The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990 Page: 15
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Thomas Watt Gregory
ized memory of the presidency of Woodrow Wilson provided a power-
ful reinforcement for his Democratic faith. From Gregory's perspec-
tive, the Wilson administration represented the triumph of progressive
reform and the height of national achievement. Most of Wilson's short-
comings and failures, as well as the earlier accomplishments of the Re-
publicans under Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, faded
from view.58 While conceding that Roosevelt "had some very noble
traits," Gregory condemned Wilson's leading political rival as "the most
monumental liar I ever came in contact with and the worst part of it
was he would fight and die for his lies, if necessary .... ."o In contrast,
Wilson's motives and actions appeared to be beyond reproach. In a
typical tribute, Gregory asserted that "the ruling passion of Woodrow
Wilson was a deep and abiding sympathy for the unfortunate and
oppressed." "This characteristic," Gregory explained, "determined
[Wilson's] course in dealing with almost every great public issue which
confronted him. He gave his health, his happiness, more than his life
and all but his fame fighting for the little nations, for the little peoples,
striving desperately to bind up the wounds of humanity, and working
and praying for a warless world." In the same letter, Gregory added
that "Mr. Wilson was responsible for the passage of more important
legislation of constructive value than any [other] President of the United
States...." o
As books on the Wilson administration and American involvement in
World War I appeared in the 192os, Gregory had to respond to the
early judgments of history. After reading a revisionist account of the
war, Harry Elmer Barnes's The Genesis of the World War,"' Gregory's
close friend and former associate at the Justice Department, George
Anderson, acknowledged that he was "perfectly certain we were funda-
mentally wrong in our views of the causes of the war.""62 Gregory, on
the other hand, refused to budge. He dismissed the conclusions of the
book as "unwarranted" and the attacks against Wilson's policies as "un-
8 Gregory to Walter Hyams and Company, May 26, 1924, Gregory Papers (TI'TU); "Mr. T. W.
Gregory on The Wilson Administration," Sept. 4, 1924, Ibid ; Gregory to the editor of the New
York Times, Jan. 23, 1925, ibid.; "Remarks Sent to the Unveiling of the Bust of W. W. [Woodrow
Wilson]" by Gregory (no date, but response to a telegram from John Pollard, Nov. 1 , 1931),
ibid ; Gregory to Josephus Darnels, Feb 19, 1924, Gregory Papers (LC); Gregory to E. A
Alderman, Apr 18, 1924, bid ; Gregory to Baker, Feb 11, 1925, Aug 29, 1931, ibid., Gregory
to W E Brooks, Feb. 22, 1929, Ibid.; Gregory to G. Carroll Todd, Aug. 29, 1931, ibid.; Gregory
to Walter F McCaleb, May 1o, 28, 1932, ibid.
19Gregory to McCaleb, May lo, 1932, Gregory Papers (LC).
o6Gregory to Walter Hyams and Company, May 26, 1924, Gregory Papers (TI'U).
6' Harry Elmer Barnes, The Genesis of the World War- An Introducton to the Problem of War Guilt
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1926).
02Anderson to Gregory, Oct. 5, 1926, Gregory Papers (LC).
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 93, July 1989 - April, 1990, periodical, 1990; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101213/m1/41/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.