The Woodrow Wilson Foundation was an educational non-profit created in 1921, organized under the laws of New York, for the "perpetuation of Wilson's ideals" via periodic grants to worthy groups and individuals. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the chair of the group's governing National Committee, coordinating fundraising activity of parallel groups in each of the 48 states.
The group sought to gather a $1 million endowment fund, the interest on which was to pay for the group's cash awards. A national fundraising drive to raise the endowment was launched on January 16, 1922, but despite extensive organization and relentless publicity only half the financial target was raised by February 15. With its medal and endowment to allow for annual financial prizes, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation in its initial iteration resembled the Nobel Foundation and its Nobel Prizes, albeit on a smaller financial scale.
Beginning in 1963 the Woodrow Wilson Foundation financed publication of Wilson's collected works and related documents, a 69-volume series entitled The Papers of Woodrow Wilson. The difficulty and expense of this nearly 30-year project drained the energy and finances of the organization, which was terminated in 1993 — one year before completion of the Wilson Papers project.
Organizational history
Establishment
The original idea for establishment of an endowed fund to make financial awards to individuals and groups best advancing the ideals of Wilsonianism was credited to Mrs. Charles E. Simonson of New York,Nation-Wide Canvass for Woodrow Wilson Foundation Launched Yesterday by Franklin Roosevelt," Bisbee [AZ] Daily Review, Jan. 17, 1922, pg. 2. who was previously active in a women's group called the Political Equality Club of Richmond County.Year Book of the New York Federation of Women's Clubs, 1916. Syracuse, NY: Lyman Brothers, 1916; pg. 133. The fund was envisioned as a way to make permanent the memory and legacy of Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States from 1913 to 1920.
The Woodrow Wilson Foundation was provisionally established on December 23, 1920, with formal organization completed at a meeting held in New York City on March 15, 1921.James Langland (ed.), The Chicago Daily News Almanac and Year-Book for 1926. Chicago, IL: Chicago Daily News Company, 1925; pg. 47. The organization was established independently of former President Woodrow Wilson but named in his honor by organizers, who pointed to Wilson having "further the cause of human freedom" and for having been "instrumental in pointing out effective methods for the cooperation of the liberal forces of mankind throughout the world."
Organizers planned on raising funds in order to make cash awards to help support the world of individuals and groups that had rendered "meritorious service to democracy, public welfare, liberal thought, or peace through justice."United Press International, "Will Organize 'Woodrow Wilson Foundation': Income Will Be Devoted to Awards for Greatest Accomplishments in Aid of Humanity," Dunkirk [NY] Evening Observer, Aug. 5, 1921, pg. 1. It was hoped to raise $1 million to endow the foundation. Based upon prevailing interest rates of the day, it was reckoned that a $1 million endowment would generate about $50,000 in interest each year in perpetuity, enabling annual awards in that amount."No Limit on Awards by Wilson Foundation," Washington Times, April 17, 1922, pg. 3.
Structure
Chairman of the National Committee of the Wilson Foundation from 1921 was former Assistant Secretary of the Navy and future President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt."Seek Fund to Honor Wilson," Washington Post, June 26, 1921, pg. 81. Roosevelt asserted that by donating to the endowment fund of the Wilson Foundation, "the American people will be given and opportunity to express their appreciation of Mr. Wilson's services to humanity."
Executive Director of the fund at the time of its establishment was editor of the internationalist news magazine The Independent, Hamilton Holt. Financier Cleveland H. Dodge was named the chair of the provisional executive committee. The temporary Executive Committee included nine other members, three of whom were close Wilson adviser Edward M. House, American representative to the Paris Peace Conference Frank Polk, and the wife of publishing mogul Malcolm Forbes. Other prominent supporters of the project included businessman and former ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Sr. and Adolph Ochs, publisher of the New York Times.
The Woodrow Wilson Foundation was based in New York City, with its national office located at 150 Nassau Street."The Woodrow Wilson Foundation," Reidsville [NC] Review, Aug. 23, 1921, pg. 4. The organization was formally governed by a National Committee, consisting of more than 250 representatives from each state,"Campaign to Establish the Woodrow Wilson Foundation," Woman's Enterprise [Baton Rouge, LA], Jan. 13, 1922, pg. 1. which elected in turn a National Executive Committee to handle the day-to-day operations of the organization.
During the main fundraising campaign to build the organization's endowment fund, which launched in October 1921, the Wilson Foundation named chairs for each state to coordinate fundraising activities on a state basis.See, for example, "Woodrow Wilson Foundation Aides in Oregon Named," Oregon Daily Journal [Portland], Sept. 18, 1921, pp. 1, 10. These, in turn, named county chairs to help localize fundraising activity. This system was roughly analogous to the wartime sales of Liberty bonds, which made similar use of formal state and local officers to coordinate sales. By the end of September 1921, chair of the National Executive Committee Cleveland Dodge boasted that 37 of the 48 American states had been organized on such a basis."Spangler Denies He Has Quit Politics; Is Now Probing Own Downfall: State Political Gleanings," Harrisburg [PA] Evening News, Sept. 30, 1921, pg. 19. Three more states were organized in the first half of October, running the total to 40."Wilson Fund Givers to Get Certificates: $1,000,000 Endowment is Sought to Memorialize Ex-President," Louisville Courier-Journal, Oct. 18, 1921, pg. 5.
On December 2, 1921, a meeting of the National Committee was convened in New York City, including representatives from around the country.Associated Press, "Woodrow Wilson Foundation Meets," Greenwood [SC] Index-Journal, Dec. 2, 1921, pg. 3. Chief on the agenda was the need to determine the mechanism for awarding the Foundation's prize awards. The National Committee also began the process of naming 15 permanent trustees of the Wilson Foundation's assets, recommending Franklin Roosevelt, Cleveland Dodge, feminist leader Carrie Chapman Catt, university president E. A. Alderman, and William Allen White of Kansas. The other 10 trustees were to be named later by the executive committee, the National Committee decided.
The 15 Trustees were to provide annual funds, generated through investment of the endowment in government securities, to a 25-member "Jury of Awards," the members of which were to serve 9-year terms.Cleveland M. Dodge, "Wilson Fund to Perpetuate Ideals of US," Sheboygan Press Telegram, Jan. 17, 1922, pg. 8.
1922 endowment drive
Plans were made for the gathering of "$1,000,000 or more" to provide a permanent endowment for the Wilson Foundation's prizes. Donors were to receive an attractive certificate in acknowledgment of their donations, with the motif determined through an artistic contest in the fall of 1921. Monday, January 16, 1922, was scheduled for the mass launch of the endowment-raising campaign.
In an event to generate a tidal wave of energy, enthusiasm, and publicity to start the fundraising campaign, even the January 16 date was more tightly focused, with the National Committee advising through the Wilson Foundation's official organ, The Foundation News Letter, that the hour of noon until 1 pm be declared "The Wilson Hour," in which all supporters of Wilson's ideas should show up in person at their local office of the Wilson Foundation to make donations in person."A Wilson Hour Fixed," Lincoln County [NC] News, Jan. 2, 1922, pg. 3.
In addition, the Wilson Foundation made use of newspaper advertisingSee, for example, "Do It Now" (ad), Louisville Courier-Journal, Jan. 11, 1922, pg. 7. and planned a fundraising canvas in connection with its January 1922 endowment drive. Rather than a door-to-door drive, this canvas seems to have taken the form of volunteers from various organizations, frequently women, operating fundraising tables at banks, drug stores, and other well-trafficked places."Wilson Foundation Canvas is Kept Up," Charlotte News, Jan. 16, 1922, pg. 2.
The Monday, January 16 focused fundraising event was to be preceded by mass meetings in major cities on Saturday, January 14, and by advocacy of the project by religious ministers speaking from the pulpit on what was deemed "Woodrow Wilson Sunday," January 15.Speakers for Wilson Fund to Open City Drive: John Temple Graves, Hamilton Holt and Others to Address Mass Meeting," Washington Times, Jan. 14, 1922, pg. 10. Both of these tactics — the use of fundraising rallies and coordination of fundraising through Sunday sermons by friendly ministers — were revisitations to tried-and-true methods used in generating funds for the Liberty Loans during wartime.
Despite planning for a mass launch of fundraising activities, funds were already being raised by the various state organizations by December 1921, with temporary receipts being provisionally provided until the engraved certificates for donors were ready for distribution the following month."Wilson Foundation in New Quarters: Attached Coupon for Subscribers," Oregon Daily Journal, Dec. 23, 1921, pg. 17.
The organization took pains to emphasize that operation costs of the organization were previously covered by supporters of the project and that "every dollar received by the National Treasurer" in the January 1922 endowment drive was to be put towards the endowment for the Wilson Foundation's awards.
State and local fundraising quotas were set and "canvassing" continued throughout the month of January and into February as funds slowly rolled in.See, for example, "No Work Done on Foundation Fund," Durham [NC] Morning Herald, Jan. 28, 1922, pg. 5. The drive seems to have begun to run out of steam late in February 1922,See, for example, "Warren Short on Wilson Fund," Warren [NC] Record, Feb. 17, 1922, pg. 1. with many locales failing to meet their fundraising targets and the national fundraising effort coming up far short of its $1 million goal. On February 11 the Foundation's official News Letter announced that Oklahoma had thus far led all states with fulfillment of 67% of its financial target; an optimistic spin was placed on the ongoing fundraising effort, which was characterized as just launching at that late date in some localities."Status of the Foundation," Charlotte Observer, Feb. 17, 1922, pg. 6.
The halfway point in fundraising was only reached on February 15, 1922, National Committee chair Franklin D. Roosevelt announced."More Than Half of Wilson Fund Has Been Pledged," Twin-City Daily Sentinel [Winston-Salem, NC], Feb. 18, 1922, pg. 1. The second month of fundraising had only brought the endowment to $660,000, with no state exceeding 82% of its fundraising quota."$660,000 Estimated Total at Two-Months' Mark," Greene [IA] Recorder, April 5, 1922, pg. 2. By the end of 1922, only $800,000 had been raised.
Awards
On April 16, 1922, Frank L. Polk announced on behalf of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation that the organization would make its awards internationally, not limiting prize winners to Americans. It would remain to the 15-member board of trustees to determine the size and frequency of such awards, Polk noted.