# Was Woodrow Wilson present for T.R.'s 1901 swearing-in?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-woodrow-wilson-present-for-t-r-s-1901-swearing-in/506951>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 19, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-woodrow-wilson-present-for-t-r-s-1901-swearing-in/506951 "2009-08-19T14:18:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-woodrow-wilson-present-for-t-r-s-1901-swearing-in/506951/41 "2013-11-10T06:22:29Z")

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Just looked through A. Scott Berg’s new book _Wilson_ and, guided by the index, found no mention of Wilson being in the room for T.R.'s first inauguration. McKinley’s assassination is only mentioned off-handedly.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-woodrow-wilson-present-for-t-r-s-1901-swearing-in/506951/42 "2013-11-10T07:04:40Z")

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> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#):
>
> I remember reading something TR wrote on the 40th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination. This was in the children’s anthology _Journeys Through Bookland_ and was published not long after Roosevelt had written it. IIRC, he described Lincoln as “probably one of the three or four greatest Republican presidents ever elected,” which seemed like faint praise (there had only been 8 Republicans in the White House at that point). It just seemed like an odd statement from a great admirer. I figured his legendary reputation hadn’t quite gelled yet at that point, but hearing about his disinterred-then-reinterred corpse makes me wonder.

Keep in mind this was only forty years after the Civil War. There were still plenty of southerners who thought Lincoln had been a dictator who had crushed the south. So even faint praise of Lincoln was a bold statement.

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2013, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-woodrow-wilson-present-for-t-r-s-1901-swearing-in/506951/43 "2013-11-10T19:48:09Z")

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T.R.'s own mom had been a Southerner, but he always admired Lincoln, from all I’ve read.

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