Woodrow Wilson became the first Democratic president since Andrew Jackson to be elected to two consecutive terms of office when he defeated Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes in the 1916 Presidential Election.
The election focused on the War that was raging in Europe and America’s place in it and the Mexican Revolution. The Democrats’ re-election campaign used the slogan, “He Kept Us Out of War,” advocating for military preparedness and neutrality. The Republican candidate Hughes criticized Wilson for not taking the “necessary preparations” to face the conflict in Europe, which only strengthened Wilson’s image as the anti-war candidate. Public sentiment leaned towards the British and French (Allied) forces but the country remained neutral towards the conflict in Europe.
Wilson won reelection by nearly 600,000 votes, 52% of the popular vote and 277 electoral votes. Within five months of being re-elected, the president who “kept us out of war” would lead the United States into World War I after Germany’s aggressive and unrelenting wartime tactics in 1917 left him no choice.
The Woodrow Wilson House, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, opened to the public as a museum in 1963. We take our responsibilities seriously as stewards of this House. We share Wilson's legacy, a legacy that includes WWl, the League of Nations, and visions of world peace as well as policies that institutionalized racism, segregation and loss and obstruction of civil liberties. As historians, preservationists and educators we are determined to share the truth of history, even when it is not complimentary to its subjects. An honest appraisal of history helps us understand ourselves as a nation and as a people.
The Woodrow Wilson House is regularly open to the public for guided tours, serves school and other group tours, is available for public meetings, corporate events, and weddings, presents exhibitions in its gallery, and offers educational programming.
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