led the nation into what was hoped to be the war to end all wars. >> welcome to the president woodrow wilson house here in washington, d.c. this home was finished in 1916 and was the home to which president and mrs. wilson moved == house on march 4th, 1921. both of them lived here the rest of their lives. for president wilson that was to be only three more years. he died early in 1924, but amazingly his widow, edith, lived until 1961 in this home and was -- had a front seat really in american history in our collection here we have a large number of gifts of state that were given to president and mrs. wilson. one reason that we have so many of these gifts from other pivotal role that president wilson played in ending world war i. it was about 100 years ago this month, right now, that world war i broke out, and president wilson faced two tremendous crises in his life. one was the outbreak of war in europe, which began on august 2nd when germany invaded belgium violating belgium's neutrality and provoking other nations then to declare war against each other and really begin the war. and just fo

next we visit the president woodrow wilson house in washington, d.c., which was home wife, edith, afterthe white house. a wilson house exhibit features a brown university collection of world war i paintings and other artworks. they helped shape public opinion over the three years that america remained neutral in the conflict. finally, in 1917 president wilson led the nation into what was hoped to be the war to end all wars. >> welcome to the president woodrow wilson house here in washington, d.c. this home was finished in 1916 and was the home to which president and mrs. wilson moved == house on march 4th, 1921. both of them lived here the rest of their lives.

jo welcome to the president woodrow wilson house here in washington, d.c. is home was finished in 1916 and was the home to which president and mrs. wilson moved the very day they left the white house on march 4th, 1921.óhzñ both of them lived here the rest of their lives. for president wilson that was to be only three more years. he died early in 1924, but amazingly his widow, edith, lived until 1961 in this home and wasd had a front seat really in american history during that entire time. in our collection here we have a large number of gifts of state that were given to president and mrs. wilson. one reason that we have so many of these gifts from other countries is because of the pivotal role that president wilson played in ending world war i. it was about 100 years ago this month, right now, that world war i broke out, and president wilson faced two tremendous crises in his life. one was the outbreak of war in europe, which began on august 2nd when germany invaded belgium violating belgium's neutrality and provoking other nations then to declare war again

i think the woodrow wilson administration was on the fence. not entirely like the way fdr would be viewing the european war, and eventually japan in the second world war. that is to say, his own policy, this is in the case of fdr, i think would have been to go in. but he did, of course have to think about both public opinion and congress. in the case of the wilson administration, it was complicated further he by the fact that wilson had essentially run for re-election in 1916 largely on this platform of having kept the u.s. out of the war. so he was hamstrung to some extent by his own political rhetoric. by the fact that there was certainly no groundswell of public support for intervention. the zimmerman telegram played, i think, a final to some extent decisive role but of course this was not alone. we shouldn't vie it in isolation. what prompted the zimmerman telegram sent by arthur zimmerman of the german foreign office to mexico city was essentially this offer that if mexico could help out the germans, if the united states entered the first

woodrow wilson does take it to an extreme. franklin roosevelt he will not make the same mistakes that wilson does, but as we all know, he makes others that are perhaps even worse. that idea that the constitution takes a backseat to a war really becomes ingrained in the american system. revolution that occurs in russia in 1917 crystallizes a fear of radicals that is always part of the american psyche. the result is the red scare of the 1920's, immigration restriction, and this again will establish a pattern for things that will happen throughout the 20th century. there is some genuine change just as it was in great britain. butn get the right to vote, not until 1920. the united states is a little bit behind there. , havingamericans distinguished themselves in battle, come back determined to fight for their rights at home. start of theee the modern civil rights movement as a result of the great war. the u.s. rejects wilson's peace plan because the u.s. sees more danger than security in the treaty oversize. versailles.y of harry t

so he's evoking the ghost of woodrow wilson. the world survived after 1945.et but i think the peace has proven to be very elusive. and that's, again, one of the unfortunate legacies perhaps of the war. anna? >> i'll briefly connect to what lorraine said about the right te self-determination. which many people discovered to be reserved for some, but not for others. i'm just remembering now in 1919, just before the french took over, you know, syrian and lebanon, there was a convention of the syrian national congressn and there the participants laids out the points arguing why they should be given independence. one of the points was, after the treaty of berlin in 1878, the bulgarians and the serbs and the romanians were given independence, and they're not more civilized or more mature ie thanpe we are. and here i'll talk about the legacy of the war in the context of the balkans. and it's true that most of the balkans gained some form of independence after the treaty of berlin of 1878.f and some of the issues that resurfaced after w

. >> i want to start with the man that president woodrow wilson picked to run his navy. who was josephus daniels and how did he get picked to be the secretary of navy? >> well, daniels was a newspaper editor. he owned "the raleigh news and observer," and the short answer to how he became secretary of the navy is politics. the longer answer is that he had been an important player at the national level for the democratic party. he had been a member of the democratic national committee for 20 years. more specifically he had played an important role in helping wilson get nominated and then also in helping wilson get elected. and so wilson came to see daniels not only as an important political figure but also as a valuable personal aide, and he wanted him in the cabinet, and in anticipation of there not being a war, you know, it was 1913, who would have anticipated that the country was going to go to war, he really just wanted political really just wanted adviser, and that's how daniels ended up in the secretary of the navy's position. he had no military experience, no naval

they sent it to every member of woodrow wilson plus cabinet -- woodrow wilson plus cabinet, to newspaper editors all over the country, and then elizabeth went on a speaking tour, mostly to black churches around the country. i do not think she came back to texas. it would have been unwise. interestingly enough, the whole story blew up and was featured in the newspaper in waco twice while i was doing my research before my book ever came out. and i have to give waco credit for this. unlike many, many other communities that have never confronted or dealt with or acknowledged their horrible racial past, the waco city council and the county commissioners did issue some sort of resolution of regret, if not apology, and a group of citizens from all walks of life came and stood on the steps of the courthouse on the 90th anniversary of the lynching and read a resolution of apology. i feel very strongly that you can't understand the present if you don't know what happened in the past, and these things cannot be forgotten. they are not forgotten. so you need to acknowledge it, understand it, and kno

like that.d the i did have a few questions about woodrow wilson's motivations. ps they say the zimmerman telegram is what really got the u.s. into the war.was but really, the united states really give -- or could mexico really have aligned the germans with a realistic prospect or wa. it just a pretext? the other two things really quickly are first of all, there' was like a $14 billion debt i ea think that 9 allied countries owed the united states.d plus that the united states would , have defaulted on if, you know, if germany had won, that's the equivalent of about $1.4 trillion today.l of and plus, wilson also had fireda william james brown and i thinkt for being too pacifistic didn't he before all of this? i'll hang up and let you talk. >> mr. mcmeekin feel free to iso take those questions in any order.ts abo >> oh, well sure.ut well thank you, bill.191 those are great questions. and you raise some fascinating points about the u.s. position in the war. you're absolutely right that by 1916 and even more so 1917, the united states, and particularly. financial in

i think the woodrow wilson administration was on the fence. not entirely like the way fdr would be viewing the european war, and eventually japan in the second world war. that is to say, his own policy, this is in the case of fdr, i think would have been to go in. but he did, of course have to think about both public opinion and congress. in the case of the wilson administration, it was complicated further he by the fact that wilson had essentially run for re-election in 1916 largely on this platform of having kept the u.s. out of the war. so he was hamstrung to some extent by his own political rhetoric. by the fact that there was certainly no groundswell of public support for intervention. the zimmerman telegram played, i think, a final to some extent decisive role but of course this was not alone. we shouldn't vie it in isolation. what prompted the zimmerman telegram sent by arthur zimmerman of the german foreign office to mexico city was essentially this offer that if mexico could help out the germans, if the united states entered the first

but woodrow wilson does take it to an extreme. roosevelt, of course, vows that he won't make the same mistakes that wilson did, but as we all know, he makes others that are perhaps even worse. so that idea that the constitution takes a back seat to a war i think really becomes ingrained in the american system. the bolshevik revolution in 1917, crystalizes a fear of radicals. that's always part of the american psyche. the result is the red scare of the 1920s. immigration restriction. and this again will establish a pattern for things that will happen throughout the 20th centu century. there's change just as there was in great britain, women finally get the right to vote but not until 1920. the united states is a little bit behind there. african-americans, of course, having distinguished themselves in battle come back determined to fight for their rights at home. so we really see the beginnings of the modern civil rights movement as a result of the great war. the u.s., of course, rejects wilson's peace plan because the u.s. sees more

truman, even woodrow wilson. i work for the woodrow wilson center for scholars. but even wilson, a great transformer and legislative resident, the architect of american entry for all -- and yet falls low over idealism and tried to negotiate a peace with a league of nations. so accomplishment significant, presided over a time politically, and yet the asterix associated with the president's is too large, put them in the undeniably great category. host: all this week, we are focusing on the leading authors and publications out this year. we are kicking off this week with aaron david miller and his book on the end of greatness. our phone lines are we will get your calls in just a minute. the three undeniably great presidents straddled the american story. washington, the proverbial father of his country, lincoln, who kept it whole, and roosevelt, who won his greatest war. guest: the conclusion is annoyingly negative and somewhat depressing, but my contention is undeniable graces is driven by crisis. without crisis, the nation encumbering character that is, artfully an

under influence of mcnally's important friends which would include woodrow wilson's secretary, offered him nom nalgs to be consular in neweren berg, germany, because of his alleged impropriety in china. they were obliged to appoint him to a lower ranking position that did not require senate confirmation. during this time serving in germany just before world war i, mcnally developed contacts in the german navy through his son-in-law. his son-in-law's father was an admiral and personal friend of the kizers. mcnally passed this information he acquired through these contacts to the u.s. naval attache and to collect overt, nonclandestined information. for instance, then in -- well, sorry. then in january 1917, as i mentioned, germany declares unrestricted submarine warfare. this was a key turning point again not only for the united states and the war but for mcnally. the next month in february 1917 he comes back to the united gets a meeting with the secretary of state lansing and delivers a briefing on the submarine situation which made such a big impact that the department tried again to g

think about that' woodrow wilson center. i want to ask this question as a longtime human rights activist. could you talk a little bit the human rights element here? this ganizations agree to policy -- but, there's another side to say that human rights will just magically improve. skeptical of that. it is possible that 10 years lot more you have a investments, and people still expressing time process ews -- a due may be just as that 10 years from now than it is today. i'm a little concerned about that. although, i agree, this is a big opportunity and policy change, but there's nothing automatic about changing human rights. >> thank you. >> mike from the center for american studies at american university. significance is the political three prisoners from the u. s. to cuba? >> why do we turn to our speakers for final comments. i think we should also talk about what we can expect from the summit. i think this was a forcing event to bring this decision about. but also, on april 10, we will castro together with president obama an

♪ just a year ago, we reelected woodrow wilson as president.but we are confident he will lead us to victory. the mood of the nation changes. we talk about liberty loans, liberty cabbage. who will win the war? and uncle sam needs you. old heroes are popular again. here is theodore roosevelt surrounded by crowds wherever he goes. everything is just bully. and there is a parade in every city and town. ♪ ♪ the training is deadly serious now. we are learning to pronounce names of places we have never heard of before. our factories convert to the production of engines and arms. these are the famous liberty engines. she is doing her bit. here is a certificate for buying $500 worth of liberty bonds. henry ford receives a navy contract to build eagle boats. in washington with josephus daniels, secretary of the navy. using the technique of the automobile assembly line, they are riveted together at ford's new plant. ♪ the launching of an eagle boat, sleek and fast, built for anti-submarine warfare. ♪ at highland park, ford experiments with a small tank po

woodrow wilson center in washington. his most recent book is "the end of greatness: why america can't have (and doesn't want) another great president". we are privileged to have an hour of your time. >> pleasure to be here. >> let's start with the second president bush, bush xliii. there was a president who six years ago was deeply unpopular at the end of his presidency, viewed widely as the poor president, a failed president. approval ratings at the end had been in the high 20s to low 30s, yet today when americans are asked in polls about president bush almost 50% say he was a good president, a strong approval rating. was he a failure six some years ago but now great president? >> let's start this way. presidents like fine wines age with time. the reality is they age well with time. they are much more popular once they leave the political fray, once they severed their relationships with the american people in contemporary political terms and are remembered in ways driven by many factors including to succeed them which i

making a list of near great residents, thomas jefferson, andrew jackson, theodore roosevelt, woodrow wilsonharry truman. y andrew jackson? failures were larger than the undeniable's. the congressman not nearly as great. but, jackson, the notification crisis,-- notification andrew jackson dominated his age. haveystem, though he may in a persecutor of the indians, so yes, jackson, truman, jefferson, even woodrow wilson. i work for the woodrow rosen international center of scholars and cannot leave them off the list, but even wilson, a great transformer and legislative , the architect of american entry for all -- and over idealism and tried to negotiate a peace with a league of nations. ,o accomplishment significant presided over a time politically, and yet the asterix associated with the president's is too large, put them in the undeniably great category. this week, we are focusing on the leading authors and publications out this year. we are kicking off this week with the end of greatness. the three undeniably great presidents straddled the american story. washington, the proverbial father o

house intelligence committee at the time of all of this, and she is now the president of the woodrow wilsonreak down this report. it has gotten a lot of attention around the world. torture, the interrogation techniques, whatever you want to call it, did not work. would you agree with that? >> that was my believe when i served on the intelligence committee, and i was briefed from two thousand three until 2006, and i believe what john tocain believes -- from 2003 believe what john mccain believes is true, that it gravitas.avitons -- work iswould did not the extreme techniques, which were used far more often. >> you said at the time that when you were briefed on this, you sent a letter to the cia, and concerns.ons >> as soon as i was brief, i wrote a letter to the general counsel of the cia, who briefed me, and i said, what was described raises profound policy questions, and i am concerned about whether these have been as rigorously examined as the legal questions. here is my letter. it was classified at the time and declassified a few years later. i never got a substantive answer, and what wo

but woodrow wilson does take it to an extreme. roosevelt, of course, vows that he won't make the same mistakes that wilson did, but as we all know, he makes others that are perhaps even worse. so that idea that the constitution takes a back seat to a war i think really becomes ingrained in the american system. the bolshevik revolution in 1917, crystalizes a fear of radicals. that's always part of the american psyche. the result is the red scare of the 1920s. immigration restriction. and this again will establish a pattern for things that will happen throughout the 20th centu century. there's change just as there was in great britain, women finally get the right to vote but not until 1920. the united states is a little bit behind there. african-americans, of course, having distinguished themselves in battle come back determined to fight for their rights at home. so we really see the beginnings of the modern civil rights movement as a result of the great war. the u.s., of course, rejects wilson's peace plan because the u.s. sees more

and the house has come in special session, externally session because the president that night, woodrow wilson, delivers a message to congress asking for a declaration of war against germany. the u.s. entry into world war i. rankin, when that vote is held, is one of a group of 50 members who votes against u.s. intervention in world war i. she served a term in the house. she was on the women's suffrage committee. she was on the public lands committee, which was an important assignment for a woman from montana, with so much of the land being held by the federal government. she serves only a term in the house. it she tries to run for senate from montana. she does not get the republican nomination, but she runs as an independent. it is an uphill battle and she gets 1/5 of the votes. then she goes back to private life and is involved in women's rights issues. she is a driving force behind the shepherd town maternity -- act which the house passes in 1921. and then she is also involved in international peace organizations. fast-forward to 1940, she runs for congress again. and she runs on a platform

spurred largely by the philosophy of oh woodrow wilson this organization founded as a result of the paris peace conference took up a primary mission of preventing wars through international disarm menlt and settling disputes through arbitration. many on oh servers had doubts. the in the united states, a 79-year-old veteran of the american civil war finished writing a massive 322-page memoir recounting service in the union army. he experienced seeing 620,000 dead piled up before in a similarly short four-year period. in that war the union army accomplished a terrific thing. it saveded the nation from tearing itself apart. now white was less keen on the results of the so far bloodiest war in human history. it was 1921. one year after the formation of the league of nations. having seen the way that war had changed since the days when he helped kill the southern rebellion, white looked at armed conflict with great pessimism. the reminder he used to close his memoir which predicted the end of world war with 2 was a prompt about the primordial nature of human kind and the nations to which they

north korea threaten add the least one of our holiday movies i'm joined by robin wright, and woodrow wilson center and david rohde for woods. great to have you with us. >> great to be with you. >> garrett: give me sense both of us, start with you robin where is the battle against isis, where is it going and what to make of reports that isis can't do anything to meet the needs of those it intends to. >> isis made huge freethrow then been contained. the problem is we can't either iraqis, united states or syrian rebels break through the territory they hold. i was there a few weeks ago the united states has launched about 350 airstrikes yet isis still controls part of very small town. meanwhile the largest town in syria is under threat and we could lose that but bigger stakes are inside syria. that is where the next year will probably focus. >> garrett: where is this heading? >> we have story coming out tomorrow about iraq fracturing. a similar problem that robin was talking about the ground forces in iraq, army not coming back together quickly. there is huge divisions and real fear that this c

house has come into special session, extraordinary session because the president that night, woodrow wilson, delivers a message to congress asking for a declaration of war against germany, the u.s. entry into world war i. and rankin, with hen that vote held is one of a group of about 50 members who votes against u.s. intervention in world war i. she served a term in the house. she was on the women's suffrage committee. she was on the public lands committee, which was an important assignment for a woman from montana and with so much of the lands being held by the federal government so it was an important position. she -- she serves only a term in the house and she tries to run for senate from montana. she doesn't get the republican nomination but she runs as an independent, an uphill battle, she gets about a fifth of the votes though and then she goes back to private life and she is involved in women's rights issues. she is a driving force behind the shepherd towner maternity and infancy act, which the house eventually passes in 1921 and then she is also involved in international peace organ

his oval office which was woodrow wilson's desk, they put holes right there beside you in the front gradei happen to eyes besetting over microphone when my voice was recorded which actually i'm pleased with today because i wasn't saying anything that bothered me. i was telling him exactly the did -- the dire circumstances he was then. the eob office is terrible because nobody sat bare desk. so they are very difficult to transcribe and what we did and i've talked to other people who have transcribe tapes now and they all seemed to stumble into the sooner or later. there's only one way to do this and that's highly repetitive activity. you listen that it was megan. you listen in to change machines. i went out and actually digitized all of the archives tapes before the archives themselves and digitize them. you can manipulate that somewhat. if you get distortions on the voices but you can also pick up the words. so i got most of it in my book is not a book of transcripts but rather a true narrative and dialogue out of these tapes. i would end up with 21 volumes of three-inch notebooks that re

it certainly was viable at points in the rest of the 19th century but not consistently until woodrow wilson came into the presidency in 1912. i think that that's a lingering consequence of the war and that the democratic party, as the republicans said, had the smell of treason about their clothes. i think that as long as that civil war generation was alive, the democrats were really hampered by this. yes? >> obviously, the french and the british had some interest in how the war was going to turn out. was the diplomatic community in any way attempting to influence the election? >> no. >> no? >> not that i'm aware of, at least. you have elements of british society that support the confederates, at least in theory. you've got this correspondent from the "london times" who is in the united states and writing articles that are very sympathetic to the confederacy. he's riding with lee's army on occasion. so you get that, but in terms of, you know, these machinations to swing the war -- election outcome one way or another, not that i'm familiar with. i've seen nothing on that. >> why were immigran

and the woodrow wilson bridge. no matter which way you are heading you are in the clear. taking a look in virginia, 95, we are seeing a little bit of a slowdown. this is just a volume situation. perhaps people coming from the south back into town. right now through stafford you can see a little bit of volume there. 45 miles per hour. it completely opens back up through dale city. no problems after that. in virginia, again, heading west just a little bit. and the north. 66 into and out of town, east and west, fine at 55 miles per hour. i can back in 10 minutes. a live look at prince george's county. >>> 5:24. in news for your health this morning, new evidence that football players could be suffering from brain damage without experiencing a concussion. researchers measured the frequency and severity of head impact using a helmet mounted device similar to this one here. after just one season, some players changed in the white matter of the brain. that is consistent with a mild brain injury. but none actually suffered a concussion. it's not clear if this hosni long-term conse

>> well, we all know woodrow wilson's racial views and that's appalling.same reason he wouldn't talk to ho chi minh. he cooperates in the effort to deny the japanese the racial equality clause. so you have to look at these things in the context of the time period. unfortunately, that's the context of the time period. roosevelt is a better anti-colonialist than wilson. but there are issues there as well. i think the foreign policy that a nation has reflects its domestic agenda. and i think that's the best answer i can give for something like that. domestic agenda has to change. the domestic mindset lahas to change before you see a change in foreign policy. >> my grandmother defied her wealthy family to leave home and become a nurse. my question is two parts. first of all, we know current battlefield medicine is making great strides for civilian. you mentioned plastic surgery. i would like to know what else came out of the great war. secondly, although grandmother in her late 20s right after the war did manage to find an appropriate husband, so many millions

root over the woodrow wilson bridge. >>> new technology meets the new testament in israel. a company is changing the way some people can read the bible, and it does require some high- tech equipment. >> reporter: the original bible was probably written like this, painfully indescribed by hand. a process that took years, if not centuries. think muscle citi rooms, candlelight. scroll ahead a thousand years ago and think lab coats and lasers. to get into this a high-tech company is engraving what they hope guinness will certify as the world's smallest bible. it is to keep the items, not the people from being infected. the manufacturing process for the aptly named nano bible is something akin it a religious mystery for anyone but a techies. >> each square is one single project. >> reporter: to put that in perspective. >> we have here the new testament printed. and here is the nano new testament. >> reporter: to read it you need a microscope that will magnify it 1000 times. and since it is in ancient greek, you also need the language skills of jjack pastor of israel's r and mcol

and woodrow wilson was an important figure to focus on to get his support. what is is interesting is woodrow met with the naacp two names. two times with johnson in his office and one time over the silent protest down fifth avenue in new york protesting mob violence that happened in st. louis. this is what the naacp is doing here. and then what they do get from wilson and harding are statements against lynching. it took a lot of letter writing. but wilson made a statement saying there have been many lynches and everyone of them is a blow and no men who loves america and care for her fame, honor and character or who is truly loyal to her institution can justify mob action while the courts of justice are open and the governments of states are ready to deal with their duties. you have individuals like the boys walter white and johnson enix change with wilson and also in exchange with harding. and harding says to make this statement to congress. congress talks about the barbaric lynching from the banners of a free and ordered representative democracy. the naacp w

it was said better by a man who is appear with us now, woodrow wilson. and what happened?nternational league, so they left third base and walked off the field. he tried to tell them that there are big leagues left now and they are no longer playing sandlot ball. they sold him and us hope down the river. >> that was 1918 -- 500 years ago. you can bet your last lincoln penny that uncle sam will be right in there, pitching. >> are you taking any bets? shot fired, they will take all the speeches and pack them away in my fault. they will climb in the bleachers and eat hot dogs. they will watch the other club slug it out. six will get you 12. 20 years from now, they will be opening up new sectors. >> better cut down on the odds, soldier. because when this ballgame is over, a lot of guys to going to be struck out, that's true. but a lot of guys are going to be coming back to home plate and they are going to ask a lot of questions, and they are going to have a lot to say about who does what, and when. contracts and promissory notes are being dished out to them, and they are coming