PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON - CIVIL APPOINTMENT SIGNED 02/16/1917 CO-SIGNED BY: THOMAS W. GREGORY - HFSID 157463

WOODROW WILSON and THOMAS W. GREGORY
President Woodrow Wilson and U. S. Attorney General Thomas W. Gregory signed this document appointing a Washington, D. C. notary public in 1917.
Civil appointment signed "Woodrow Wilson" and "T.W.Gregory" as Attorney General. Pencil notations on verso in unknown hand. 1 page,19¾x15¾, mounted on cardstock, with 2½-inch red seal in bottom left corner. Feb. 16, 1917. Wilson and Gregory signed this document to appoint John H. Holmead a notary public in Washington, D. C. Virginia-born Wilson (1856-1924) taught and wrote about American politics, beginning with Congressional Government (1885), before becoming President of Princeton University (1902-1910). Elected Governor of New Jersey (1911-1913), he broke with the conservatives who had promoted his candidacy and governed as a reformist and opponent of machine politics. In a 3-way contest for the Presidency in 1912, he won only 42 percent of the vote but was elected because President Taft, the Republican nominee, and former President Theodore Roosevelt, running under the banner of the Progressive Party, divided the remaining votes. During his first Presidential term, Wilson pursued a progressive domestic agenda, which included establishment of the Federal Reserve system, the Federal Trade Commission, and prohibitions of child labor. Narrowly re-elected in 1916 on the slogan "He kept us out of war", Wilson proved unable to avoid American involvement in World War I. Ultimately convinced that the U. S. could not remain neutral, Wilson sought to turn a traditional conflict among great powers into a crusade to "make the world safe for Democracy". Although his efforts to promote a new kind of international system embodying his "14 Points" and a League of Nations earned him the Nobel Peace Prize (1919), they were resisted by other foreign powers at the Versailles peace Conference, and the U. S. Congress rejected U. S. participation in the League. Texas lawyer Gregory (1861-1933) was a regent at the University of Texas before joining other former conservatives in supporting Woodrow Wilson's presidential campaign in 1911. His support opened up numerous appointments within Wilson's administration that culminated in his being appointed U. S. Attorney General (1914-1919). Gregory was generally progressive but drew criticism for collaborating with U. S. Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson to suppress domestic dissent of the American war effort during World War I, including framing the Espionage Act of 1917, encouraging illegal surveillance of citizens by the right-wing American Protective League and directing federal prosecutions of over 2,000 opponents of the war. After resigning as Attorney General, he was made a member of Wilson's Second Industrial Conference (1919-1920) and resumed his law practice. Lightly toned, foxed, soiled and bowed. Bottom right corner of appointment is missing. Light tears in top right corner and right edge. Irregular top edge. Lightly rounded and worn corners with lightly creased top left corner. Otherwise in fine condition.