The “Two Mr. Wilsons”: Party Government, Personal Leadership, and Woodrow Wilson’s Political Thought

Abstract

Woodrow Wilson’s political thought on statesmanship and governance reveals a consistent tension between party and personal leadership. I trace three phases of Wilson’s political thought, analyzing this tension under a framework of Edmund Burke’s idea of party government and Henry Bolingbroke’s conception of the “Patriot King.” First, in his early scholarship, Wilson adopted the Burkean notion of unifying the legislative and executive branches to promote effective party government. Second, in his later scholarship and political career, Wilson embraced a view of the president as having the ability to bring about responsible party government through the power of personal leadership—implicitly using Bolingbroke’s means for Burke’s ends. Third, as his presidency came to focus more on foreign affairs, Wilson defended presidential prerogatives for personal leadership akin to a patriot king. This tension influenced Wilson’s presidency and subsequent American political development.

Acknowledgments

Thanks are extended to the anonymous reviewers for their detailed feedback and to Steven B. Smith, Stephen Skowronek, David Mayhew, Samuel DeCanio, Anand Gupta, Sophie Jacobson, Charles Decker, David Lebow, Andrea Katz, and Laura Hatchman for previous comments on this article.

Notes

1 Wilson (1966-94) was aware of Bolingbroke and his work, but his writings always mention Bolingbroke in relation to other figures, including Edmund Burke (1:95; 8:323–24), Walter Bagehot (6:342), and John Wesley (14:505).

2 “Had his bent been to strengthen executive power (as most interpreters have assumed), the opportunity would have been more welcome to Wilson, and one he was keener to seize” (Eden 1995, 500).

3 Wilson read and took extensive notes on Burke’s speech in 1876 (Wilson 1966-94, 1:111–12).

4 Bradford attempted to persuade Wilson that “it is best to push for the admission of the cabinet officers to Congress under the constitution as it is rather than attempt the far harder and more uncertain task of getting the constitution amended” (Wilson 1966-94, 4:250).

5 Prior to the adoption of the Twentieth Amendment, there were approximately four months between a presidential election and inauguration day.

6 Issuing the Sussex pledge in May 1916, Germany had promised to end unrestricted U-boat attacks on merchant and passenger ships in response to Wilson’s threat to break off diplomatic relations.

7 During the Civil War, Congress had established a Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, investigating the war effort and challenging President Abraham Lincoln’s role as Commander-in-Chief.

8 Wilson’s intervention helped to defeat several legislators, including Senator Thomas Hardwick (D-GA), James Vardaman (D-MS), and Representative George Huddleston (D-AL) (Schurin 1998, 412–13).