The presidential transition of Woodrow Wilson began when he won the United States 1912 United States presidential election, becoming the president-elect, and ended when Wilson was inaugurated at noon EST on March 4, 1913.
At the time that Wilson's occurred, the term "presidential transition" had yet to be widely applied to the period between an individual's election as president of the United States and their assumption of the office.
Activities of President-elect Wilson
Shortly after winning the presidential election, Wilson boarded a ship to begin a month-long vacation in Bermuda. At the time, it was common for president-elects to take weeks-long vacations following their election, as presidential transitions were longer than they have been more recently. The Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution would shorten transitions. Transitions were far less substantial in scale compared to the large operations of more recent presidential transitions. Wilson arrived in Bermuda on November 18, and remained there until December 13.
Wilson did not resign his office of governor of New Jersey until several days prior to assuming the presidency, and spent much of his transition conducting official gubernatorial business in Trenton, New Jersey.
From mid-December through February, Wilson spent much of his time carrying out on his gubernatorial responsibilities and focusing on selecting appointees for his presidential administration's Cabinet. He also worked on developing policies for his presidential administration.
From December 27 through 29, Wilson stayed in Staunton, Virginia, his birthplace, in order to attend a celebration of his birthday there.
Selecting appointees
Cabinet members
Wilson's Cabinet selection process was heavily concealed from both the public, and even most of the Democratic Party's politicians and operatives. Wilson did not announce any of his Cabinet choices prior to his inauguration. This was not unusual for United States presidential transitions of the day, as, in preceding presidential transitions too, Cabinet selections would either go unannounced before the inauguration, or, otherwise, would only be announced shortly before the inauguration.
Soon after the election, Wilson commented that he had been the recipient of many telegrams soliciting advice about his Cabinet.
There was great pressure for Wilson to appoint three-time unsuccessful Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan to a position in his Cabinet. Bryan visited Wilson in Trenton on December 21, and an agreement was reached that he would serve as secretary of state. Bryan would end up being the only member of Wilson's Cabinet to have their own independent national political base of support.
It would take weeks for Wilson to settle on any additional Cabinet picks. However, his Cabinet was taking shape. By January 9, at least half the individuals he would ultimately place in his Cabinet were already under strong consideration. By the end of January, Wilson had made decisions on several Cabinet positions, but had not yet formally extended invitations to these selections.
At the end of January, Wilson invited William Gibbs McAdoo to serve as his secretary of the treasury.
By mid-February, Wilson chose Albert Sidney Burleson to serve as postmaster general, Josephus Daniels to serve as secretary of the navy, David F. Houston to serve as secretary of agriculture, and William Bauchop Wilson as secretary of labor. Burleston and Daniels accepted their positions by letters on February 25.
Wilson selected James Clark McReynolds for attorney general. He formally accepted the job by letter on February 25. He selected William C. Redfield for secretary of commerce, offering him the job on February 26, and receiving his acceptance on February 28.