The President Woodrow Wilson House, Washington, United States

The Woodrow Wilson House was the residence of the Twenty-Eighth President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson after he left office It is at 2340 S Street NW just off Washington, DC’s Embassy Row On February 3, 1924, Wilson died in an upstairs bedroom It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 The National Trust for Historic Preservation owns the house and operates it as a museum

The President Woodrow Wilson House gives a special glimpse into the private life of Woodrow Wilson while preserving his important legacy for future generations After serving as the twenty-eighth President of the United States, where he led the nation through World War I, won the Nobel Peace Prize and created the League of Nations, Woodrow Wilson moved to S Street in 1921 to reflect on his career as educator, president and world statesman

The house was built by Henry Fairbanks in 1915 on a design by prominent masonic Washington architect Waddy Wood President Woodrow Wilson bought it in the last months of his second term as President of the United States as a gift to his wife, Edith Bolling Wilson He presented her the deed in December 1920, although he had never seen the house The former president and his wife moved into the home on Inauguration Day, which in 1921 was March 4 (not the current date of January 20) Wilson made several modifications to the house, including a billiard room, stacks for his library of over 8,000 books, and a one-story brick garage

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It was from the balcony of the house that Wilson addressed a crowd on November 11, 1923, as his last public appearance While the Wilsons had few guests, former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and former French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau did visit the ailing former president there After Wilson’s death in 1924, Edith Wilson lived there until her death on December 28, 1961 She hosted First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy for a brunch in the formal dining room Edith bequeathed the property and all of its original furnishings to the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856 – February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921 A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910 and as Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913 Wilson’s victory in the 1912 presidential election made him the first Southerner elected to the presidency since Zachary Taylor in 1848, and Wilson became a leading force in the Progressive Movement He also led the United States during World War I, establishing an activist foreign policy known as “Wilsonianism” He was a major leader at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where he championed the proposed League of Nations However, he was unable to obtain Senate approval for US membership He suffered debilitating strokes in September 1919; after that his wife and staff handled most of his presidential duties

Born in Staunton, Virginia, he spent his early years in Augusta, Georgia and Columbia, South Carolina His father was a leading Presbyterian in the Confederacy during the Civil War, and Wilson was always a devout Presbyterian and a proud Southerner He took a law degree and then one of the first PhDs in political science awarded by Johns Hopkins University He served as a professor and scholar at various institutions before being selected as President of Princeton University, a position he held from 1902 to 1910 Wilson became a notable academic, arguing for the superiority of the parliamentary system He was associated with Grover Cleveland and the conservative Bourbon Democrats until 1910, when he moved left With the help of state Democratic bosses, Wilson won the 1910 Democratic nomination for governor of New Jersey, and was elected as a fresh reformer, holding office from 1911 to 1913 He overthrew the same bosses and gained a national reputation He won the 1912 Democratic presidential nomination after forty-six rounds of balloting, with support from William Jennings Bryan Former President Theodore Roosevelt’s third party candidacy split the Republican Party, which re-nominated incumbent President William Howard Taft Wilson won the 1912 election with a plurality of the popular vote and a large majority in the electoral college

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