How did he ever get elected president?
Cooper: He was lucky in his times. It was a time of great political ferment. Both parties were shaken up a lot. There were major new issues. There was a sense of, “We really want new faces and to do politics differently.” I think he owed his openings to the times. If they had been more nearly normal times, less challenging times, there wouldn’t have been an opening for an outsider like him. Cap Times: How did Wilson’s background in education — as a professor and then president of Princeton — prepare him to be president? Cooper: I think the main thing was he was a great political scientist. I don’t know of any career in American history that better justifies the study of politics as a preparation for the practice of politics. It’s amazing how seamlessly he moved from private life to being university president to being a governor and then, in just two years, the president. And he keeps accomplishing things all along the way. Cap Times: You note that some of Wilson’s major domestic accomp
