Wilson lived in Washington for almost three years after leaving office in March 1921. Though disabled, he never wavered in his conviction that the United States should and would eventually join the League of Nations, and he took a keen interest in politics. In one of his last public appearances he rode in the funeral procession of his younger and supposedly healthy successor, Harding. Wilson died in his sleep at his Washington home. His remains were interred in the newly begun National Cathedral; he is the only president buried in the capital city.
Legacy
In the years immediately after his death, Wilson’s reputation suffered from his failure on the League of Nations and the rise of the Republicans to leadership in the 1920s. It declined further during the 1930s with historical reconsideration of World War I. But during World War II Wilson’s reputation enjoyed a resurgence, as his policies were viewed as prescient in seeking to prevent further global conflict.
The 21st century brought further scrutiny of Wilson’s legacy, particularly as it pertained to race. Historians and commentators increasingly examined his administration’s imposition of racial segregation in federal offices and his views on race, which demonstrated sympathy for the Confederacy. In 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Princeton University’s board of trustees voted to remove Wilson’s name from the university’s School of Public and International Affairs, saying, in part, “We must therefore ask whether it is acceptable for this University’s school of public affairs to bear the name of a racist who segregated the nation’s civil service after it had been integrated for decades.”
Wilson therefore emerges as a complex figure: a man who loathed war and sought peace, a man who was capable of transformation as demonstrated in his position on suffrage, a champion for the role of government in protecting the rights of its citizens from abuse, and yet also a man who, at the very least, abetted the discriminatory actions of his administration when it came to racial justice.
Cabinet of Pres. Woodrow Wilson
The table provides a list of cabinet members in the administration of President Woodrow Wilson.
| March 4, 1913–March 3, 1917 (Term 1) | |
|---|---|
| *Department of Commerce and Labor reorganized into separate departments. | |
| State | William Jennings Bryan |
| Robert Lansing (from June 23, 1915) | |
| Treasury | William Gibbs McAdoo |
| War | Lindley Miller Garrison |
| Newton Diehl Baker (from March 9, 1916) | |
| Navy | Josephus Daniels |
| Attorney General | James McReynolds |
| Thomas Watt Gregory (from September 3, 1914) | |
| Interior | Franklin Knight Lane |
| Agriculture | David Franklin Houston |
| Commerce* | William Cox Redfield |
| Labor* | William Bauchop Wilson |
| March 4, 1917–March 3, 1921 (Term 2) | |
| State | Robert Lansing |
| Bainbridge Colby (from March 23, 1920) | |
| Treasury | William Gibbs McAdoo |
| Carter Glass (from December 16, 1918) | |
| David Franklin Houston (from February 2, 1920) | |
| War | Newton Diehl Baker |
| Navy | Josephus Daniels |
| Attorney General | Thomas Watt Gregory |
| A. Mitchell Palmer (from March 5, 1919) | |
| Interior | Franklin Knight Lane |
| John Barton Payne (from March 13, 1920) | |
| Agriculture | David Franklin Houston |
| Edwin Thomas Meredith (from February 2, 1920) | |
| Commerce | William Cox Redfield |
| Joshua Willis Alexander (from December 16, 1919) | |
| Labor | William Bauchop Wilson |