Woodrow Wilson. Wilson became the first southern President since the Civil War in 1912. He promised progressivism, but invaded Mexico, intervened in Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Honduras and militarily occupied Nicaragua during his entire presidency. He opposed women's rights to vote and advocated Jim Crow laws against blacks. In 1919 during his second term, he sufferred a paralyzing stroke and his wife secretly conducted the office of the presidency until 1921. Questioning: Who's running the office in the White House today.