Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt - Research Paper Example

His New Deal program significantly enlarged the function and responsibilities of the U.S. federal government. This paper analyzes and discusses the life and legacy of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt as U.S. presidents. The discussion focuses on their response to the bigger national and global issues during their presidency. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, considered himself the defender of the masses and the mouthpiece of the people. He declared, “No one but the President seems to be expected… to look out for the general interests of the country” (Cook 98).

He was a liberal reformist and took on global leadership in creating a new global order. He announced in 1917 that the involvement of the United States in the First World War is a campaign to build a world that is ‘friendly’ to democratic ideologies. Wilson had witnessed the horror and atrociousness of warfare. He was born in 1856 in Virginia to a Presbyterian pastor of the Civil War. After finishing his studies at Princeton and the University of Virginia Law School, he obtained his university degree at John Hopkins University and embarked on an academic profession (Freidel 61).

Wilson progressed quickly as a traditionalist, conformist young university lecturer of political science and was elected in 1902 as head of Princeton. His flourishing national popularity encouraged a number of conservative Democrats to view him as a good candidate for presidency. At first they convinced him to run for the position of New Jersey’s Governor in 1910 (Gaines 48). During the campaign he declared his autonomy from the conservatives and from the system that had recommended him, promoting a liberal program, which he carried out as governor.

In 1912, during the Democratic Convention, Wilson was nominated for presidency and promoted the project New Freedom, which emphasized individuality and the rights of states. In the tripartite