SOURCE: "Woodrow Wilson at Princeton," in The Shores of Light: A Literary Chronicle of the Twenties and Thirties, Farrar, Straus and Young, Inc., 1952, pp. 298-324.

Wilson was one of the foremost literary critics in the United States. A prolific writer who also produced poetry, plays, novels, journalistic nonfiction, and historical studies, Wilson was at all times concerned with the social reality that gives human actions, and the products of human actions, context and meaning. In the following essay, originally published November 11, 1927, and revised somewhat for publication in The Shores of Light, he examines Wilson's tenure as president of Princeton University, assessing his personality and intellectual makeup, and draws parallels with some of Wilson's actions as president of the United States.

The first two volumes of Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters, by Ray Stannard Baker, are now before the public. The first of these deals with Woodrow Wilson's early...