We have carried in our minds the ideals of those men who first set their foot upon America,

those little bands who came to make a foothold in the wilderness,

because the great teeming nations that they had left behind them had forgotten what human liberty was,

liberty of thought, liberty of religion, liberty of residence, liberty of action.

Since their day, the meaning of liberty has deepened, but it has not ceased to be a fundamental

demand of the human spirit, a fundamental necessity for the life of the soul.

And the day is at hand when it shall be realized on this consecrated soil,

a new freedom, a liberty widened and deepened to match the broadened life of man in modern

America, restoring to him in very truth the control of his government, throwing wide all gates

of lawful enterprise, unfettering his energies, and warming the generous impulses of his heart.

Woodrow Wilson, the new freedom.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music of the 20th century. Episode 68

The New Freedom

Back in episode 63, we looked at the U.S. presidential election of 1912 and ended

the story upon the election of Woodrow Wilson as the 28th President of the United

States. Today I want to begin to talk about Woodrow Wilson's presidency, but before I do that,

I should introduce him to you properly. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born on December 28, 1856 in Staunton, Virginia, to a Scots-Irish family.

His father was the Reverend Joseph Ruggles Wilson, the son of immigrants from Northern Ireland,

who became a Presbyterian minister and a professor of theology.

His mother, Jesse Janet Woodrow, was born in Carlisle, England,

the daughter of a Scottish Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Dr. Thomas Woodrow.

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