THE NEW FREEDOM. A CALL FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF THE GENEROUS ENERGIES OF A PEOPLE

New York & Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1913. First Edition. Hardcover. Spine gilt a but dull, lacking the scarce dustwrapper. Near Fine. INSCRIBED and SIGNED by the author on the front endpaper 6 days after his inauguration as 28th President of the United States: "To Frank, with love from/Woodrow Wilson/Washington, 10 March, 1913." The recipient was almost certainly Wilson's future son-in-law Francis Bowes Sayre who would marry Wilson's daughter in November of 1913. An important book by Wilson, though as he explains in the preface, not actually written by him but rather a compilation of excerpts from his campaign speeches that stressed the individual rights of states and their citizenry. Wilson successfully used "The New Freedom" as a campaign slogan in the 1912 presidential election, with a focus on progressive reforms of tariffs, business, and banking. Books autographed by Wilson are rather uncommon; those signed as President, especially in such an intimate fashion, are notably scarce.