The election of Ex-President Woodrow Wilson ’79 to the Presidency of the United States was jubilantly celebrated in Princeton. President Hibben ordered the bell rung and the national flag raised on Nassau Hall, suspended the exercises of the University and made Wednesday a holiday, and sent the following message to the President-elect: “n the name of Princeton University I extend to you the congratulations and best wishes of your Alma Mater upon your election to the Presidency of the United States.”
Members of the faculty and resident graduates received the returns at the Nassau Club, and the undergraduate Wilson, Taft, and Roosevelt Clubs got the election news over a special wire in Alexander Hall, - which, needless to say, was packed to the roof. The reading of the early telegrams indicating the nation-wide sweep for the Princeton candidate for the Presidency was accompanied with constantly increasing enthusiasm, and when his election was finally assured the undergraduates celebrated the victory with a big pre-rade. The line of march was first to “Prospect,” where President Hibben expressed his pleasure and gratification at the great honor conferred upon Princeton’s most distinguished alumnus, and announced a holiday in honor of the event. “It is indeed an unusually pleasure that has come to me tonight,” said President Hibben. “I see that you are bearers of glad tiding for Princeton University. Standing on the threshold of ‘Prospect,’ where for nearly ten years Dr. Wilson administered the affairs of this University, I am glad indeed to hear of the greatest honor that has come to this our most distinguished alumnus. I know you are stirred to the depths of your feelings on this occasion. Woodrow Wilson’s name will now go down in the annals of Princeton University along with that other great Princeton man who held the highest office in the gift of his fellow citizens, - James Madison.
The Pre-rade then proceeded out to the Wilson home on Cleveland Lane, where the President-elect, his family and a few friends were receiving the returns. The cheers of the undergraduates brought Governor Wilson to the front porch, around which the students and townspeople were packed in a great crowd. At sight of the next President the cheers broke into a jubilant whoop, which was renewed and prolonged to an ovation. When he finally got a chance to speak Governor Wilson said in part:
“Gentlemen, I am sincerely glad to see you. I can’t help thinking this evening that something has only begun which you will have a great part in carrying forward. There is so much to reconstruct and the reconstruction must be undertaken so justly and by slow process of common counsel, that a generation or two must work out the result to be achieved. The lesson of this election is a lesson responsibility. I believe that a great cause has triumphed, but a cause can not go forward by the activities of a single man or a single Congress, it must be done by prolonged efforts. I summon you for the rest of your lives to work to set this government forward by processes of justice, equity and fairness. I myself have no feeling of triumph tonight, I have a feeling of solemn responsibility. I know that a great task lies ahead of the men associated with me and ahead of myself. Therefore I hope that your purest impulses will stand behind me and support the generous men of the new administration.”
On behalf of his fellow alumni, The Weekly extends to president-elect Wilson their heartiest congratulations and best wishes for a most successful administration in the great office to which he has been called by the overwhelming voice of the American people.
This was originally published in the November 6, 1912 issue of PAW.