In the historical rankings of the presidents, Wilson is almost unanimously considered one of the greatest presidents of all time. However, he's the complete polar opposite to the public. In fact, Wilson is most likely the most hated President often considered one of the top in history.
Not accepting his racist & xenophobic ideologies and cold personality would be foolish, I know, but truthfully from what I've heard from relatively reliable sources such as History books and videos of accounts from WW1 veterans prior to their deaths, I think Wilson was an absolutely phenomenal President besides that.
The economy prospered and poverty decreased exponentially prior to the breakout of the Depression, and being an Academic he greatly improved the standards of education in America. The growth of the economy and America's overall wealth also strengthened the Military, allowing for more funding for the development of advanced Weaponry. He openly decided against British plans to invade Russian territory and sought to reform all Nations through ideas of reconciliation and tranquility following the Great War with his Fourteen Points, an exception being Germany and the Ottomans since they were almost certainly responsible for the War.
Speaking of WW1, which is likely the most popular historical event that occurred during his presidency, Wilson repudiated American association in the War for the longest time, which likely saved thousands if not millions of American lives. When the time did come, American involvement the War practically guaranteed an Allied victory.
Perhaps what I've heard is wrong, exaggerated or western propaganda, but if not I can't wrap my head around the Wilson hate. From what I've heard it was since he was allegedly against the Constitution and the racism argument, but he did develop new tactics for protecting American laws and citizen rights and thought slavery was wrong. He wasn't perfect, but I think he at least attempted to be a fine president.
My apologies if what I've said sounds stupid to some of you. I'm just trying to comprehend peoples' distaste for him using what's been given to me about him. Was Woodrow Wilson really that bad? Or does he simply get to much hate for his political decisions and time in office?
It's hard to generalize for lots of people without studying them (do most people despise Wilson? I don't genuinely know), but the main thing that people in the United States seem to know about Wilson is that he tried to create a strong League of Nations, tried to create a world that would not have another World War, and clearly did not succeed. Obviously this is a somewhat limited assessment, but it's a pretty powerful one. The typical narrative of WWI and WWII is "the Allies — against Wilson's injunctions and efforts — put ruinous sanctions on Germany and thus led to the rise of Hitler." Even the Wilson-revivalists (e.g. Robert McNamara) see Wilson as having essentially failed, though they think his approach was ultimately the right one.
And if people know a second thing about Wilson, it was that he was a racist.
And if I were to guess a third thing (but this is much more speculative), it is that he had a stroke and was incapacitated for much of the final year of his presidency.
These things don't exactly lead one to a high perception of him. Your own argument that "he at least attempted" is kind of a weak one by itself — lots of people tried to be a good president (alas, poor LBJ!), but in this particular job, you don't get credit for ambitions alone (especially if the perceived outcome of your failures is the most bloody conflict in modern history).
If you're nonwhite, being aware that an individual had a personal animosity towards nonwhites, going above and beyond the prejudices of his time and actually exacerbating them is going to make you take a negative view of that individual, any achievements of theirs aside.
Of course its unfair that Wilson gets this flak when Churchill, despite being an even more vile individual, manages to avoid a lot of it, but that's what good PR, a talent for rhetoric, and being compos mentis enough to write your own hagiography can do for you.
Well there's the whole federal reserve thing.