September 16, 2009
Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency
Barksdale Maynard
Author and Princeton Environmental Institute
Minutes of the First Meeting of 68th Year
President Hansen called the 1st meeting of the 68th season of the Old Guard of Princeton to order at 10:17 a.m. The Invocation was led by Don Edwards. Harvey Rothberg read the minutes of the May 27th meeting. There were five guests: George Hansen introduced Robert Vichnevetsky; Bob Hopkins introduced Matthew Reneck; Charles Stenard introduced Jean Mahoney and Jerry Berkelhammer introduced his wife Sheila. President Hansen also introduced John Matsen, the uncle of the speaker. The attendance: 185.
Jack Reilly introduced new emeritus members: J. Stuart Hunter, Cyril Franks, Stuart Carothers, J.B. Smith, Theodore Vial, Arthur Morgan and Rosser Clark. He also announced the list of new member applicants.
The passing of two emeritus members, William Littleford and Gene Haring was announced. There was a moment of silence.
Bob Varrin introduced the speaker, W. Barksdale Maynard, an accomplished scholar in the field of architectural history, who is with the Princeton Environmental Institute. His topic - “Woodrow Wilson - Princeton To The Presidency,” the title of his book published in 2008.
The speaker began by telling of a man who read his book and them complained that he wanted to read about Woodrow Wilson, but found the book was full of Princeton, Princeton, Princeton! That was no surprise to Mr. Maynard since his book looks at how Princeton shaped Wilson and then how Wilson shaped Princeton.
Wilson arrived in Princeton as a freshman in 1875. He had been born and raised in the south, the son of a prominent and somewhat domineering Presbyterian minister father. As a boy Thomas Woodrow Wilson was known as “Tommy” Wilson. He had been encouraged to become a Presbyterian minister, like his father, but resisted, saying he wanted to avoid the bickering and backbiting he had seen in the church. Instead he leaned toward writing and a life as an academic which, as the speaker pointed out, led him into an environment of even more bickering and backbiting.
At Princeton, Wilson’s mind began to awaken. He was awed by the library with its depository of the wisdom of the ages. He joined the Whig Debating Society, and decided to use his middle name, Woodrow, rather than the more boyish “Tommy“. While he was drawn by academics, he also loved sports, but hated science. He was brilliant, but his marks were unimpressive.
Law studies at the University of Virginia followed, but the practice of law bored him. He married Ellen Axson, and after teaching at Johns Hopkins, Bryn Mawr and Wesleyan, he came to Princeton to teach in 1890. There he was in his element. He was an extremely popular lecturer and in 1896 delivered the “Princeton In The Nation’s Service” speech which was highly acclaimed. Chosen President of Princeton University in 1902, he promoted his quad plan, introduced the preceptor system and fought the eating clubs. He wanted the socially elite to mingle with scholarship students from Iowa, promoting one wealthy student to mutter, “Wilson wants me to chum with a mucker!”
The Battle of Princeton ensued, with Wilson pitted against trustee and millionaire Moses Taylor Pyne, Graduate School Dean Andrew West, and West’s close friend, former U.S. President and Princeton resident Grover Cleveland. Wilson wanted the Graduate College in the center of campus, while Pyne, West and Cleveland fought for an off-campus location. Wilson lost, he left the university, and became Governor of New Jersey. Two years later he was elected President of the United States.
Wilson’s strengths - his brilliance and his determination - helped him accomplish much. Yet he could be petty and his determination often hardened into a stubbornness that allowed for no compromise. Some of the same characteristics - both good and bad - that he demonstrated in his Princeton years were also evident in his later political career. The stroke he suffered in 1919 while U.S. President contributed much to the failure of the U.S to enter the League of Nations. Yet, Maynard stated, Wilson probably had several lesser strokes earlier in his career which may have had an effect on his ability and willingness to work effectively with others.
Ironically, nearly one hundred years after Wilson left the Princeton presidency in bitterness, his quad plan was somewhat vindicated with the construction of Whitman College.
Wilson had an enormous impact on Princeton University, yet he was not universally loved by Princeton. Maynard commented that several houses occupied by Wilson during his Princeton years still stand, yet there is not a single plaque to indicate such, and the dorm room he occupied in Witherspoon Hall is now a women’s bathroom.
Respectfully submitted,
David E. Mulford, Sept. 23, 2009
Bibliography: Woodrow Wilson Princeton to the Presidency by W. Barksdale Maynard
Jack Reilly introduced new emeritus members: J. Stuart Hunter, Cyril Franks, Stuart Carothers, J.B. Smith, Theodore Vial, Arthur Morgan and Rosser Clark. He also announced the list of new member applicants.
The passing of two emeritus members, William Littleford and Gene Haring was announced. There was a moment of silence.
Bob Varrin introduced the speaker, W. Barksdale Maynard, an accomplished scholar in the field of architectural history, who is with the Princeton Environmental Institute. His topic - “Woodrow Wilson - Princeton To The Presidency,” the title of his book published in 2008.
The speaker began by telling of a man who read his book and them complained that he wanted to read about Woodrow Wilson, but found the book was full of Princeton, Princeton, Princeton! That was no surprise to Mr. Maynard since his book looks at how Princeton shaped Wilson and then how Wilson shaped Princeton.
Wilson arrived in Princeton as a freshman in 1875. He had been born and raised in the south, the son of a prominent and somewhat domineering Presbyterian minister father. As a boy Thomas Woodrow Wilson was known as “Tommy” Wilson. He had been encouraged to become a Presbyterian minister, like his father, but resisted, saying he wanted to avoid the bickering and backbiting he had seen in the church. Instead he leaned toward writing and a life as an academic which, as the speaker pointed out, led him into an environment of even more bickering and backbiting.
At Princeton, Wilson’s mind began to awaken. He was awed by the library with its depository of the wisdom of the ages. He joined the Whig Debating Society, and decided to use his middle name, Woodrow, rather than the more boyish “Tommy“. While he was drawn by academics, he also loved sports, but hated science. He was brilliant, but his marks were unimpressive.
Law studies at the University of Virginia followed, but the practice of law bored him. He married Ellen Axson, and after teaching at Johns Hopkins, Bryn Mawr and Wesleyan, he came to Princeton to teach in 1890. There he was in his element. He was an extremely popular lecturer and in 1896 delivered the “Princeton In The Nation’s Service” speech which was highly acclaimed. Chosen President of Princeton University in 1902, he promoted his quad plan, introduced the preceptor system and fought the eating clubs. He wanted the socially elite to mingle with scholarship students from Iowa, promoting one wealthy student to mutter, “Wilson wants me to chum with a mucker!”
The Battle of Princeton ensued, with Wilson pitted against trustee and millionaire Moses Taylor Pyne, Graduate School Dean Andrew West, and West’s close friend, former U.S. President and Princeton resident Grover Cleveland. Wilson wanted the Graduate College in the center of campus, while Pyne, West and Cleveland fought for an off-campus location. Wilson lost, he left the university, and became Governor of New Jersey. Two years later he was elected President of the United States.
Wilson’s strengths - his brilliance and his determination - helped him accomplish much. Yet he could be petty and his determination often hardened into a stubbornness that allowed for no compromise. Some of the same characteristics - both good and bad - that he demonstrated in his Princeton years were also evident in his later political career. The stroke he suffered in 1919 while U.S. President contributed much to the failure of the U.S to enter the League of Nations. Yet, Maynard stated, Wilson probably had several lesser strokes earlier in his career which may have had an effect on his ability and willingness to work effectively with others.
Ironically, nearly one hundred years after Wilson left the Princeton presidency in bitterness, his quad plan was somewhat vindicated with the construction of Whitman College.
Wilson had an enormous impact on Princeton University, yet he was not universally loved by Princeton. Maynard commented that several houses occupied by Wilson during his Princeton years still stand, yet there is not a single plaque to indicate such, and the dorm room he occupied in Witherspoon Hall is now a women’s bathroom.
Respectfully submitted,
David E. Mulford, Sept. 23, 2009
Bibliography: Woodrow Wilson Princeton to the Presidency by W. Barksdale Maynard