Woodrow Wilson and the Lost World of the Oratorical Statesman (review)

Robert Alexander Kraig's book Woodrow Wilson and the Lost World of the Oratorical Statesman examines the role political oratory played in the life and politics of Woodrow Wilson. Kraig offers a well-researched and carefully written analysis of Wilson's rhetorical education and development into an oratorical president. Kraig's book will appeal to those interested in rhetorical history, political oratory, and presidential scholarship. Kraig earned his Ph.D. in communication from the University of Wisconsin in 1999 and is currently the political director of the Service Employees International Union–Wisconsin State Council. Kraig argues that because of Wilson's belief in the inextricable link between good government and leadership by great orators, Wilson relied on oratory more than any other president before him. It is through Wilson's oratory that Kraig challenges many historians' analysis of Wilson's work in America for the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. As Kraig points out, most scholarship on this moment in Wilson's presidency describes Wilson's misguided or irrational decision to take the issue of ratification, not to Congress, but to the American people. Instead, Kraig, using the context of Wilson's "lifelong understanding of the power of oratory and the duties of statesmanship," argues that Wilson was sensible and could "hardly have acted otherwise" in his desire for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles (10).

In the prologue, Kraig offers a brief history of political oratory in the United States. In this history, Kraig argues that the golden era for political oratory in the United States was during the antebellum period. However, he also demonstrates that a second oratorical renaissance occurred during the Progressive Era, marked by orators like Wilson. These orators would leave a legacy comparable to those of the antebellum era. Kraig writes, "the rhetorical career of Woodrow Wilson is a chapter in a larger story about the prominent place oratory once had in American political culture" (4). Much of the rest of Kraig's book describes the development of Wilson as an orator. Chapter 1 depicts the early education of Wilson, in particular Wilson's exacting study of rhetoric. Kraig uses historical data including Wilson's library records, letters, and course descriptions at the various institutions Wilson attended, in addition to the traditional sources of Wilson's own political writings and speeches, to describe Wilson's education in rhetoric. By the time Wilson graduated from law school, Kraig asserts, Wilson had managed to piece together "a first-rate rhetorical education at a time when such an education was becoming less available through the standard college curriculum" (11). In sum, Kraig demonstrates how Wilson's rhetorical education was foundational to his conception of an ideal statesman. In chapter 2, Kraig explains Wilson's transition from unsuccessful attorney to successful scholar and lecturer. According to Kraig, Wilson chose to study law as a platform for moving into politics, but found the practice of law unfulfilling. Wilson was a scholar, and law took him away from his writing and practice of public speaking. As Kraig explains, during the 1890s Wilson "entered probably the most intellectually creative period of his life" (44). Through Wilson's writing during this time his political theory evolved further, particularly his belief in the political power of oratory. Wilson also developed his own skill at political oratory during the 1890s, becoming one of the most popular speakers on the public lecture circuit. Chapter 3 reviews the rise of Wilson politically from president of Princeton University to governor of New Jersey to president of the United States. Kraig pays particular attention to the way Wilson used his abilities as a speaker to convince both the public and members of the political machinery in New Jersey that he was capable of being in political office. Wilson would utilize these skills in the presidential race as well. In chapter 4, Kraig focuses on Wilson's use of oratory in the early years...