingers and stale, ugly thinking in the culture war.

Also, thanks for your continuing compliance with the preferences of your betters, clingers.

Happy New Year, everyone. Especially because, with respect to the culture war, the new year will be much like the 50 or so that immediately preceded it.

[Mr. Bumble]

...and his portrait has been on the twenty dollar bill since 1928.What's your point?

[defaultdotxbe]

A wolf in sheep's clothing is less wolf-y I guess?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Jackson and Johnson were products of their time trying to preserve the order they had always known.

One might say the same with respect to today's vestigial gay-bashing bigots. Saying it does not diminish or change the bigotry, nor does it excuse or defend the bigot.

[Sarcastr0]

Both were extraordinarily bigoted even for their time, and both made the policy changes to prove it.

[Mr. Bumble]

Hard to understand your point. Black representation in Congress ended with the end of reconstruction and the rise of Jim crow laws and the KKK. Wilson did nothing to change that.

From Wikipedia:
The Wilson administration introduced segregation in federal offices, despite much protest from African-American leaders and white progressive groups in the north and midwest.[34] He appointed segregationist Southern politicians because of his own firm belief that racial segregation was in the best interest of black and European Americans alike.[35] At the Great Reunion of 1913 at Gettysburg, Wilson addressed the crowd on July 4, the semi-centennial of Abraham Lincoln's declaration that "all men are created equal":

How complete the union has become and how dear to all of us, how unquestioned, how benign and majestic, as state after state has been added to this, our great family of free men![36]

In sharp contrast to Wilson, a Washington Bee editorial wondered if the "reunion" of 1913 was a reunion of those who fought for "the extinction of slavery" or a reunion of those who fought to "perpetuate slavery and who are now employing every artifice and argument known to deceit" to present emancipation as a failed venture.[36] Historian David W. Blight observed that the "Peace Jubilee" at which Wilson presided at Gettysburg in 1913 "was a Jim Crow reunion, and white supremacy might be said to have been the silent, invisible master of ceremonies".[36]

[jdgalt1]

It was Wilson who ordered the federal civil service be segregated, a condition that persisted until Brown v. Board of Education. I think that qualifies as making it worse. Wilson was also given an award by the KKK for doing so.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

When you’re a member of a vulnerable group niceties can be quite important.

That seems to be a foundational element of the Volokh Conspiracy's censorship policies and practices.

[Frank Drackman]

So your commutation's not going through? Highschool Linebackers are breathing easier.