Woodrow Wilson and World War I: A Burden Too Great to Bear

by Richard Striner

Overview

This book is a story of Presidential failure, a chronicle of Woodrow Wilson’s miscalculations in war, and a harrowing account of the process through which an intelligent American leader fell to pieces under a burden he could not bear. Historian Richard Striner argues persuasively that President Woodrow Wilson failed his responsibilities as a wartime leader in World War I. With the patience of a prosecuting attorney, Striner presents the facts of Wilson’s wartime situation, considers the options that were open to him, explains his decision-making process, and then critiques his failure to engage in sufficient contingency planning as events played out. Striner interweaves narration, analytical commentary, and quotations from Wilson’s advisors and contemporaries to convey the feeling of history as sensed by the people who were making it. Striner argues that as America entered the war, Wilson’s character flaws emerged, worsened by medical conditions that clinicians have diagnosed as having reached the point of dementia by 1919. This tragic story of presidential leadership failure will be of interest to all readers of America’s military history and the American presidency.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442229389
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/21/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	310
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Richard Striner is professor of history at Washington College and the author of Lincoln’s Way: How Six Great Presidents Created American Power (R&L 2010), a History Book Club selection, as well as Father Abraham: Lincoln’s Relentless Struggle to End Slavery.

Editorial Reviews

04/15/2014
President Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) often appears just below the top tier of our former presidents. In the century since his presidency (1913–21), Wilson's popularity has risen and fallen along with the tide of how Americans view the Progressive Era and the advent of an activist government. Striner (history, Washington Coll.), well known for his studies of Abraham Lincoln, here takes a critical look at Wilson's actions as a wartime leader. The author is unsparing in his criticism of Wilson's lack of preparation for America's eventual entry into World War I and derides him for his naive belief in his powers of personal diplomacy in dealing with the complexity of the Allied cause. Striner concludes that Wilson was generally incompetent when it came to managing America's war effort. Given that Wilson knew he lacked experience in foreign affairs, one may find Striner's criticism a bit unfair. Wilson certainly had his faults, but how much his performance displayed incompetence and how much it simply reflected the remarkable complexity of fighting a modern war is a matter of opinion. VERDICT This well-written and well-researched book deserves attention in academic libraries but should be balanced with other recent works by John Milton Cooper Jr. or A. Scott Berg.—Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

Library Journal

Many historians and political scientists regard Woodrow Wilson as visionary, deeply intellectual, and energetic. But with this suspenseful and highly readable study of Wilson as a war president one of America’s subtlest thinkers about presidential leadership forces us to reconsider Wilson’s sterling reputation. Richard Striner’s searching critique of Wilson’s temperament and personality, and his deep understanding of the stakes of Wilson’s weaknesses, underscore just how much the competence of our leaders shape history.

Richard Valelly

Timed to the centenary of WW I, this book offers a strongly argued and sharply focused attack on the presidential leadership of Woodrow Wilson. Using letters, speeches, diaries, and some traditional biographies.. . .it was once the staple of 'realist' thinkers about international affairs from Hans Morgenthau through Henry Kissinger. [R]arely has it been put this forcefully, or have Wilson's manifest mistakes in strategic thinking and contingency planning been so thoroughly dissected. Striner contends that from his initial 'unwise' appeal to Americans to remain 'impartial in thought' as well as neutral in action, Wilson was a 'disaster' as a wartime leader and 'dreadfully incompetent' in the peace negotiations that followed. The author occasionally mitigates the harshness of his critique by citing the possibility of various medical and psychological explanations for Wilson's behavior, and asks at the end of the book whether Wilson should be the 'object of our castigation or our pity?'.. . Striner thoroughly rejects the 'Wilson as the visionary prophet' view of Arthur Link, as well as the more sympathetic writings of Thomas Knock and John Milton Cooper. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.

Choice Reviews

Woodrow Wilson and World War I should be required reading for our political leaders. Richard Striner has written not only an incisive critique of Wilson’s wartime leadership, but a primer on how presidents must plan for the unthinkable at every turn, and be ready to respond.

Clay Risen

Brains” Wilson, the oracular professor-president, has seen his stock rise and dip over the years, yet Striner’s book – culled from letters, speeches, diaries and the main biographies — constitutes about as sharp a market correction as the data permits. Whatever his strengths as a Progressive reformer, Wilson was a disastrous strategist and war leader. Readers of this book will be stunned by the President’s listless preparation for an intervention in the Great War that was all but inevitable. Worse, Striner shows that Wilson took great-power diplomacy and jockeying personally, swerving weirdly between sympathy for the Entente and sympathy for the Germans. This damnable imprecision about alliances, strategy and war aims subverted America’s massive deterrent power and indeed nearly caused the AEF to miss the war, and the opportunity to roll back the last-ditch German offensives in 1918.

Geoffrey Wawro

Timed to the centenary of WW I, this book offers a strongly argued and sharply focused attack on the presidential leadership of Woodrow Wilson. Using letters, speeches, diaries, and some traditional biographies.. . .it was once the staple of 'realist' thinkers about international affairs from Hans Morgenthau through Henry Kissinger. [R]arely has it been put this forcefully, or have Wilson's manifest mistakes in strategic thinking and contingency planning been so thoroughly dissected. Striner contends that from his initial 'unwise' appeal to Americans to remain 'impartial in thought' as well as neutral in action, Wilson was a 'disaster' as a wartime leader and 'dreadfully incompetent' in the peace negotiations that followed. The author occasionally mitigates the harshness of his critique by citing the possibility of various medical and psychological explanations for Wilson's behavior, and asks at the end of the book whether Wilson should be the 'object of our castigation or our pity?'.. . Striner thoroughly rejects the 'Wilson as the visionary prophet' view of Arthur Link, as well as the more sympathetic writings of Thomas Knock and John Milton Cooper. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.

CHOICE

Timed to the centenary of WW I, this book offers a strongly argued and sharply focused attack on the presidential leadership of Woodrow Wilson. Using letters, speeches, diaries, and some traditional biographies. . . .it was once the staple of 'realist' thinkers about international affairs from Hans Morgenthau through Henry Kissinger. [R]arely has it been put this forcefully, or have Wilson's manifest mistakes in strategic thinking and contingency planning been so thoroughly dissected. Striner contends that from his initial 'unwise' appeal to Americans to remain 'impartial in thought' as well as neutral in action, Wilson was a 'disaster' as a wartime leader and 'dreadfully incompetent' in the peace negotiations that followed. The author occasionally mitigates the harshness of his critique by citing the possibility of various medical and psychological explanations for Wilson's behavior, and asks at the end of the book whether Wilson should be the 'object of our castigation or our pity?'. . . Striner thoroughly rejects the 'Wilson as the visionary prophet' view of Arthur Link, as well as the more sympathetic writings of Thomas Knock and John Milton Cooper. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.

Choice

Many historians and political scientists regard Woodrow Wilson as visionary, deeply intellectual, and energetic. But with this suspenseful and highly readable study of Wilson as a war president one of America’s subtlest thinkers about presidential leadership forces us to reconsider Wilson’s sterling reputation. Richard Striner’s searching critique of Wilson’s temperament and personality, and his deep understanding of the stakes of Wilson’s weaknesses, underscore just how much the competence of our leaders shape history.

Richard Vallely