First in peace

John Milton Cooper Jr.’s much-anticipated biography finally gives Wilson his due. The preeminent living historian of Wilson and his era, Cooper has studied the man and his times for decades. Having written several books about aspects of Wilson’s career, he now presents us with his magnum opus. This book is deeply, indeed exhaustively researched, and beautifully, often movingly narrated. It is far and away the best biography of the 28th president we have, and as such it is unlikely to be surpassed.

Born in 1856 in Virginia, Thomas Woodrow Wilson spent most of his childhood (when he was known as “Tommy’’) in Augusta, Ga. In brisk, illuminating chapters, Cooper covers Wilson’s childhood and education and traces his career as a scholar of American politics and leading academic reformer who, as president of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, began its transformation from a finishing school for Southern gentlemen into a major university.

Cooper lays the groundwork for understanding Wilson’s politics by taking seriously his scholarship, analyzing his writings on the workings of American government and the structures of political power. The only president to hold a PhD, Wilson thought and wrote more deeply about politics than any president outside the founding generation. Though he entered politics, as governor of New Jersey, only two years before his ascent to the White House, he stands among the best prepared presidents to exercise the powers of his office.

Readers who associate Wilson’s presidency primarily with foreign affairs will discover him as a forceful leader on domestic issues, in every way equaling - Cooper would argue, besting - his famously vigorous rival, Theodore Roosevelt. His legislative legacy included the Federal Reserve Act, the income tax, major antitrust laws, and the first laws on child labor, federal aid to farmers, and the eight-hour workday.