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I just finished reading a fascinating, brilliantly written book about tumultuous events late in Wilson's two-term presidency, "Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America, 1919," by Ann Hagedorn. The author clearly draws parallels from that era to this, providing a valuable historic perspective on today's events.

Wilson is regarded as a champion of freedom for his efforts to spread democratic ideals abroad after World War I, but his practices didn't match his stated ideals.

He reversed racial integration in government offices, refused to seek federal authority to stop lynchings, denied passports to African Americans who wanted to attend the Paris Peace Conference to press for civil rights, sent American troops to fight an unauthorized war against Bolshevik forces in arctic Russia and presided over the country's first "Red Scare," a campaign that empowered J. Edgar Hoover.

Wilson won re-election in 1916 on a promise to keep the United States out of the European war. He soon changed course. Before the conflict ended in November 1918, more than 116,000 American soldiers would be dead.

Entry into the Great War wasn't entirely popular at home, nor were all Americans trusted to support it or to express their views.

Shortly after Congress granted Wilson's request to declare war against Germany, the president wrote to Edwin Y. Webb, a representative from Shelby, N.C., and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, stating his position that "authority to exercise censorship over the press ... is absolutely necessary to the public safety."

Webb introduced the Espionage Act of 1917, which criminalized actions detrimental to the war effort. The Sedition Act was added in 1918. Among other provisions, this made it a crime, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, to "willfully utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States ..." It was interpreted to protect even the president himself from criticism.

These laws were vigorously enforced. Among the many Americans arrested and convicted was Eugene V. Debs, a socialist writer and frequent presidential candidate -- winning 6 percent of the popular vote in 1912 -- who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for speaking against the war. He was pardoned in 1921 by President Warren G. Harding.

Wilson's cause was aided by Sen. Lee S. Overman of North Carolina, who conducted extensive hearings into the perceived dangers posed by Bolsheviks and other radicals within the United States. Unfounded fears of revolution fueled support for more censorship, domestic spying, arrests and deportations. Overman's trail was traced in the 1950s by the vicious Red-hunter Joe McCarthy.

History may be less generous to George W. Bush than it has been to Woodrow Wilson, who did win his war. But who cares about history, anyway?

Contact Doug Clark at dgclark@news-record.com or 373-7039.