He was an excellent student and was a an accomplished debater, he also wrote articles for college magazines. At Wesleyan he was very successful and published writings in comparative government in 1889 and coached one of the most successful football teams in Wesleyan's history. But when he was offered a professorship from Princeton in 1890 he accepted. It was a very fortunate 12 years of Wilson's professorship at Princeton and he enjoyed it immensely. He also published other books while there and among them was "Division and Reunion (1893)", which was about the American Civil War pioneers; and "History of the American People (1902)". Wilson was also called upon as a speaker at Johns Hopkins at the same time. When he was asked to be president of the university he gladly excepted. When asked to run for president of the United States he did so only if it were offered without conditions. It was a struggle to rebuild his political party after it had been out of office for 20 years.

With the nomination for President at the 1912 Democratic Convention he campaigned on a program named the New Freedom, which highlighted individualism and states' rights. One of his first laws he pushed thought congress was a lower tariff, called the Underwood Act and attached to it was a graduated Federal income tax. In 1916 another law that was passed was a new law prohibited child labor. And still another that changed labor schedules for railroad workers to an eight-hour day. On April 2 he asked for a declaration of war so that America could help to preserve civilization and make the world safe for democracy. Congress adopted the war resolution on April 6, 1917. The Peace Conference opened at Paris on Jan. 18, 1919, and continued until the Versailles Treaty with Germany was signed on June 28. This marked the first time an American President had gone to Europe while in office. In 1919 Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. He retired with his second wife where he lived in seclusion.