Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the only president of the United States to obtain a Doctorate degree, was born in Staunton, Virginia on December 28, 1856. He was of Scottish heritage.

Wilson studied for one year at Davidson College in North Carolina, and three at Princeton, where he achieved his baccalaureate in 1879. He then went to law school at the University of Virginia and had an unsuccessful law practice for a year in Atlanta, Georgia.

He closed his law practice and entered graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University in 1883, and three years later received his doctorate. He published, "Congressional Government", a paper which caught the attention of scholars. The work analyzed differences arising from the separation of the legislative and executive powers in the American Constitution. All things considered, Wilson established an impressive curriculum vitae.

Wilson taught for three years at Bryn Mawr College and for two years at Wesleyan College. He then returned to Princeton's faculty where he was a professor of jurisprudence. He became president of Princeton College from 1902 to 1910. His ideas on reforming education were widely known as were his lectures as a scholar.

Wilson was a thinker, so he entered politics and was elected governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913. William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt split the Republican vote in the presidential election allowing Woodrow Wilson to win. Wilson wrote a book entitled, "The New Freedom", and as president began instituting the reforms he had outlined in his book.

Wilson was a man of peace but was compelled to turn to war. He wanted to stay neutral in World War I, or The Great World War as it was known then. His slogan, "He kept us out of war", got him reelected in 1916.

However, on January 31, 1917, Germany sunk four American ships. Wilson then asked Congress for a declaration of war on April 2, and it was granted on April 6. Wilson mobilized the nation. He never doubted the outcome of the war. He structured the country's manpower; its industry; its commerce and agriculture toward the war effort.

The 1919 Peace Conference in Versailles saw Wilson failed to carry his idea of ideal peace. Wilson became physically incapacitated and this placed a strain on his ability to obtain the support of the American people of the Covenant of the League, a peace effort.

Wilson made a speech at Pueblo Colorado on September 25, 1919 and collapsed. A week later, he suffered a stroke from which he never recovered. He completed the remaining 17 months of his office as an invalid and died three years later on February 3, 1924.

Source:http://nobelprize.org/n obel_prizes/peace/laureates/19 19/wilsonbio.htm

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