|
Presidents Theme
edHelper.com Subscribers: Click Here to Build a New Printable Version of this Pre-Made Worksheet! |
Return to Presidents Theme |
| Who is this president? |
|
____ became the 28th president of the United States in 1913 and served two consecutive terms. Born on December 28, 1856, in Staunton, Virginia, ____ regarded himself as the personal representative of the people. He graduated from Princeton University in New Jersey and in 1902 became the university's president. The democrats nominated him for United States president in 1912. He based his campaign on a program called the New Freedom that stressed individual freedom and states' rights. In the three-way election he received 42 percent of the popular vote but an overwhelming electoral vote. ____ was the first southern-born president elected since the Civil War. Important legislation passed during his presidency included the Underwood-Simmons Tariff that reduced duties on imports for the first time in forty years and the attached graduated Federal income tax, a law that prohibited child labor, and another law that limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. In addition, it was during his terms that the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Reserve System were approved by Congress. World War One, which broke out in 1914, had an impact on both of his terms. During the first term, he avoided having the United States drawn into the war, and he won re-election based on this neutrality. When 128 Americans were killed when a German U-boat sank the ocean liner Lusitania in 1915, he urged the Germans to "rein in their submarines" which they did in 1916. The president mounted a peace offensive aimed at ending the world war. However, in February of 1917 the Germans resumed submarine warfare, and on April 2 of that year ____ appeared before Congress asking for a declaration of war. At the end of the war he spent a grueling seven months attending the Paris Peace Conference in 1918, which brought about the Treaty of Versailles and the covenant of the League of Nations. His return to the United States was marked by exhaustion, failing health and strong opposition to the treaty by the Republicans. Thinking it best to take his case for the treaty to the people, he gave 39 speeches at various places in the country in three weeks. The strain, both mental and physical, was too much. On October 2, 1919, ____ suffered a stroke that affected his left side but his intellectual capacity was not altered; however, his emotional balance and judgment were badly impaired. This became the worst case of presidential disability in American history with ____ being "sheltered" by his wife who also made presidential decisions by default. He died three years after leaving the White House.
William H. Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Grover Cleveland
Theodore Roosevelt
Calvin Coolidge
William Henry Harrison
|
Answer Key
|