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The Light Withdrawn: Christopher Cox on How Woodrow Wilson Shaped—and Undermined—American Democracy

Peter Robinson
@PeterRobinson
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Was Woodrow Wilson a visionary statesman—or a reactionary bigot? Peter Robinson sits down with historian and former US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox to discuss his latest book, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn, Cox’s meticulously researched biography of the 28th president of the United States.

Together, they explore Wilson’s complicated legacy: his towering achievements as a reformer and wartime leader and his deeply troubling record on race, gender, and civil rights. From his opposition to women’s suffrage and his resegregation of the federal government to his embrace of the film The Birth of a Nation, Cox reveals how Wilson’s Southern upbringing and elitist worldview shaped both his presidency and progressivism itself.

This conversation offers a sobering reappraisal of one of America’s most consequential and controversial leaders—and asks what it means to judge historical figures by the standards of both their time and ours.

Recorded on March 27, 2025

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Discussion (1)

  • colleenb@colleenb

    Excellent interview but it is Uncommon Knowledge. I generally dislike Woodrow Wilson and wonder why there is still a Woodrow Wilson Institute bearing his name. (Show me the difference between that being still around and tearing down statues of Lee, TR, Washington, etc.) I will say that I visited his home in Stauton, Virginia, and found it fascinating. I want to get to Hyde Park even though I also generally dislike FDR (as President) too. I think it's one of the fundamental differences between people who know and study history and people who think they know history that we are interested in it all - whether 'good' or 'bad' as some now try to define it. Thanks Peter for great questions and to Mr. Cox for his work. Oooo. We need a panel Uncommon Knowledge on the end of WWI with Cox on it.