The presidencies of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt were, essentially, defined by their experiences with war. Wilson, after narrowly winning a second term in 1916, was faced with the outbreak of the First World War. Roosevelt – first elected in 1932, the first of his four terms – took office while the United States was in the midst of the Great War. The Depression and then led the United States through much of World War II. Although the two world wars began in two very different international contexts, the two presidents seemed to share an ideological vision and support the proposal of an international institution that could make the world safe for American democracy. Despite their similarities, however, Roosevelt's views on the international order changed when the United States entered the war. Although both presidents had an idealistic and Wilsonian view regarding the international scene and, more specifically, international institutions, Wilson and Roosevelt differed slightly. Wilson firmly believed throughout his presidency that international institutions were necessary in the developing international scene, while Roosevelt, towards the end of his presidency, began to question the Wilsonian vision. However, as Roosevelt's views on international institutions changed, the two presidents eventually opened the rest of the United States to Wilsonian thinking. Wilson and Roosevelt both strongly supported the creation of the League of Nations and lobbied for the United States to become a member. Created in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, the League of Nations was the brainchild of President Wilson, who believed that such an institution would prevent war and protect democracy. The League, Wilson believed,… middle of paper… was becoming increasingly less practical as World War II continued to rage. The world had changed after Wilson's presidency. Wilson believed that World War I was the “war to end all wars,” that the creation of an international institution like the League of Nations would help ensure that such a bloody global conflict would not happen again. The outbreak of World War II demonstrated that World War I had not solved the world's problems, which Roosevelt recognized. For Roosevelt, it seemed that Wilsonian solutions were ineffective and that cooperation between world powers was the way to find peace. While Wilson believed that the League of Nations would create a world in which war would not have to be waged, Roosevelt's idealism turned to realism as he watched World War II tear apart not only the League, but the entire European continent..