Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/3/2016,SPi
SPIRITUAL LIVES
GeneralEditor
TimothyLarsen
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/3/2016,SPi
SPIRITUAL LIVES
GeneralEditor
TimothyLarsen
The Spiritual Lives series features biographies of prominent men and
women whose eminence is not primarily based on a specifically
religious contribution. Each volume provides a general account of
thefigure’slifeandthought,whilegivingspecialattentiontohisorher
religiouscontexts,convictions,doubts,objections,ideas,andactions.
Manyleadingpoliticians,writers,musicians,philosophers,andscientists
haveengageddeeplywithreligioninsignificantandresonantwaysthat
have often been overlooked or underexplored. Some of the volumes
will even focus on men and women who were lifelong unbelievers,
attending to how they navigated and resisted religious questions,
assumptions,andsettings.Thebooksinthisserieswillthereforerecast
importantfiguresinfreshandthought-provokingways.
Forthcomingvolumes:
BenjaminFranklin
TheSecularizationofPuritanism
DarrylHart
QueenVictoria
TheHighestintheLand
MichaelLedger-Lomas
EbenezerHoward
HeraldoftheGardenCityMovement
FrancesKnight
JohnStuartMill
ASecularLife
TimothyLarsen
ChristinaRossetti
Poetry,Ecology,Faith
EmmaMason
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/3/2016,SPi
Woodrow Wilson
Ruling Elder, Spiritual President
BARRY HANKINS
1
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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/3/2016,SPi
Dedicated to Ron and Betty Bailey, whose legacy
of Christian service knows no bounds
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/3/2016,SPi
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/3/2016,SPi
Preface
When Woodrow Wilson was elected as a ruling elder in the Presby-
terian Church in 1897, his preacher father allegedly remarked,
“I would rather that he held that position than be president of the
UnitedStates.”1FifteenyearslaterWilsonwasboth.Easilyoneofthe
most religious presidents in American history, Wilson’s every policy
and many of his most important speeches were infused with the
Calvinist Presbyterian theology that enveloped his entire family.
The son, grandson, and nephew of southern Presbyterian divines,
with six consecutive generations of preachers on his mother’s side,
Wilsonviewedhispoliticalcareerasasacredcalling.Theleaderofthe
Democratic Party claimed that just before the inauguration in 1913
Wilsonsaid,“GodordainedthatIshouldbethenextpresidentofthe
United States.”2 Whether or not Wilson actually said this, there can
be little doubt that he believed it. As scholar, Princeton University
president, governor of New Jersey, then president, Wilson spent his
entire career trying to further the cause of public righteousness. In
1905heutteredhislife’scredo:“Thereisamightytaskbeforeusand
itweldsustogether.ItistomaketheUnitedStatesamightyChristian
nation and to Christianize the World.”3 Indeed, his biographer
ArthurS.Linkmaintainedthat“everyactionandpolicy”ofWilson’s
presidency “was ultimately informed and guided by his Christian
Faith.”4 Still, the twenty-eighth president was not principally a reli-
giousfigure,andhefitcomfortablyinnoreligiouscampeitherinhis
own time or today. Moreover, there is a debate over whether his
religionhelpedorhinderedhiseffectivenessasastatesman.
Still, when Woodrow Wilson died in early February 1924, noted
travelerandwriterWilliamT.Ellissaidtheformerpresident’screed
had lodged in the minds of more people on earth at that time than
anyone other than Jesus and Mohammad. “It may sound like an
exaggeration to say so,” Ellis said understandably, “but I think it is
true that no other mortal man has ever attained so nearly absolute
universal fame as President Wilson.”5 Piling on with more exagger-
ation and hyperbole, Ellis maintained that Wilson’s fame and
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/3/2016,SPi
viii Preface
significancewentbeyondthatofShakespeare,Caesar,andAlexander
the Great. But what was Wilson’s creed? That question has puzzled
more than one interpreter and at times seems to have vexed Wilson
himself. This book attempts to provide a life of Wilson that answers
thatquestion.
Notes
1. QuotedinJosephusDaniels,TheLifeofWoodrowWilson,1856–1924(Chicago:
John C. Winston Co., 1924), 359. This quote apparently comes from
Daniels’srecollection.Ihavebeenunabletofinditanywhereinthecorpus
ofWilsonprimarysources.
2. QuotedinGaryScottSmith,FaithandthePresidency:FromGeorgeWashington
toGeorgeW.Bush(NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,2006),426.
3. ArthurS.Link,ed.,ThePapersofWoodrowWilson(Princeton,NJ:Princeton
UniversityPress,1966),16,228.
4. Arthur S. Link, The Higher Realism of Woodrow Wilson and Other Essays
(Nashville,TN:VanderbiltUniversityPress),4.
5. “SaysWilsonCreedLivesinAllLands,”NewYorkTimes,February6,1924,2.
OUPCORRECTEDPROOF–FINAL,28/3/2016,SPi
Acknowledgments
Severalindividualsandinstitutionsaidedandencouragedthisproject.
Noneisresponsibleforanyerrorsoffact,judgment,orinterpretation
herein. First, thanks to Tim Larsen for including me in the Spiritual
Lives Series of which this volume is a part. Malcolm Magee and
another scholar who remained anonymous read the proposal and
offered insightful criticism and helpful encouragement. Peggy
Bendroth, Perry Glanzer, Andrea Turpin, and Ben Wetzel read
selected chapters of the manuscript and provided excellent insights,
while P. C. Kemeny answered queries about Wilson and Princeton.
TheBaylorUniversityResearchCouncilawardedasemesterresearch
leavetoworkontheproject.ThanksalsotoPattyOrr,DeanofBaylor
Libraries, for developing such an excellent Inter Library Loan office
thatdeliversmaterialstoouroffices.LibbyShocklyandtheothersat
the ILL tracked down everything I needed and always in a timely
manner. My graduate research assistants Adina Johnson, Brendan
Payne,andPaulPutzprovidedallmanner ofhelp infindingsources
and chasing rabbits. Paul provided the index as well. At Oxford
University Press I would like to thank Tom Perridge, Karen Raith,
and the others with whom I had professional and pleasant inter-
actions. Good copyeditors are among authors’ best friends, so new
booksoften mean new friends. Sarah Harrison isthat person onthis
book, and I thank her for catching my errors, typos, and infelicitous
renderings.
Finally,IwouldliketothankBaylorUniversityingeneralandmy
colleaguesinthehistorydepartmentinparticularfortheirsupportin
all my work. I can scarcely imagine a better place to have spent the
pasttwentyyears.
Note:Aslightlydifferentversionofchapter8appearedpreviously
as“PacifistWarrior:WoodrowWilsonandtheCalltoWar,”inPhilip
Jenkins, ed., Remembering Armageddon: Religion and the First World War
(Waco,TX:ISRBooks,2014).Itisusedherebypermission.
