Lies My Teacher Told Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

collapsed, Wilson refused to extend diplomatic
     recognition to the Soviet Union, He participated in barring Russia from the peace
     negotiations after World War 1 and helped oust Bela Kun, the communist leader who had
     risen to power in Hungary. Wilson's sentiment for selfdetermination and democracy never
     had a chance against his three bedrock “ism”s: colonialism, racism, and anticommunism. A
     young Ho Chi Minh appealed to Woodrow Wilson at Versailles for self-determination for
     Vietnam, but Ho had all three strikes against him. Wilson refused to listen, and France
     retained control of Indochina. It seems that Wilson regarded self-determination as all right for, say, Belgium, but not
     for the likes of Latin America or Southeast Asia.
    t At home, Wilson's racial policies disgraced the office he held. His Republican predecessors had routinely appointed blacks to important
     offices, including those of port collector for New Orleans and the District of Columbia
     and register of the treasury. Presidents sometimes appointed African Americans as
     postmasters, particularly in southern towns with large black populations. African
     Americans took part in the Republican Party's national conventions and enjoyed some access
     to the White House. Woodrow Wilson, for whom many African Americans voted in 1912, changed
     all that. A southerner, Wilson had been president of Princeton, the only major northern
     university that refused to admit blacks. He was an outspoken white supremacisthis wife was
     even worseand told “darky” stories in cabinet meetings. His administration submitted a legislative program intended to curtail the civil rights of African Americans, but
     Congress would not pass it. Unfazed, Wilson used his power as chief executive to segregate
     the federal government. He appointed southern whites to offices traditionally reserved for
     blacks. Wilson personally vetoed a clause on racial equality in the Covenant of the League
     of Nations. The one occasion on which Wilson met with African American leaders in the
     White House ended in a fiasco as the president virtually threw the visitors out of his
     office. Wilson's legacy was extensive: he effectively closed the Democratic Party to
     African Americans for another two decades, and parts of the federal government remained
     segregated into the 1950s and beyond.“ In 1916 the Colored Advisory Committee of the
     Republican National Committee issued a statement on Wilson that, though partisan, was
     accurate: ”No sooner had the Democratic Administration come into power than Mr. Wilson and
     his advisors entered upon a policy to eliminate all colored citizens from representation
     in the Federal Government.
    Of the twelve history textbooks I reviewed, only four accurately describe Wilson's racial
     policies. Land ofPromise does the best job:
    Woodrow Wilson's administration was openly hostile to black people. Wilson was an
     outspoken white supremacist who believed thai black people were inferior. During his
     campaign for the presidency, Wilson promised to press for civil rights. But once in office
     he forgot his promises. Instead, Wilson ordered that white and black workers in federal
     government jobs be segregated from one another. This was the first time such segregation
     had existed since ReconstructionI When black federal employees in Southern cities
     protested the order, Wilson had the protesters fired. In November, 1914, a black delegation asked the President to reverse his policies. Wilson was rude and hostile and refused their demands.
    Unfortunately, except for one other textbook, The United SlatesA History of the Republic, Promise stands alone. Most of the textbooks that treat Wilson's racism give it only a sentence or
     two Five of the books never even mention this “black mark” on Wilson's presidency. One
     that does. The American Way, does something even more astonishing: it invents a happy ending!