George Brinton McClellan Harvey was an American diplomat, journalist, author, street railway magnate, and editor of several magazines. He used his great wealth in politics. He was an early promoter of Woodrow Wilson, but they became bitter enemies. Harvey was a conservative who wanted Washington to protect big business from what he saw as unjust privilege by labor unions. He repudiated Wilson when he saw Wilson oppose political machines and threaten big business in the style of progressive era reformers.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of Princeton University and as the governor of New Jersey before winning the 1912 presidential election. As president, Wilson changed the nation's economic policies and led the United States into World War I in 1917. He was the leading architect of the League of Nations, and his progressive stance on foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonianism.