Woodrow Wilson - by Christopher Cox

About the Book

"More than a century after he dominated American politics, Woodrow Wilson still fascinates. With panoramic sweep, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn reassesses his life and his role in the movements for racial equality and women's suffrage. The Wilson that emerges is a man superbly unsuited to the moment when he ascended to the presidency in 1912, as the struggle for women's voting rights in America reached the tipping point. The first southern Democrat to occupy the White House since the Civil War era brought with him to Washington like-minded men who quickly set to work segregating the federal government. Wilson's own sympathy for Jim Crow and states' rights animated his years-long hostility to the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, which promised universal suffrage backed by federal enforcement. Women demonstrating for voting rights found themselves demonized in government propaganda, beaten and starved while illegally imprisoned, and even confined to the insane asylum. When, in the twilight of his second term, two-thirds of Congress stood on the threshold of passing the Anthony Amendment, Wilson abruptly switched his position. But in sympathy with like-minded southern Democrats, he acquiesced in a "race rider" that would protect Jim Crow. The heroes responsible for the eventual success of the unadulterated Anthony Amendment are brought to life by Christopher Cox, an author steeped in the ways of Washington and political power. This is a brilliant, carefully researched work that puts you at the center of one of the greatest advances in the history of American democracy"--

Book Synopsis

An "assiduously researched" (The Wall Street Journal), "powerful...dispassionate new biography" (The Christian Science Monitor) of Woodrow Wilson, focused on his role in the long national struggle for racial equality and women's voting rights.

More than a century after his death, Woodrow Wilson's influence on American politics remains strong while his contradictions loom larger than ever. With panoramic sweep, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn examines his life and times, focusing especially on the 28th president's opposition to the movements for racial equality and women's voting rights. The Wilson who emerges is a man superbly unsuited to the moment when, as he ascended to the presidency in 1912, the struggle for women's voting rights in America reached the tipping point.

The first southern Democrat to occupy the White House since the Civil War era brought with him to Washington like-minded men who quickly set to work segregating the federal government. Wilson's own sympathy for Jim Crow and states' rights animated his decades-long hostility to the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, which promised universal suffrage backed by federal enforcement. Women demonstrating for voting rights found themselves demonized in government propaganda, beaten and starved while illegally imprisoned, and even confined to the insane asylum.

When, in the twilight of his second term, two-thirds of Congress stood on the threshold of passing the Anthony Amendment, Wilson abruptly switched his position. But in sympathy with like-minded southern Democrats, he endorsed a plan to rewrite the Anthony Amendment to protect Jim Crow restrictions on the voting rights of Black women. The heroes responsible for the eventual success of the unadulterated Anthony Amendment are brought to life by Christopher Cox, an author steeped in the ways of Washington and political power. This is a "Pulitzer Prize-worthy history" (The Washington Examiner) that puts you at the center of one of the greatest advances in the history of American democracy.

Review Quotes

" Cox presents an Everest of evidence that Wilson's progressivism smoothly melded with his authoritarianism. . . . A stunning chronicle."--George F. Will "The Washington Post"

"A dispassionate new biography. . . . A doggedly researched and soberly told story of American progress--and the president who stood in its way. . . . Wilson's presidency is a reminder of Congress's essential role as a change-maker."-- "The Economist"

"[An] assiduously researched biography. . . . The chapters chronicling the Silent Sentinels are difficult to read without sadness." --Barton Swaim "The Wall Street Journal"

"Christopher Cox has written a powerful reappraisal of the 28th U.S. president that reaches devastating conclusions."-- "The Christian Science Monitor"

"[A] deeply researched, important new biography... Richly detailed and provides an array of shocking examples that might be new to armchair historians." -- "Washington Monthly"

"A Pulitzer Prize-worthy new history about former President Woodrow Wilson." -- "The Washington Examiner"

"A persuasive counterweight to laudatory Woodrow Wilson biographies of the past. Highly readable, compendious, eloquent."--W. Barksdale Maynard, award-winning author of Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency

"Of all Wilson biographies, this is the first to supply the cultural and historical backdrop necessary to fully understand the 28th president. We discover an age populated by many more enlightened figures than we imagined, and a president who too often fell far short of their ideals. With unsurpassed knowledge of American legislative procedure, Cox illuminates a mystery--why Wilson failed to win Congress's support for the Versailles Treaty--while his thorough research brilliantly captures the unexpected greatness of Wilson's foes in the fight for women's suffrage. In sum, a tour de force that assembles all the missing pieces in the Wilson story to complete the biography of a man America twice elected president but is only just coming to understand."--Amity Shlaes, New York Times bestselling author of Coolidge and The Forgotten Man

"Woodrow Wilson was a man of contradictions. Christopher Cox lays them bare in this unflinching biography. An essential read for anyone who wants to know if we should honor Wilson or shun him--or simply wants to understand him better."--Beverly Gage, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century

"Cox's wonderful new book explores the deep connections between Wilson's long resistance to women's voting rights and his enduring opposition to political and social equality for Black people. In the process he illuminates not only the life of the 28th president, but an amazing cast of characters who were Wilson's contemporaries. It all makes for brilliant, eye-opening, page-turning history."--Walter Stahr, New York Times bestselling author of Chase: Lincoln's Vital Rival and Seward: Lincoln's Indispensable Man

About the Author

Christopher Cox is a Senior Scholar in Residence at the University of California, Irvine, a Life Trustee of the University of Southern California, Chair of the Rhodes Scholarship selection committee for Southern California and the Pacific, and a member of several nonprofit and for-profit boards. Between two decades as a practicing lawyer, he served as chair of the Homeland Security Committee in the US House of Representatives, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and senior associate counsel to the President. He has written for Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, The Detroit News, The Denver Post, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and dozens of other publications. Visit LightWithdrawn.com (password: Simon&Schuster).