[fieldmarshaldj]

Where’s the barf alert ? Wilson was a monster and begat the modern-day leftist Democrat menace.

[cripplecreek]

Many of the tactics used by the nazis were modeled on Wilsonian progressivism.

[rickmichaels]

I don't understand the need for barf-alert admonitions. Posting an article doesn't necessarily mean either endorsing it or opposing it. Moreover, I'm quite sure that other FReepers are intelligent enough not to need me or anyone else to screen articles before they read them...or choose to ignore them.

Sorry for the rant, but you gave me a good opportunity to present my opinion. Cheers.

[x]

Conrad Black isn't a leftist. He's a Canadian Conservative. In US terms he's more or less a Nixonian. Hence the big book he wrote on Nixon, and hence (maybe) his ending up in prison.

As a Nixonian, he pretty much accepted the historical interpretation current in his formative years of Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt as great men. Hence his massive book on FDR and hence this article.

While I disagree with Black about Wilson -- he really does overdo it -- I appreciate that he's bringing a different point of view here that might make people think and reconsider opinions that have become automatic and unthinking lately.

Nowadays it's become as commonplace and automatic to damn Wilson as it once was to praise him, and when that happens, maybe it's a good idea to consider whether we've gone too far.