I've officially closed out WWI with this interesting biography of an underappreciated American president in Woodrow Wilson.
Wilson will forever be known as the president that got the country through the Great War, then led the formation of the League of Nations. What I hadn't realized was that the U.S. did not sign on as a member of the League during Wilson's lifetime. He was the visionary behind the League, spending six months in France fighting for its formation as part of the post WWI treaty negotiations. But upon his return to the U.S.Wilson was unable to persuade the Republican-led Senate to ratify the treaty, leaving that organization adrift without its architect and most outspoken proponent.
The League was far from perfect, infamously failing to prevent World War II. But without the failed trial of the League and the lessons learned during its adolescence, the United Nations would likely never have formed. That's Wilson's legacy for me.
I'll round out my exploration of Wilson by visiting his official library near his birthplace in Staunton, VA during my next drive to visit my mom in Tennessee.
Next up, the 1920s. F. Scott Fitzgerald, jazz, prohibition, the Great Depression and so much more.
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