TOW 10

            Woodrow Wilson, the former U.S. President, was a racist? William Keylor, in his article titled “Should we scrub all memorials to Woodrow Wilson?,” addresses a counterargument and utilizes rhetorical questions in order to get Princeton administrators to reconsider their decision to rename buildings honoring Wilson. Keylor wrote an article in 2013 which shed light on Wilson’s racial prejudices, making him a credible source for this topic.

            Keylor issues “a note of caution about the campaign to remove [Wilson] from the Princeton campus and elsewhere in the country” by, first, acknowledging a counterargument. He admits that the President once remarked that “Segregation is not humiliating” and deemed the film Birth of a Nation, which celebrates the “Ku Klux Klan as a courageous defender of the Southern way of life,” as “a splendid production.” After acknowledging that the President was indeed racist, Keylor insists that we also “recognize the positive side of his legacy: the federal income tax…and other notable achievements.” Pointing out the positive aspects of Woodrow’s presidency after acknowledging the counterargument allows the audience to overlook Woodrow’s racial mindset, ultimately adding strength to Keylor’s argument that Wilson still deserves to be honored—which is further strengthened with Keylor’s rhetorical questioning.

            Thomas Jefferson, one of America’s most honored citizens, was a slaveholder. Keylor forces his audience to reconsider their plan to dismantle Woodrow’s memorials when he asks if we should “rename out capital and pull down the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial because they honor presidents who were slaveholders?” This question gives his audience an ultimatum: either leave Wilson’s memorials as is, or dismantle them and then reconsider honoring the people who contributed greatly to the founding of our beloved nation. Washington and Jefferson are two names that are branded into our identity because of our association with America. By pointing out that these two idols also had racial mindsets, Keylor forces his readers to diminish their anger with Wilson and therefore reconsider ridding Wilson’s honor.

            Keylor’s rhetorical questioning and rebuttal of a counterargument successfully allow him to present a strong argument in favor of keeping the names of buildings that honor President Woodrow Wilson.