107 years too long to acknowledge Wilson’s racism

Woodrow Wilson became president March 4, 1913. He comes to mind 107 years on due to Princeton University’s decision to excise his name from its public policy school and one of its residential colleges over documented racist governance. Wilson rose to fame and the presidency during his 8 year tenure as history professor and president of prestigious Princeton. He parlayed that tenure to the New Jersey governorship, then the presidency in three short years.

Throughout his career Wilson developed an almost cult like worship as a reformer, progressive champion and world peace visionary, culminating in the reverential biopic ‘Wilson’ in 1944. Throughout most of the century after his leaving office in 1921, Wilson ranked in the top ten of our 44 presidents. Rumblings of his long papered over racism finally dropped him to eleventh spot last year.

Wilson deserves further downgrading when the poll of historians is held again. Virginia borne Wilson’s racist views were forged early on as 8 year old Wilson watched in horror his beloved Virginia’s defeat to the North in 1865. As president Wilson not just held racist views, he acted upon them. During the ‘Red Summer’ of 1919, when white mobs viciously attacked Blacks throughout the US, Wilson was silent, except for maliciously claiming the riots were started by Blacks influenced by communist agitators. Worse, Wilson re-segregated the Federal bureaucracy. Long term Black managers were given a choice: accept lower pay subordinate jobs or quit. Wilson believed Black managers were bad for white bureaucrats’ moral.

I’m against removal of historical statutes and other tributes such as the Wilson named Princeton school except for those of Confederate traitors. Instead, use their existence to tell the complete history of the flawed men who added important benefit to the American Story at the same time they disgracefully ripped at our delicate social fabric.