Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)

STUDIES - Tibor Giant: The Role of Calvinism in President Wilsotis Relationship to Hungary during World War 1

During the World War Wilson tried to act as the bringer of peace first as mediator then through military intervention. When in April 1917 he defined the global conflict as a struggle between the forces of good and evil and asked Congress to declare war on Germany it became clear that he was ready and willing to lead his country even into an armed conflict to establish the US as primus inter pares in a new world order. That Calvinism played an all-important role in shaping Wilson's moral universe and foreign policies

—the American historian Arthur Stanley Link defined the latter as 'missionary diplomacy'

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—must be attributed to the influence of his father, the Presbyterian Minister Joseph Ruggles Wilson. Although the subject of a sometimes overheated debate, this father-son relationship, as well as Wilson's childhood inhibitions and failures, are generally understood to have shaped his unshakable belief in his own chosenness.

4 In sharp contrast with the extensive coverage of Wilson's Calvinism, his Hungarian policies, especially before and during the World War, have largely been neglected by historians. Subsequently, such assessments are based upon «speculation

5 and have yielded two strange misconceptions. First, Wilson's 1912 statement that he was an expert on Austro-Hungarian affairs has been taken for granted and echoed by many historians without reservation. Second, due to Wilson's role in the dismemberment of Hungary during 1918—1919 he has been accused of anti-Hungarian sentiments. Neither of these 3 Arthur Stanley link, Wilson, the Diplomatist A Look at His Major Foreign Policies. (Baltimore, 1957) is centered around this theme. 4 Sigmund Freud and William Christian Bullitt, Woodrow Wilson

, Twenty-eighth President of the United States. A Psychological Study. (Cambridge, MA, 1966); Alexander L. and Juliette L. George, Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House. A Personality Study. (New York, 1956); Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography. (Princeton, 1981). 5 These are mostly studies of the dismemberment of the Habsburg Empire. See for example: Fejtő Ferenc, Rekviem egy hajdanvolt birodalomért. Ausztria-Magyarország szétrombolása. (Budapest, 1990); Leo Valiani, The End of Austria-Hungary. (London, 1973); Arthur J. May, The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy. 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1966). 36