Synopsis

This two-part portrait of Woodrow Wilson weaves together newsreel footage, evocative recreations of the past, and readings – with voices provided by Rene Auberjonois and Blair Brown as Wilson and his first wife, Ellen, respectively – alongside interviews with leading historians. The first installment traces Wilson's path from his upbringing in Georgia to the onset of World War I, a period marked by the death of Ellen. As historian John Milton Cooper observes, Wilson "had to confront the world’s