SOURCE: "The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson," in Counting Our Blessings: Reflections on the Future of America, Little, Brown and Company, 1980, pp. 6-22.

Moynihan has long been a United States senator from New York and has written prolifically on many issues, including noteworthy sociological studies. In the following essay, which was originally published in 1974, he reflects on Wilson's world view and the nature of his foreign policy, arguing that "Wilsonianism" remains a prominent feature of American politics.

It is more than fifty years since Woodrow Wilson died, but it does not seem that: more like two hundred fifty. We are uncomfortable with Wilson in the twentieth century; he seems more the kind of man who came early radier than late in our national life when of a sudden we were to find that, far from being the youngest of governments, we had become virtually the oldest. Yet few would...