r. His mind is neither profound nor subtle. His serious
writings are sound but not characterized by originality, nor in his
policies is there anything to indicate creative genius. He thinks straight
and possesses the ability to concentrate on a single line of effort. He is
skillful in catching an idea and adapting it to his purposes. Combined
with his power of expression and his talent for making phrases, such
qualities were of great assistance to him. But the real strength of the
President lay rather in his gift of sensing what the common people wanted
and his ability to put it into words for them. Few of his speeches are
great; many of them are marred by tactless phrases, such as "too proud to
fight" and "peace without victory." But nearly all of them express
honestly the desires of the masses. His strength in New Jersey and the
extraordinary effect produced in Europe by his war speeches might be cited
as evidence of this peculiar power. He sought above everything to catch
the trend of inarticulate rather than vociferous opinion. If one objects
that his patience under German outrages was not truly representative, we
must remember that opinion was slow in crystallizing, that his policy was
endorsed by the election of 1916, and that when he finally advocated war
in April, 1917, the country entered the struggle practically a unit.

But it is obvious that, however much political strength was assured the
President by his instinctive appreciation of popular feeling, this was
largely offset by the _gaucherie_ of his political tactics. He had a genius
for alienating persons who should have supported him and who agreed in
general with the broad lines of his policies. Few men in public life have
so thoroughly aroused the dislike of "the man in the street." Admitting
that much of Wilson's unpopularity resulted from misunderstanding, from the
feeling that he was a different sort, perhaps a "highbrow," the degree of
dislike felt for him becomes almost inexplicable in the case of a President
who, from all the evidence, was willing to sacrifice everything for what he
considered to be the benefit of the common man. He might almost repeat
Robespierre's final bitter and puzzled phrase: "To die for the people and
to be abhorred by them." So keen was the irritation aroused by Wilson's
methods and personality that many a citizen stated frankly that he
preferred to see Wilsonian policies which he approved meet defeat, rather
than see them ca