Woodrow & Ellen Axson Wilson ~ Roses & The League of Nations
Patriots for Peace
- (Thomas)Woodrow Wilson(1856-1924) 28th US President(1913-1921)
- Governor of New Jersey(1910-1912)
- Established League of Nations per Versailles Peace Conference>Nobel Prize for Peace 1919
American Desk Encyclopedia,Oxford University Press
Woodrow Wilson was a liberal, and I am not,usually, but the man, his work; his namesake first lady and her work have always been favorites. In fact,
he was a favorite of my childhood family dinnertalk, since, before the League of Nations, the parent of the UN,
the concept of World Peace was a fantasy. My Father would impress upon us,
in his Libran style, that getting the League of Nations off the ground was
considered astounding, a godlike achievement...Men make war..it's just what they do! World Peace was like the airplane..."it'll never fly!"
Being a believer in the humanitarian, he would fall into a subtly sardonic mode, explaining that unless men are killing each other, they become fearful that healthy competition and equal chances at
winning life's prizes might not survive as a human concept. This woeful condition might then lead to the dissipation and demise of the world itself, and the onset of terrible diseases, as our health disintegrated due to the lack of psychic exercise provided by all-out war as the fundamental competitive endeavor.
He loved us,
and believed in World Political peace as a desirable end, and since he went to the trouble of emoting about the bedrock motive for war to me as his eldest, I took the trouble to remember his words on the subject.
I was always an arts/mother profile, with interesting moments
promised and often included in town "specialstuff", since I was interested...but still dreamt, sometimes, of working at the UN...in my youngirl's mind's eye, I would see myself "swanning about" bringing my humble ladies' powers for peace and wonderful world things, looking as elegant in appearance and thought and action as Audrey Hepburn, daughter of diplomats.
I am sorry that my knowledge of the United Nations was not more active. All I grasp, without online refreshers at their wonderful site is that every twenty years or so, the United Nations is mentioned as woefuly inadequate to cope with a specific political situation; everyone rallies the focus at them and helps them upgrade to do better next time. Thereafter, for quite a long time, by modern time measurements, many threatening political situations are resolved at the famous UN roundtable with barely a mention in the press, and the whole world enjoys the healing sleep. I was not anxious when the United Nations was criticized recently for its failures to solve on terrorist and other world-endangering issues. I simply thought:
"Oh,Oh!...time to upgrade at the UN!"
In girlhood, my Father warned me away from emulating Mrs. Wilson too much,
since she "won her Woodrow", a young feminist artist, daughter of a preacher, ruler of his household when her mother died too young...till she and Woodrow discovered one another, she was famous for proclaiming disinterest in marriage... "milady protests too much", while no such coy ploys would work for me. So I saved in-depth study of the amazing First Lady for later in life.
It was Ellen Wilson's religious background and idealistic spirit, "love is an action word" approach to things that encouraged Woodrow Wilson in his desire to promote the
League of Nations in the the first place.The concept of World Peace was simply not popular or practical. The Wilson's initiative's in Peace would have been considered cause to raise an eyebrow.
In pre-presidential years, their tenure at Princeton still reads as luminous time in the history of the University. They made
design and architectural improvements at the institution that were later evolved
for the White House, including the famous Rose Gardens at both places.
Ellen Wilson's paintings were shown routinely, though discretely,
in respect of her role as First Lady.
I also admired her for personal reasons. As a girl, even the sisters said that
it was our duty as young women to realize that the world hurls trouble at leaders
to trip them up, sometimes deliberately, while they are focused into their
world-changing responsibilities. We were told not to be personally too critical of
rumors of mischiefs among our leaders, since it was difficult to avoid the
dart, once it was thrown. But the Wilsons team was a romance to make the
fictions seem boring and trite.
Can you imagine being in debate with the world's leaders over the
League of Nations and writing to your wife: "Love and Love alone..."for you inspires and bears me up through these stressful days........now, THAT'S a president!
" Theirs was a truly romantic relationship; it was estimated that during the course of their nearly 30-year marriage, they exchanged 1,400 love notes."(source: Multieducator.com...link below to first ladies pages -Ellen Wilson)
Ellen Wilson died of complications from Bright's disease, kidney problems, the fighter's malady: the fighter for peace felled by the onset of World War I, as Woodrow Wilson described it himself later, before his remarriage, grieving for her, he would say that
he was glad that, at least, she "did to have to see this(the horrors of World War I)".
Born May 15, 1860, she died at the White House on August 6, 1914.
I will refresh my facts and approach on this page, and continue...
these are just quick notes to start.
---elle fagan
Related Web Sites
The White House
Worth a stop for every American.
Links for Presidents & First Ladies.
The United Nations
Woodrow Wilson House
Ellen Louise Axson
The Nobel Prize e-museum
Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points"
an elle fagan artsite
Email: esfagan@ellefagan.com