Center-Stage America: Understanding the Screenplay at the Heart of
Woodrow Wilson's Foreign Policy
Author: Gordon Baer
Advisor: William Miller
Program: Politics
The purpose of this research is to understand the potential influence of the American
Millenarian ideology on President Woodrow Wilson, specifically in his foreign policy. We
start by analyzing millenarianism as a genre containing particular elements. We then
look further into components or themes unique to the Post-Millenarian thought of
England and early America as understood by political theorist Ernest Lee Tuveson in his
book, “Redeemer Nation: The Idea of America’s Millennial Role” and theologian Jurgen
Moltmann’s book, “The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology.” By then matching the
thematic elements of American Millenarianism in those readings to the rhetoric present
in speeches and writings by President Woodrow Wilson in reference to America's role in
the world, we begin to see a fascinating correlation between the two.