Princeton Lives and Legacies

Possibly the legacy the most in flux among the five discussed in this project, the legacy of Wilson has drastically and at times rapidly changed since his death. Once seen as an idealistic hero to the university and the nation, Wilson has since come under well-merited scrutiny for the racism he propagated but that was previously ignored.

Wilson’s Life, Briefly

Woodrow Wilson, one of perhaps the biggest names to have presided over the Princeton campus, was also a controversial figurehead both during and after the era of the Civil War. Born in Virginia in 1856, Wilson was an undergraduate student at Princeton and then attended the University of Virginia Law School before earning his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. First a conservative professor of political science, he then rose to the rank of university president in 1905. In 1912, he was nominated for President of the United States by the Democratic Party and campaigned on a program of New Freedom that focused on state and individual rights. Winning an overwhelming electoral vote, Wilson’s legacy in the Oval Office includes the passing of three major pieces of legislation through Congress and his asking Congress to declare war on Germany in 1917. Only a year later, he flew to Paris to promote peace and sign the Treaty of Versailles. Soon after, he suffered a stroke and was nursed back to health by his second wife, living until 1924. He is recognized by current President Christopher Eisgruber as the president who turned Princeton into a great research facility. Wilson was previously honored on campus by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and Iternational Affairs and also a residential college. Now named the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and First College, respectively, they had their names changed due to the resurfacing and protest of Wilson’s racism and segregationist policies.

A Letter From A White House Friend

For a controversial member of Princeton’s complicated history, the personal document that we’re attributing to Wilson is this letter written to Wilson by President Theodore Roosevelt at the time of Wilson’s appointment as President of Princeton University. Within the letter, Roosevelt expresses his extreme pleasure at Wilson’s new role and adds another element of public and political popularity to our view of him when he was alive, especially when Roosevelt said he was a fellow “American interested in…productive scholarship that tends to statesmanship” — speaking of both Wilson’s devotion to education and his role as a politician.

“Nation Mourns Wilson’s Death”

The day after Wilson died, The Daily Princetonian ran an issue dominated by Wilson-related coverage. Save for some advertisements and the masthead information, the first two pages of the issue were exclusively about Wilson. Doubly a president, of the university and the nation, Wilson received a proportionately grand tribute in the newspaper with messages from the faculty, the university trustees, and then Princeton President Hibben — all alongside an obituary and more traditional reporting. With so much written about and in praise of Wilson within just one day of his death, it becomes difficult to fully express how instantaneously and formidably Wilson’s post-life legacy was developed. Still, it seems that the immediate remembrance of Wilson upon his death was that of a hero — of the university and the nation. In service of the university, Wilson was lauded for his transformative tenure that grew and advanced the university in its academics to its residential life.

In service of the nation, Wilson was honored for his war-time leadership not only by those at Princeton but also by then U.S. President Calvin Coolidge and former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Overall, from this issue of The Daily Princetonian it would seem that Wilson had justifiably secured himself an overwhelmingly positive legacy that would forever be honored throughout the Princeton campus with countless things bearing the Woodrow Wilson name or simply a connection to him: Wilson College, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, a Woodrow Wilson “marker” (named “Double Sights”, marked on this project’s Story Map and picture below) erected in front of the school, the Woodrow Wilson Award given to alumni, and the school’s unofficial motto that’s attributed to Wilson to give just a few examples.

A Legacy In Turmoil

However, protests organized by the Black Justice League in 2015 would mark the very start of a very slow shift in Wilson’s legacy at Princeton. Among a number of other demands, the Black Justice League included a demand to remove the Wilson name from the public policy school. The opposition to Wilson’s far-reaching legacy on campus took issue with his racist thinking and actions. But it was a demand that wasn’t initially accommodated. Instead, a committee was formed to examine the Wilson legacy, and in 2016 it recommended the Wilson name be retained while calling “for a more full telling of the negative elements of his legacy” instead. In turn, this led to the construction of the “Double Sights” art installation that features both sides of the Wilson legacy. It was unveiled in 2019, marking a seeming conclusion of sorts to the revisiting of Wilson’s legacy.

However, any sense of the issue coming to a close fully disappeared less than a year later, when, under renewed pressure in the midst of a revitalized Black Lives Matter movement and protests, the university backtracked on the Wilson legacy. The public policy school and residential college were stripped of the Wilson name as previously mentioned, and in places where the Wilson name couldn’t be removed such as the Woodrow Wilson Award for alumni (due to restrictions from the award’s origins), notes were added to explain such restrictions on removing the Wilson name.

The Wilson legacy is perhaps currently the most volatile of the legacies covered in this project. His name recently scrubbed from some of its most prominent locations on campus, Wilson’s legacy today is fundamentally different than that seen in the newspaper articles written immediately after his death. At the same time, the removal of Wilson’s name from some parts of campus doesn’t mean his legacy — the good and the bad parts — is erased too. The Princeton of today is the result of the changes he implemented during his tenure as president, both of the university and of the nation, for better or for worse.

Further Resources

“Daily Princetonian 4 February 1924 — Princeton Periodicals.” Link.

Daily Princetonian Staff, Ellen Li, Omar Farah, Kenny Peng, and Ananya Grover. “The BJL Sit-in Five Years Later.” Link.

“History - Double Sights.” Link.

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. “History - Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.” Link.

“Home Page - Double Sights.” Link.

Princeton University. “President Eisgruber’s Message to Community on Removal of Woodrow Wilson Name from Public Policy School and Wilson College.” Link.

“TR Center - Lettter from Theodore Roosevelt to Woodrow Wilson.” Link.

The White House. “Woodrow Wilson.” Link.

“Woodrow Wilson Award - Princeton Alumni.” Link.