Woodrow Wilson | Origin of Street Names

Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856 - 1924) was an American president from the Democratic Party, during whose two terms (1913 - 1921), Serbia, or the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), and the United States had truly friendly relations for the first and perhaps only time.

Born in the small town of Staunton, Virginia, Woodrow Wilson grew up with the ideas of the American Confederacy, one of whose basic principles was the promotion of slavery. It is no secret that his immediate family also owned African-American slaves, which, along with several other controversial decisions made during his presidency, defined him as a racist throughout his political career.

Woodrow Wilson, as a professor, intellectual, President of the United States, and his political views and decisions, especially on domestic matters, could certainly be debated at the highest level, but that is not the topic of this story.

However, the question arises as to how such a controversial figure became so favorable towards Serbia, as was the case with Woodrow Wilson?!

Namely, Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the President of the United States during the period immediately before, during, and after the Great War (1914 - 1918), in which the United States did not participate for the most part.

However, news of the great resistance of a small nation against a much stronger enemy, the glorious victories at the beginning of the war, followed by unprecedented suffering, and ultimately the magnificent triumph of Serbia in World War I, reached the President of the United States through the press, foreign diplomats, but most notably from the great Serbian scientist, Mihajlo Pupin, with whom Wilson was a university colleague and friend.

Truth be told, diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Serbia and the United States, although established during the reign of Prince Mihailo (1860s), were extremely symbolic until the end of the Great War.

After hearing news of the brave resistance, tremendous sacrifices, chivalrous conduct, and ultimately the glorious victory of Serbia, Woodrow Wilson seized every opportunity to express admiration for the bravery and determination of the Serbs in the fight for freedom.

It is little known that the financial aid from the United States, initiated by Wilson, was of immense importance for the recovery of the Serbian army on the island of Corfu.

Furthermore, President Wilson's famous proclamation, praising the Serbian people, was read during church services across the United States towards the end of the war, introducing Serbia to many Americans for the first time.

Finally, at the peace conference in Versailles, President Woodrow Wilson, as one of the most influential men of his time, gave the green light for the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the creation of the Kingdom of SHS. Moreover, it is little known that Wilson, inspired by Serbian achievements, proposed the expansion and strengthening of the Kingdom of Serbia itself, but numerous circumstances prevented it from happening.

As the pinnacle of the great support from the American president to Serbia and Regent Aleksandar, the United States was among the first countries to recognize the Kingdom of SHS, and the Serbian tricolor flag was hoisted on the White House for the first and only time in history in 1919.

Due to all of this, from a historical perspective, Woodrow Wilson is considered the favorite American president in Serbia to this day. However, there is no doubt that the great Mihajlo Pupin was most responsible for this stance, along with the undeniable strategic interests of the United States in the Balkans, where the disintegration of great empires resulted in the creation and restoration of numerous states.

As a mark of respect for the American president, after his death in 1924, Woodrow Wilson was honored with a street in Belgrade (now Savski Trg), but with the change in international political climate after World War II, it was renamed.

However, in 2019, Woodrow Wilson was reintroduced on the map of Belgrade streets, and today his name adorns the main boulevard in "Belgrade Waterfront."