Woodrow Wilson (28) Event Timeline |
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06/25/1912 - 07/02/1912 | On 07/02/1912, the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore nominates New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson for President on the 46th ballot. At the time, the Democrats still required a 2/3 majority for nomination. Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall was nominated for the Vice-Presidency. |
08/07/1912 | Wilson formally accepts the nomination at his summer home in Sea Girt, New Jersey. |
11/05/1912 |
Election Day. Wilson wins 81.9% of the Electoral College and 41.8% of the popular vote. He defeats Republican incumbent William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt running for the Progressive Party. |
1913 |
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03/04/1913 |
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04/08/1913 |
Appears before Congress to speak on tariffs, marking the first time since 1800 that a president had addressed Congress in person. |
04/11/1913 |
Cabinet meeting discusses segregation by race in the Federal bureaucracy. Navy Secretary Josephus Daniels recorded in his diary “The President said he made no promises in particular to Negroes, except to do them justice, and he did not wish to see them have less positions than they now have; but he wished the matter adjusted in a way to make the least friction.” This is widely interpreted as an indication that Wilson would not oppose segregation. |
05/02/1913 |
Extends diplomatic recognition to the fledgling Republic of China. (US diplomatic relations with the Empire of China had begun in 1844.) |
05/19/1913 |
California passes and Governor Hiram Johnson signs the Webb-Hartley Law, known as the Alien Land Law of 1913. This limits land leases for agricultural purposes to a length of three years and bars further land purchases by “aliens ineligible to citizenship.” The principle target group was understood to be Japanese. [The text of this California law may be found in pdf form at this link starting page 264.] |
05/31/1913 |
Seventeenth Amendment enacted, replacing state legislature nomination of U.S. senators with direct popular election. |
08/27/1913 |
Addresses foreign policy with Mexico during the Mexican Revolution and states that the United States will maintain a policy of neutrality until the civil unrest in the nation has run its course. |
10/03/1913 |
Signs the Revenue Act of 1913, which included the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act. (38 Stat 114) The Act substantially lowered tariff rates and reestablished a federal income tax (Section II). |
10/10/1913 |
By pushing a switch in the White House, causes an explosion blowing up the Gamboa Dike, causing water to flow into the Panama Canal, linking the Atlantic and Pacific. |
12/02/1913 |
First Annual Message. Among other topics: "I urge the prompt enactment of legislation which will provide for primary elections throughout the country at which the voters of the several parties may choose their nominees for the Presidency without the intervention of nominating conventions." |
12/23/1913 |
Signs the Federal Reserve Act, which creates the Federal Reserve System. |
1914 |
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04/20/1914 |
Addresses Joint Session of Congress regarding Tampico incident. Requests authorization from Congress to use force in Mexico following Tampico incident, when U.S. Marines were detained by Mexican officials in the port of Tampico on 04/09/1914. |
05/08/1914 |
Signs “An Act To provide for cooperative agricultural extension work between the agricultural colleges in the several States [“land grant colleges”] receiving the benefits of an Act of Congress approved July second eighteen hundred and sixty-two. . .” (38 Stat 372) Also known as the Smith-Lever Act. The goal was to give instruction and practical demonstrations to farmers throughout the states. |
05/09/1914 |
Proclaims for the first time the official observance of Mother’s Day on the second Sunday in May. |
06/28/1914 |
Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, contributing to the start of World War I. |
08/06/1914 |
Ellen Louise Axson Wilson, the President’s first wife, died on this date of Bright disease. She was the mother of three daughters and an accomplished painter. Her efforts concerning the housing conditions of African Americans in Washington D.C. bore fruit in the form of legislation about “alley dwellings” (signed into law on 09/25/1914; 38 Stat 716) on housing standards in Washington. |
08/15/1914 |
The Panama Canal officially opens after decades of controversy. |
08/19/1914 |
Declares official U.S. neutrality after Germany launches war on Belgium, France, and Great Britain on 08/04/1914. |
09/26/1914 |
Signs legislation establishing the Federal Trade Commission, a new government board empowered to investigate and publicize unsound business practices. |
10/14/1914 |
Signs the Clayton Antitrust Act, which defines unethical business practices and upholds various labor rights. |
10/17/1914 |
Addresses Congress about legislative achievements, discussing the Underwood-Simmons Act, the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Clayton Antitrust Act. |
11/03/1914 |
In Midterm Elections, the Democrats increase their majority in the Senate (from 51 to 56 seats) and retain their majority in the House (from 291 to 230 seats). |
11/12/1914 |
Receives a delegation of Afro-Americans who challenge him to take action to desegregate the Federal bureaucracy. The New York Times wrote that the President stated that “never since he had been in office had he been addressed in such an insulting fashion.” He said the policy of segregation had been enforced for the comfort and the best interests of both races. |
12/08/1914 |
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1915 |
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01/25/1915 |
Alexander Graham Bell makes first transcontinental phone call. |
01/26/1915 |
Signs bill creating the Rocky Mountain National Park (38 Stat 798). “The Secretary of the Interior may, in his discretion . . . grant easements or rights of way for steam, electric, or similar transportation upon or across the par.” |
01/28/1915 |
Vetoes bill requiring literacy tests for immigrants, stating that these tests deny equal opportunity to the uneducated. This veto was sustained on 02/14/1915 in the House. |
02/18/1915 |
First ever showing of a motion picture in the White House was of Birth of a Nation. The President watched with his daughters, his cabinet and their wives. It was later stated that “the President was entirely unaware of the [racist] character of the play before it was presented and has at no time expressed his approbation of it.” |
05/13/1915 |
Issues response to Germany after British passenger liner Lusitania is sunk by German forces on 05/07/1915. |
06/09/1915 |
Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, an anti-war advocate, resigns in protest over Wilson’s response to the Lusitania, fearing he will draw the nation into war. |
07/28/1915 |
US Marines Land in Haiti following violent political killings. (See the New York Times of July 29, 1915) Between 1911 and 1915 seven presidents of Haiti had been assassinated or overthrown. US policymakers were concerned about German influence and the safety of American assets. |
07/21/1915 |
Dispatches another Lusitania note to Germany, threatening war. |
09/16/1915 |
Treaty is signed between Haiti and the United States; ratified by the Chamber of Deputies on 10/06/1915 and by the Haitian Senate on 11/11/1915. The treaty created a Haitian “constabulary” under the control of US Marines; gave the US control of Haitian finances; and granted the right to intervene when the US determined it to be necessary. Ratified by the U.S. Senate 02/28/1916; ratified by the President 03/20/1916. (39 Stat 1654) |
12/07/1915 |
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12/18/1915 |
President Wilson marries his second wife, Edith Bolling, at her home in Washington D.C. |
1916 |
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01/28/1916 |
Nominates Louis B. Brandeis, the first Jewish justice in U.S. history, to the U.S. Supreme Court. |
01/28/1916 - 02/04/1916 |
Speaking tour of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana to promote military preparedness |
03/21/1916 |
Issues executive order to increase the strength of the U.S. Army. |
06/01/1916 |
Louis B. Brandeis is confirmed to the Supreme Court after a long, tumultuous investigation by the United States Senate and the first public Senate confirmation hearing in United States history. |
06/03/1916 |
Signs the National Defense Act, (39 Stat 166) a sweeping update of law organizing the military. Expands the size of the Army; brings state militias further under federal control; grants the president authority to mobilize the National Guard in the case of emergency; creates the Reserve Officer Training Corps. |
06/10/1916 |
Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes accepts the Republican Nomination for President, the first and only time a sitting Justice has been Presidential nominee. |
06/15/1916 |
Wilson renominated by Democratic National Convention meeting in St. Louis. His formal acceptance comes on 09/02/1916. |
06/24/1916 |
Haitian Treaty negotiated on 09/16/1915 officially proclaimed. (39 Stat 1654) |
07/17/1916 |
Signs the Federal Farm Loan Act, (39 Stat 360) which increases credit to rural family farmers. |
07/22/1916 |
Bomb explodes in San Francisco during a Preparedness Day parade, killing ten and wounding forty. |
08/25/1916 |
Signs An Act to Establish a National Park Service (39 Stat 535) within the Department of the Interior. Will manage the existing 35 national parks. |
08/29/1916 |
Signs Army Appropriations Act of 1916 (39 Stat 649) that created the Council of National Defense “for the coordination of industries and resources for the national security and welfare.” The Council consisted of six Cabinet members. |
09/02/1916 |
Accepts the Democratic nomination for President of the United States |
09/03/1916 |
Signs the Adamson Eight-Hour Act (39 Stat 721) during railroad workers’ strike, establishing an eight-hour workday for interstate railroad workers. |
11/07/1916 |
Election Day. Wilson defeats Republican Charles E. Hughes, winning 52.2% of the Electoral College and 49.2% of the popular vote. |
11/07/1916 |
Jeannette Rankin, Republican of Montana, is the first woman elected to the United States Congress. She later voted against declarations of war in both WWI and WWII. |
12/05/1916 |
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12/18/1916 |
Attempts to mediate a settlement of the World War by directing his Secretary of State to dispatch peace notes to European powers. |
1917 |
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01/22/1917 |
Delivers "peace without victory" speech to the Senate, in which he proposes peaceful terms for ending the war. |
01/29/1917 |
Vetoes bill regulating immigration and residence of aliens in the United States. Wilson’s veto is overridden by the House on 02/01/1917, and in the Senate on 02/05/1917. (39 Stat 874) |
01/31/1917 |
German Ambassador to the U.S. presents to Secretary of State Lansing a note declaring German intention to restart unrestricted submarine warfare as of the next day. |
02/03/1917 |
In an Address to a Joint Session of Congress announces that as a result of Imperial Germany’s decision to threaten vessels of neutral countries through submarine warfare, U.S. is severing diplomatic relations with Germany. If U.S. ships are threatened, he will return and ask for authority to use any means necessary in their defense. |
02/26/1917 |
Requests authority from Congress should a war declaration become necessary. |
03/05/1917 |
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04/02/1917 |
Addresses a joint session of Congress requesting a declaration of war against Germany. |
04/06/1917 |
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04/13/1917 |
Committee on Public Information established to coordinate wartime propaganda and censorship efforts. |
04/16/1917 |
Addresses the American people in a written statement about the war, deeming it the “supreme test of the nation.” |
04/24/1917 |
Signs act authorizing $5 Billion in debt for national security (40 Stat 35) and defense; the instruments come to be called Liberty Bonds. |
05/18/1917 |
Signs the Selective Service Act, implementing a federally mandated draft lottery. |
06/15/1917 |
Signs the Espionage Act to punish interference with the foreign relations, neutrality, and foreign commerce of the United States. Wilson had requested in his speech on 04/02/1917. (40 Stat 217) This was a hugely controversial law. |
06/26/1917 |
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06/30/1917 |
By Executive Order following passage of a Congressional Joint Resolution, directs the seizure of nearly 90 German commercial vessels in US ports. |
07/28/1917 |
The Council on National Defense (see above 08/29/1916) adopts a new system for military purchases to be known as the War Industries Board. |
10/13/1917 | Notifies his advisor Colonel Edward M. House that he approves a proposed British declaration on Palestine. This declaration is made public on 11/02/1917 and known as the Balfour Declaration. Wilson asks that no publicity be given to his approval. (Lebow, Journal of Modern History, December 1968.) |
12/04/1917 |
Fifth Annual Message, in which Wilson discusses World War I. |
1918 |
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01/08/1918 |
Delivers "Fourteen Points" speech to Congress, outlining his program of peace to end World War I. |
05/16/1918 |
Signs the Sedition Act (40 Stat 553), which further limited freedom of expression by forbidding “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the United States government, flag, and armed forces. |
05/28/1918 |
Issues executive order transferring the War Industries Board (see 07/28/1917) to independent agency status to coordinate the purchase of war supplies. |
06/16/1918 |
Socialist leader and sometime Presidential candidate, Eugene Debs gives a speech objecting to the ongoing war. He is arrested and charged under the Espionage Act with inciting disloyalty to the United States. On 09/14/1918 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. |
07/26/1918 |
In an “Address” to the nation released as a written statement, urges Americans rise above the “mob spirit” that is seen in many parts of the country. “There have been many lynchings, and every one of them has been a blow at the heart of ordered law and human justice.” |
09/30/1918 |
Defends women's suffrage in an Address to a Joint session of Congress. |
10/01/1918 |
About this time, the "Spanish flu” pandemic peaks in the United States. |
11/05/1918 |
In midterm elections, the Republican party’s 1 seat majority in the House was increased by 25; and the Republicans took the majority in the Senate gaining 5 seats. |
11/11/1918 |
Addresses Congress regarding Allied and German armistice. “The war thus comes to an end; for, having accepted these terms of armistice, it will be impossible for the German command to renew it.” |
11/21/1918 |
Signs the Wartime Prohibition Act, part of an Agricultural Appropriations Bill (40 Stat 1045) temporarily banning the manufacture of alcohol for domestic sale. |
12/02/1918 |
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12/14/1918 - 2/24/1919 |
Tours Europe to take part in World War I peace negotiations and promote plan for a League of Nations. Begins with three speeches in France, then gives eight speeches in England, 19 speeches in Italy and seven more speeches in Paris in the course of the negotiations. |
1919 |
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01/07/1919 |
Proclamation announcing the death of Theodore Roosevelt. |
01/16/1919 |
Final state ratifies the 18th Amendment, launching prohibition. |
01/18/1919 |
Delivers remarks at the opening of the Paris Peace Conference. |
02/14/1919 |
Presents League of Nations draft to the Paris Peace Conference in order to promote international cooperation and secure peace and security. |
02/15/1919 |
Sails for home. |
02/24/1919 |
Arrives in Boston, gives Address relating progress in peace negotiations. ". . .I have come back to report progress, and I do not believe that the progress is going to stop short of the goal." |
03/03/1919 |
The Supreme Court rules unanimously in Schenck v. United States that the Espionage Act was constitutional and did not violate the First Amendment. In this case, Justice Holmes articulates the “clear and present danger” test for speech that can be constitutionally prohibited. |
03/04/1919 |
Address in New York responding to criticisms of the proposed League of Nations. |
03/05/1919 |
Departs New York to returns to Europe aboard the naval transport ship George Washington. |
03/10/1919 |
The Supreme Court rules unanimously in Debs v. United States, that Deb’s public advocacy against military recruitment and the draft was a violation of the Espionage Act. Given the ruling in Schenck, Deb’s conviction was valid and he subsequently was imprisoned. |
03/15/1919 - 07/08/1919 |
In Paris for peace treaty negotiations. Returns to the U.S. on 07/08/1919. |
06/02/1919 |
An anarchist explodes a bomb in front of the home of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer in Washington D.C. There were a number of attacks on officials across the country that day. |
06/04/1919 |
Congress approves the 19th Amendment. (41 Stat 362) |
07/10/1919 |
In an Address to the Senate, submits the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations for ratification. |
07/19/1919 – 07/24/1919 |
Washington D.C. race riot gets underway when off-duty white military personnel enter South-East Washington to avenge an alleged assault on a white woman. The President ordered the deployment of federal troops to restore order. At least 15 died in the conflict. |
07/27/1919 – 08/04/1919 |
Chicago race riot follows drowning of a black teenager hit in the head by a rock thrown by a white man. Eventually 38 people died and over 500 injured with many structures burned. Order was restored when Illinois Govern Lowden ordered the intervention of the national guard on the evening of 07/30/1919. |
07/31/1919 |
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begins hearings on the Versailles Treaty. |
08/16/1919 |
Vetoes a Bill for the repeal of the daylight-savings law which is then passed over his veto on 08/19/1919 (41 Stat 280). |
08/19/1919 |
The President makes Remarks to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a meeting at the White House. |
09/03/1919 - 10/03/1919 |
Tours nationally to build support for the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations. |
09/11/1919 |
In a relatively unusual public reference to race relations, in a speech in Helena, MT, says: “I hope you will not think it inappropriate if I stop here to express my shame as an American citizen at the race riots that have occurred in some places in this country where men have forgotten humanity and justice and ordered society and have run amuck. That constitutes a man not only the enemy of society but his own enemy and the enemy of justice.” |
09/30/1919 – 10/02/1919 |
The Elaine (Arkansas) race massacre. Fueled by fears of a black “insurrection,” armed white mobs, including soldiers from a local military base, assaulted African-Americans, killing more than 100. |
10/02/1919 |
Suffers a serious stroke, rendering him incapacitated. His wife Edith Wilson manages the office of the president for the remainder of Wilson’s tenure. |
10/27/1919 |
Vetoes the Volstead Act (41 Stat 305) prohibiting intoxicating beverages, objecting to the part dealing with wartime prohibition (not the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment). On 10/28/2019 Congress passes the Volstead Act over Wilson’s veto (41 Stat 322). |
11/07/1919 |
The first round of “Palmer Raids” arrest more than 200 immigrants suspected of revolutionary activity, and hold them for deportation. |
11/19/1919 |
Senate fails to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, reflecting feelings of isolationism. |
12/02/1919 |
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1920 |
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01/02/1920 |
Further major round of “Palmer Raids” begin and continue for several weeks. Thousands are arrested and hundreds eventually deported, many treated brutally. This event is important in motivating the founding of the American Civil Liberties Union. |
03/01/1920 |
In a 4-3 decision (with two recusals) the Supreme Court decides in United States vs. U.S. Steel that U.S. Steel’s structure and action did not violate the Sherman and Clayton Acts. Size alone is not illegal, and sustained anticompetitive behavior is required. |
03/19/1920 |
By a vote of 49-35, seven short of the required two-thirds majority, the Senate fails to ratify the Versailles Treaty. (Link to pdf of the Congressional Record debate and record of various votes.) |
05/27/1920 |
Vetoes congressional resolution (“Knox-Porter Resolution”) that declared an end to the war with Germany, citing the resolution’s inability to hold the German government accountable for its actions. Wilson fears support for the resolution would tarnish the American name. The veto is sustaine in the House on 05/28/1920. |
06/12/1920 |
Warren G. Harding wins nomination for President at the Republican National Convention on the 10th ballot. He had been 5th among top nominees on the first ballot. Calvin Coolidge is the Vice-Presidential nominee. |
07/06/1920 |
Democratic Convention nominates for President James M Cox, Governor of Ohio and a former member of the House of Representatives and a newspaper publisher. The Vice-Presidential nominee is Franklin D. Roosevelt. |
07/22/1920 | Warren Harding Address accepting the Republican Nomination. |
08/07/1920 | James M. Cox Address accepting the Democratic Nomination. |
08/18/1920 |
Nineteenth Amendment ratified, granting women the right to vote after a decades-long battle for women’s suffrage. The passage of the Amendment is certified by Secretary of State Colby on 08/26/1920. (Link to pdf of the certification.) |
09/16/1920 |
Explosive detonated on busiest corner of Wall Street, killing 38 and injuring hundreds in the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil up to that date. |
11/02/1920 |
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11/20/1920 |
Wins Nobel Peace Prize for his peace efforts during World War I. Second sitting president to receive this honor. |
12/07/1920 |
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1921 |
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03/03/1921 |
Signs a Joint Resolution declaring that a variety of war-related Acts, Proclamations, and Joint Resolutions are repealed, including the Espionage Act. (41 Stat 1359) |
Last modifications 07/24/2023.
Woodrow Wilson, Woodrow Wilson Event Timeline Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/354010