Wilsonian Era in the United States

Democratic Party The Wilsonian Era and The 1920s

Introduction to Wilsonian Era

At the beginning of the 20th century the Democrats’ minority position among voters remained central to their existence. The Progressive split in Republican ranks helped elect Woodrow Wilson twice, but the entry of the United States into World War I ended that. The war, popular at first, backfired against the Wilson administration when large numbers of German Americans and Irish Americans protested with their votes against U.S. involvement on England’s side. The result was another Republican landslide in 1920, and for the rest of the decade the Democrats remained beset by a new outburst of factionalism. The national convention in 1924 was raucously stalemated between the urban-ethnic wing and the older Bryanite-southern groups. The 1928 nomination of the Irish Catholic Al Smith broke the solid South, part of which went Republican for the first time ever in reaction to the social and cultural values that Smith represented in the eyes of the defecting group.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

• Information about Wilsonian Era in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Wilsonian Era

In this Section

Democratic Party, Jacksonian Party, History of the Democratic Party (in the North-South Conflict period), Democratic Party in the Lincon Administration, Democratic Party Divisions, Wilsonian Era, New Deal, Democratic Party After Eisenhower, Democratic Party in the Carter Administration, Democratic Party in the Reagan Administration, Democratic Party in the Clinton Administration, Al Gore, Democratic Party in the Bush Administration, Barack Obama.