evidently stirred him in early days and
was doubtless resuscitated by his success as a public speaker. While
President of Princeton he had frequently touched upon public issues, and
so early as 1906 Colonel George Harvey had mentioned him as a possible
President of the United States. From that time he was often considered as
available for political office, and in 1910, with New Jersey stirred by a
strong popular movement against boss-rule, he was tendered the nomination
for Governor of that State. He accepted and proved an ideal candidate.
Though supported by the Democratic machine, which planned to elect a
reformer and then control him, Wilson won the adherence of independents
and progressive Republicans by his promise to break the power of the boss
system, and by the clarity of his plans for reform. His appeals to the
spirit of democracy and morality, while they voiced nothing new in an
electoral campaign, rang with unusual strength and sincerity. The State,
which had gone Republican by eighty-two thousand two years before, now
elected Wilson its Governor by a plurality of forty-nine thousand.

He retained office in New Jersey for only two years. During that period he
achieved a high degree of success. Had he served longer it is impossible
to say what might have been his ultimate position, for as at Princeton,
elements of opposition had begun to coalesce against him and he had found
no means to disarm them. As Governor, he at once declared himself head of
the party and by a display of firm activity dominated the machine. The
Democratic boss, Senator James Smith, was sternly enjoined from seeking
reelection to the Senate, and when, in defiance of promises and the wish
of the voters as expressed at the primaries, he attempted to run, Wilson
entered the lists and so influenced public opinion and the Legislature
that the head of the machine received only four votes. Attempts of the
Democratic machine to combine with the Republicans, in order to nullify
the reforms which Wilson had promised in his campaign, proved equally
futile. With strong popular support, constantly exercising his influence
both in party conferences and on the Legislature, the Governor was able to
translate into law the most important of the measures demanded by the
progressives. He himself summed up the essence of the situation when he
said: "The moment the forces in New Jersey that had resisted reform
realized that the people were backing new men who m