A Lively Conversation About Woodrow Wilson
The Wilson Center has held a sparkling celebration of Scott Berg's new book on president Woodrow Wilson, attracting an audience of media, politicians and academia from across Washington.
The Wilson Center has held a sparkling celebration of Scott Berg's new book on president Woodrow Wilson, attracting an audience of media, politicians and academia from across Washington.
The event, hosted by the Motion Picture Association of America, generated media comment on Bloomberg News and in The New York Times.
The event was addressed by Jane Harman, President and CEO of the Wilson Center, Sen Chris Dodd, chairman of the MPAA, and Rep David Price (D-NC), a historian with deep knowledge of the 28th President. Berg held a question and answer session with Harman and Dodd, sparking many comments from the audience - as well as much laughter.
"He was... “very sexual and passionate” in his letters to his wife, Edith, according to the biographer, Bloomberg reported.
"I’m telling you, she didn’t call him Tiger just because he went to Princeton," said Dowd.
Price spoke movingly about the story behind the 2013 White House Holiday ornament, which is dedicated to Wilson this year. It includes a quote from the speech that Wilson gave to Congress before America entered the First World War: "Peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty."
Other attendees included House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican. The MPAA screened clips from the 1944 movie about the former president, sparking a lively discussion.
"On Thursday night, we sat around, talking about the lawyer and constitutional expert in the White House, a leader both didactic and charming, peacenik and hawk; the Ivy League academic who improbably ascended to the Oval Office on brains, not beholden to anyone; the Democrat, eager to fight economic inequality and help the 99 percent, who would give a government bailout if he had to; the dapper man with large ears, elegant speeches he wrote himself, a love of golf," wrote Dowd. "We sat around talking about Woodrow Wilson."
