Mark E. Benbow - Woodrow Wilson’s Wars: The Making of America’s First Modern Commander-in-Chief

The U.S. President as Commander in Chief

Meena Bose and Margaret Tseng, editors

This series examines the role of the U.S. president as commander in chief (CinC) of the nations armed forces. Specific topics will include how presidents led in wartime (if they did), how they formulated strategy, how they engaged with senior military leadership, how their policy planning influenced their leadership and actions, how previous military experience (if any) informed their work as CinC, how they shaped the armed forces, and how they conducted military actions. Of particular importance for each volume in the series will be a presidents civil-military relations, approach to military organization and training, and interactions with senior military leaders. Historians, political scientists, policy professionals, and politically informed audiences will find these volumes instructive and engaging.

MARK E. BENBOW

Naval Institute Press

Annapolis, Maryland

Naval Institute Press

291 Wood Road

Annapolis, MD 21402

2022 by the U.S. Naval Institute

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Note: All photographs are from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division with the exception of the postmortem image of Haitian nationalist leader Charlemagne Pralte, which was sourced from Wikimedia Commons.

ISBN: 978-1-68247-830-1 (hardcover)

ISBN: 978-1-68247-831-8 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). Printed in the United States of America.

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First printing

For Annette

Projects like this always require the help of multiple people to whom the author is in debt. Id like to thank them for their support and assistance. First, my colleagues at Marymount were all supportive. Its a strong academic community where we back each others ongoing projects, and their support was invaluable. Special thanks go to Dr. Margaret Tseng, who as my department chair first mentioned this project to me some years back. She and fellow project editor Dr. Meena Bose have been nothing but supportive and helpful in their advice and guidance.

My programs library consultant at Marymounts Emerson G. Reinsch Library, Hall Baldwin, was great about finding obscure articles and sources for me throughout my research, making sure I had what I requested quickly.

At the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, DC, then-curator Asantewa Boakyewa deserves thanks for allowing me to view and study Wilsons codebook.

Lloyd Ambrosius was gracious enough to meet me during the SHAFR conference to talk about this work when I first began. Thank you, sir!

The retired CIA historian Gerald K. Haines reviewed the section on Wilson and intelligence gathering. Thank you, Dr. Haines.

Much of the material in the chapters on Mexico in 191314 came from my dissertation and in publishing my first book through Kent State University Press. Kent States Dr. Ann Heiss and the others at the press still have my profound thanks for their help, as do the staff and librarians at the Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration for their help during my research. My advisor, Dr. Alonso Hamby, especially has my thanks and gratitude.

The two reviewers, John Milton Cooper and John Hamilton, deserve thanks for their patience in reading my draft and for their helpful comments and corrections. The book is much better for their efforts. Of course, any remaining errors are my own.

Finally, the biggest thanks go to my wife, Annette, whose constant love and support made this work possible. To her I dedicate this book.

At 2:30 a.m. on April 21, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels held an emergency telephone conference.