Woodrow Wilson, Not Explained
Given President Wilson's failure to publicly respond to the first pandemic in modern times, and his failure to follow through on expert advice he was given, it seems prudent to make some observations about him. Warning: Since first learning about him years ago in Hicksville, I have lowered my estimation of Wilson, as soon will be apparent.
He had been a respected academic and administrator, but he was not the typical scholar who published articles on, say, medieval literature or philosophy. He was a student of political science and public policy. He thought himself a visionary who could improve, even reshape, society through government. Thus, he left academia (he was President at Princeton) to become Governor of New Jersey; he next was elected the nation's President. As his status advanced, his aspirations grew accordingly; World War I further magnified his global prestige. Wilson devoted most of his presidency not to domestic matters, but instead to devising plans for the restructuring of a post-war Europe, perhaps even the world, according to his own ideals.
People thought the President a monomaniac, concerned only with the conduct of the war. They were almost correct. He did want a quick victory - but not necessarily to save lives, or to "bring the boys home." Rather, he was in a hurry to begin restructuring Europe and its colonies.
Wilson was a man who clung to his preconceived ideas, even when his advisors warned him of adverse consequences. For example, at Versailles in 1919, he carved up former Ottoman territories in such a way that Sunni and Shia Muslims - deadly enemies, who for centuries had tried to live apart - would be forced to live side-by-side in the same new countries. One imagines the President's thinking, "For Heaven's sake, they're all Arabs, right?"
It should not surprise us that he rejected urgent medical advice he had been given about easing the pandemic. This is not to say that he could have stopped the influenza; that was impossible. But he abused the public's trust severely. He neither ended government practices that led to people's packing themselves together, nor warned the people about the risks they were being encouraged to take. Fate had given Woodrow Wilson his best chance to save American lives, but he had other priorities at the time.
One is tempted to categorize Wilson as a man of ideas, a humanitarian who tried to serve mankind in the abstract. That may be, but he did not seem overly troubled when he allowed the pursuit of his orderly, utopian vision to cost individuals their lives.
