Wilson: The New Freedom

Arthur S. Link

Woodrow Wilson was swept into the White House on the basis of a program characterized by the words "The New Freedom." The exciting story of his attempts to put this program into effect, in spite of a sometimes recalcitrant congress, makes up the body of this book, the second volume in Professor Link's monumental biography of Wilson. Covering the first two years of his presidency and concentrating on domestic issues, Professor Link shows Wilson meeting the complex demands of his new office, selecting his cabinet, paying political debts, organizing congressional support, seeking the approval of the public. Wilson was deeply committed to the reform program, and in the fight to put it into effect the personalities of the Wilson circle and its opponents appear vividly. The picture of Wilson as an astute politician adapting and shaping the forces around him is especially revealing in view of the popular stereotype of Wilson as an impractical, uncompromising idealist. The book also describes the Mexican intervention and the beginnings of the New Freedom diplomacy in Latin American affairs, taking the reader up to the brink of World War I.