Thomas Woodrow Wilson, USA (1856-1924)

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the twenty-eighth U.S. president, born in Staunton, Virginia. As President Wilson introduced his reformist programme he called the "New Freedom"; his initiatives included lowering tariffs, a graduated income tax, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Trade Commission, anti-trust legislation, the eight-hour working day, laws protecting labour unions, and landmark laws against child labour.

He won re-election in 1916 with a pledge to keep America out of the European war, but found the USA inexorably drawn in. Declaring war on Germany in April 1917, he proposed a peace in the form of the "Fourteen Points," which brought Germany to the bargaining table in late 1918. He sought peace based on democracy, self determination, arms limitations, and the establishment of League of Nations, all outlined in his Fourteen Points speech in January 1918. He was awarded the Noble Peace Prize in 1919.