Woodrow R. Wilson, 28th president of the United States, was born in Staunton, Virginia, on December 28, 1856. Son of a Presbyterian minister, Wilson graduated from Princeton University and the University of Virginia Law School before receiving his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. Wilson married his first wife, Ellen Louise Axson, in 1885, and pursued a line in academics as a professor of political science, becoming president of Princeton in 1902.

Wilson was elected governor of New Jersey in 1910, then was nominated for the presidency at the 1912 Democratic Convention, campaigning for individualism and states' rights in a program called the New Freedom. With a belief in progressive reform and the president's responsibility for the general interest of the country, Wilson's administration was critical in the passage of major legislations: the Underwood Act, the graduated Federal income tax, the Federal Reserve Act, prohibition of child labor and limited work hours for railroad workers. He was re-elected to the presidency in 1916. During Wilson's second term, he led the nation into the first World War to "make the world safe for democracy."

In the aftermath of the war, Wilson undertook a nationwide campaign to promote the Versailles Treaty and the League of Nations. His exhausting schedule contributed to a stroke that left Wilson incapacitated and the nation virtually without a president for the remainder of his term. Nursed by his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt, Wilson survived, and the couple continued to live in Washington D.C. until his death on February 3, 1924.

To commemorate the centennial of Wilson's birth, a cooperative effort was launched through the United States Woodrow Wilson Centennial Celebration Commission, the Commission on the Virginia Woodrow Wilson Centennial Celebration, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation (New York City), and the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation (Staunton, Virginia). The centennial observance was funded in Virginia by a $45,500 appropriation from state and local governments, with commemorative events held throughout the commonwealth, including this small exhibit in Virginia Tech's newly dedicated Newman Library.