Wilson
Tsvi Bisk – From Edward Longshanks to Woodrow Wilson
longshanks
King Edward the First– the “Hammer of the Scots” (nicknamed “Longshanks” because of his uncharacteristic height) –slaughtered the Scots and expelled the Jews from the British Isles in 1290. England was “cleansed of Jews” for 265 years until readmitted in 1656 by Oliver Cromwell. There is another side to Longshanks’ however. His “Three Summonses to Parliament” are a vital link in the development of English parliamentarianism and consequently of that constitutionalism which today enables Jews to live as equal citizens in western democracies. Who knows? No Longshanks, no expulsion of British Jews, but also perhaps no further development of constitutionalism and no eventual equality for Jews (or the Scots).
Woodrow Wilson was a rabid racist who proactively introduced Jim Crow into the Federal Civil Service, dealing a crushing blow to the incipient Black middle class, and setting back racial progress for generations. Yet he was also central in introducing the concept of self-determination into international political, social and moral discourse. Wilsonian self-determination was fundamental to the decolonization process after WWII and consequently to the independence of every African country in the United Nations. Self-determination was central to the worldview of Black Nationalists from Marcus Garvey to Franz Fanon to Malcolm X. Who knows? No Woodrow Wilson, no expulsion of Blacks from the Civil Service, but also perhaps no independence for African countries (as well as no President Obama).
Historical figures and events are often paradoxical. Take Andrew Jackson for example. This icon of democratic development (Jacksonian Democracy) is not a favorite of the Cherokee nation, to say the least. They would justifiably be as offended by his being honored on campus as Blacks are by Wilson being honored. The “trail of tears” (1838) resulting from Jackson’s ethnic cleansing policies is one of the sorriest chapters in American history. Yet, it in no way detracts from Jackson’s place in the development of American Democracy, just as Longshanks’ ethnic cleansing of the Jews in no way detracts from his place in the development of constitutionalism.
On the other hand, the Cherokee have their own moral problem. By 1835, 7.4% of Cherokee families owned Black slaves, compared to 5% of white families. One of their major complaints on the “trail of tears” was that their Black slaves were taking advantage of the confusion to escape. The Cherokee ‘slave code’ barred intermarriage with Blacks; barred Blacks from holding public office, bearing arms, voting, or owning property as well as made it illegal to teach Blacks to read or write. The Cherokee cooperated with Creek, Choctaw and Seminole slave owners to capture escaped slaves and these tribes even established slave-catching companies to serve white slave owners – their first venture into American capitalism. Repaying the “debt”, after the Civil War, five Black regiments (the “buffalo soldiers”) played a central role in the ethnic cleansing of the Plains Indians.
In the same vein, I don’t expect Jews and Irish to view Cromwell the same way, or Jews and Armenians to view Turkey the same way, or Jews and Blacks to view Wilson the same way. Cromwell slaughtered the Irish and readmitted the Jews. The Ottoman Turks absorbed Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th and 16th centuries, but committed genocide against the Armenians in the 20th century. Wilson hounded and ground down the Black middle class unmercifully, yet is sometimes called the most pro-Jewish President. He supported the Balfour Declaration. He appointed the first Jew to the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis. He appointed Bernard Baruch to various government positions. He appointed Henry Morgenthau ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. At Princeton he appointed the first Jew to the faculty, and as governor of New Jersey he appointed the first Jew to the state’s Supreme Court. In the history of Jewish civil rights in the United States he holds an honored place. Real history shows that the so-called “solidarity of oppressed minorities”, peddled by the advocates of intersectionality, is simply “progressive” wishful thinking.
So what is Princeton to do? They could remove the Wilson mural from the dining room as a gesture to Black students and common decency (as a Jew I would not like to see Henry Ford’s anti-Semitic face every time I eat). But leaving the name of the Woodrow Wilson College and School of Public and International Affairs as is would not be outrageous (ditto for the Ford Motor Company and the Ford Foundation). No other American is more worthy of that tribute. Every President from Hoover to Obama operated according to Wilsonian principles.
Tsvi Bisk is an Israeli/American futurist. His most recent book is The Suicide of the Jews.
