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from a review Wilson came into office riding a wave of progressive sentiment that had been unsatisfied by the lackluster William Howard Taft. Since the GOP split between the Taft and Theodore Roosevelt wings, Wilson won the election of 1912. His new administration was the Democrats first opportunity to run the executive branch in nearly 20 years. Wilson's initial domestic accomplishments were impressive in some respects. He and his allies in Congress passed the first real attempt at centralized banking (the Federal Reserve Board) since antebellum times and Wilson continued TR's path towards labor rights. Unfortunately, his administration continued to erode rights for African-Americans, barring them from employment all the way down to the level of local post master. His moralistic ideals spilled into foreignaffairs when events in Mexico overwhelmed all other concerns along the Mexican-US border. Here in 1911, Taft had bungled US policy badly and Wilson managed to involve the US in the Mexican revolution in a regrettable and meddlesome way that damaged US-Mexican relations for many years.