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March 10, 2006
Living history
Returning scholar offers fascinating insight into Wilson Presidency
By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer
Evergreen native Eric Vettel recently returned to his roots presenting a revealing history lecture on President Woodrow Wilson. And Vettel knows of what he speaks; he’s the executive director of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Virginia.
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| Hometown boy Eric Vettel comes home to family and friends. From left: Dolores Escobar Hamilton, President of the Senior Academy for Education [SAFE]; Sherry Garvey, SAFE member, Dr. Eric Vettel, Dorene Vettel, Deborah Raab and James Vettel. Photos by Jeanne Carbone Lewis |
“If you’re going to study history, you better do it in Virginia,” said Vettel to the packed room at the Villages presented by Senior Academy for Education [SAFE], which included many retired teachers. “There are many places where you can study U.S. history but you can live it in Virginia. But this is like coming home. I grew up here. You did have a tremendous impact on my life.”
Local boy makes good
Vettel’s journey to the esteemed position of the executive director of Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library was eclectic to say the least. Born and raised in Evergreen, he attended Cadwallader Elementary and Silver Creek High School. His father, James was a history teacher at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara.
“I would talk about history to Eric and his sister Deborah,” said James Vettel. “They would both complain about the historic markers.”
But apparently, the early teachings sparked an interest in the young Vettel. He received a history degree from Stanford and started a small service business. After six years teaching at Woodside High School in Redwood City where he “loved every single day,” the young man studied for his doctorate at the University of Virginia and completed his post doctorate at University of California—Berkeley. Then in April 2005, he accepted the position of executive director at Woodrow Wilson Library. He is married with three children. And his first book, “Biotech,” about the origins of the biotechnology industry will be released in a few months.
“Eric is a homegrown boy who has really come home,” said SAFE member Sherry Garvey, who has known Vettel since he was a young boy. “We are so fortunate to have him here. He grew up here right out the gates here. Opportunity knocked and now he’s making history in his own time with his work of being the executive director of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library.”
Vettel enthusiastically spoke to the large group who attended at the Villages. Not only was this his first west coast speaking engagement but he also shared new information regarding Wilson’s life that was researched through the additions of thousands of archival letters, documents and photographs submitted to the library since he took the position.
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| Eric Vettel’s passion was always history and now he is living his dream as executive director of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library. Photo by Jeanne Carbone Lewis |
Vettel also announced that as of this speaking engagement, the House of Representatives named them the official Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and that the senate will be considering the bill shortly.
Historical tapestry
“We [the U.S.] are a classroom on democracy and for democracy and there is no better president to take on this task than Woodrow Wilson,” said Vettel, 40. “We can now reevaluate Woodrow Wilson because we have discovered new papers that have never been seen and new evidence to consider.
“Historical interpretation evolves and changes,” said Vettel. “We can and should reevaluate Woodrow Wilson because we have discovered never before seen papers on him. Woodrow Wilson’s historical tapestry lacked a human side. He remains an enigma in history.” According to Vettel, based on recent findings, he is in the process of examining four issues on Woodrow Wilson’s history: Wilson, the person; Wilson in the women’s movement; Wilson in the peace of Paris and Wilson in his illness.
“Most Americans take democracy for granted,” said Vettel in his closing. “It seems we have become a nation obsessed with speed…the new documents remind us that democracy requires effort, patience and careful study—like Wilson at the Peace Conference.”
For more information on the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library visit www.woodrowwilson.org.
Highlights of Vettel’s presentation
Wilson the person
Wilson was passionate about education. He was president of Princeton University and on the faculty at Bryn Mahr College. He trained the debate team every year, coached football and thrilled over Princeton’s victories over
Yale. Wilson’s love of baseball had him claiming that the curve ball was invented by a Princetonian.
When Wilson announced his plans to marry Edith Bolling he adlibbed:
“As a beauty, I am not a star,
There are others more handsome by far,
But my face I don’t mind it,
For I am behind it,
It’s those in front who should stand afar.”
Women’s suffrage
“This is where we face the most profound error of historical interpretation related to Woodrow Wilson,” said
Vettel. “Many historians believed that Wilson opposed women’s suffrage. They call him sexist and discriminatory. This assessment is in desperate need of context.”
When the 38th president took office in 1912, he faced political, cultural and economic turmoil. The economic theory of the day was that there would be a depression every seven years. Feminists were active though not in agreement. Wilson listened but sought to stabilize the nation’s economy by passing the Federal Reserve
Act.
In 1913, when Gaucher Women’s College was in financial trouble, he wrote to the president voicing his concerns and donated $1,000. The letter is still displayed on the wall of Gaucher College.
To every state that voted in favor of the 19th Amendment, Wilson sent telegrams of congratulations as well as to his opponents in the feminist movement.
“What shall we say of women?” said Wilson in 1918. “Their instant intelligence, quickening every task that they touch, their capacity for organization and cooperation, their aptitude at tasks to which they have never before set their hands, their utter self sacrifice in what they do and what they give, their contributions are beyond appraisal. The least tribute that we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in political rights.”
Paris peace conference
World War I ended temporarily in November 1918 in Paris when a peace settlement was negotiated and a ceasefire for six months.
“The Belgians are intensely anxious for him [Wilson] to visit them and the French are equally as anxious that he see more of their devastated region and both are showing signs of getting sore that he does not see them,” written in a letter by Wilson’s personal friend and physician Dr. Cary Grayson who accompanied the president to Europe.
“The French are the champion time killers of the world…” Grayson wrote in another.
Frustrated with the bickering in France, England, Italy and others for their own self-interests, Wilson almost signed a separate peace agreement with Germany.
“The leaders of nations trying to negotiate peace may not have appreciated Wilson’s efforts but the world most certainly did,” wrote Grayson.
One letter summarizes Wilson’s objectives of peace and democracy at the Paris conference.
“We, the representatives of the Lithuanian people, ask for a place at this peace conference,” written in a letter from the Lithuanian delegation. “We do not seek a seat at the table, but we do ask in our pride for standing room back against the wall—where we have stood for so long—waiting to be heard when the question of our fate is to be determined.”
Wilson’s illness
In 1919, the third year of Wilson’s second Presidential term, he suffered a massive
stroke.
“I am thinking what is my duty to the country?” recorded Grayson for Wilson. “My personal pride must not be allowed to stand in the way of my duty to the country. If I am only half efficient, I must turn the office to the vice president.”
Vice President Thomas Marshall was unwilling to take the office due to fear of being assassinated. While in Atlanta, Vice President Marshall received a false report that Wilson had died and immediately fainted. |
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