eant what they had
said, they realized that they dare not resist them. It was not the
personal force of the new officials; it was the moral strength of their
backing that accomplished the extraordinary result." Supreme confidence in
the force of public opinion exerted by the common man characterizes much
of Wilson's political philosophy, and the position in the world which he
was to enjoy for some months towards the end of the war rested upon the
same basis.

In 1912 came the presidential election. The split in the Republican
forces promised if it did not absolutely guarantee the election of a
Democrat, and when the party convention met at Baltimore in June,
excitement was more than ordinarily intense. The conservative elements in
the party were divided. The radicals looked to Bryan for leadership,
although his nomination seemed out of the question. Wilson had stamped
himself as an anti-machine progressive, and if the machine conservatives
threatened he might hope for support from the Nebraskan orator. From the
first the real contest appeared to be between Wilson and Champ Clark, who
although hardly a conservative, was backed for the moment by the machine
leaders. The deciding power was in Bryan's hand, and as the strife
between conservatives and radicals waxed hot, he turned to the support of
Wilson. On the forty-sixth ballot Wilson was nominated. With division in
the Republican ranks, with his record in New Jersey for legislative
accomplishment, and winning many independent votes through a succession
of effective campaign speeches, Wilson more than fulfilled the highest of
Democratic hopes. He received on election day only a minority of all the
votes cast, but his majority in the electoral college was overwhelming.

* * * * *

The personality of an American President has seldom undergone so much
analysis with such unsatisfactory results; almost every discussion of
Wilson's characteristics leads to the generation of heat rather than
light. Indeed the historian of the future may ask whether it is as
important, in this age of democracy, to know exactly what sort of man he
was as to know what the people thought he was. And yet in the case of a
statesman who was to play a role of supreme importance in the affairs of
the country and the world, it is perhaps more than a matter of merely
personal interest to underline his salient traits. Let it be premised
that a logical and satisfactory analy