The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Volume 24: Jan.-Aug., 1912

This volume opens in January 1912 with the official beginning of the Democratic preconvention presidential campaign, and concludes in August following the Democratic nomination of Wilson for president.


Documented here is Wilson’s campaign for the nomination, focusing on the issues of tariff, trusts, and Wall Street control of credit, and incidentally foreshadowing his great New Freedom addresses later in 1912. Many personal and political letters are included that have never before been published, as well as the test and news reports of all Wilson’s important speeches. Champ Clark seemed the likely nominee when the Democratic convention opened in Baltimore on June 25, but Wilson eventually won on the forty-sixth ballot. The end of this volume finds him preparing for the great campaign immediately ahead.


The volume also gives significant attention to Wilson’s continuing career as Governor of New Jersey and well illustrates the difficulties of a Democratic governor attempting to deal with a Republican legislature.