Woodrow Wilson—scholar, reformer, orator, warrior, and peacemaker—was a visionary whose successes place him among the great presidents, and whose failures leave questions that still haunt the late twentieth century. A vigorous, attractive leader in his time, he has come down to posterity as a grim figure, yet he brought a fresh spirit to American politics as he took our nation irrevocably into the arena of international leadership. August Heckscher shares the first biography based on the full corpus of Wilson papers and letters, covering his public and private life as well as portraying the politicians, statesmen and world leaders among whom he moved. Following his political career from his days as a college professor through his term as governor of New Jersey to his presidency, Heckscher pens an objective yet surprisingly intimate portrayal of this U.S. president.