The opening of this volume finds Wilson President-elect of the United States. After a post-campaign vacation in his beloved Bermuda, he plunges into New Jersey politics in an effort to achieve completion of his state reform program. With a large legislative majority, he achieves passage of stringent antitrust laws, ratification of the federal income tax amendment, a new grade crossings measure, and a host of other legislation. Meanwhile, he is busy choosing a Cabinet and conferring with Democratic leaders in Congress about a legislative program. In his eloquent Inaugural address, Wilson calls for new directions in domestic and foreign policies. During the following months, he oversees the writing of the Underwood tariff and Federal Reserve bills. He also repudiates the "dollar diplomacy" of the Taft administration in Latin America and the Far East. Virtually all of the documents in this volume are published for the first time. They shed bright new light on Wilson as party and parliamentary leader and diplomatist. Numerous personal letters, also published for the first time, reveal his warmth and capacity for friendship.
