European Statesmen & Prime Ministers Codexery

Edith Wilson

First Lady who managed the presidency after her husband's stroke.

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She described her role as a "stewardship" and determined which communications were important enough to bring to the bedridden president.[1] From 1915 until 1921, Edith Wilson was the First Lady, having become the second spouse of President Woodrow Wilson.[1] After a severe stroke incapacitated the president, Edith Wilson took on the role of screening all state matters and effectively managed the executive branch for the rest of his time in office.[2]

Life and work

She had little formal education, studying at home with her paternal grandmother until October 1887, when she matriculated at Martha Washington College.[3] In March 1915, the widow Galt was introduced to recently widowed President Woodrow Wilson at the White House.[4] Edith Bolling came into the world on October 15, 1872, in Wytheville, Virginia; her father was circuit court judge William Holcombe Bolling and her mother was Sarah "Sallie" Spears (née White).[5] On her father's side, Edith Bolling was a descendant of Pocahontas (also called Mataoka).[6]

On December 18, 1915, at her Washington, D.C., residence, Edith Galt married Woodrow Wilson in a ceremony attended by 40 guests.[7] When they departed the White House in March 1921, Edith Wilson looked after the former president until he passed away on February 3, 1924.[8]

What the cited sources add

The Encyclopedia Virginia account notes that Edith Wilson accepted an invitation to serve as the first honorary president of the Girl Scouts of America in autumn 1917.[3] The same source states that Wilson trained her to use his personal code, entrusting her to encode his handwritten replies into clusters of numbers.[3] According to the Encyclopedia Virginia, scholars have raised the question of whether President Wilson's October 22, 1919, veto of the Volstead Act was his own work or perhaps that of his wife.[3] The Black account describes Edith Wilson as a "happy, protected childhood" who learned business matters through widowhood.[2]

The same source notes that she "shrewdly" chose a good manager to operate the family's jewelry firm.[2] The Encyclopedia Virginia reports that newspapers criticized the relationship by spreading rumors of scandalous affairs.[3]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Edith Wilson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: William Elliott Hazelgrove, Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson (Washington, D.C.: Regency Publishing, 2016); Brian Lamb, Who's Buried in Gra; Markel, "When a secret president ran the country", PBS NewsHour, October 2, 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Black, "The First Ladies of the United States of America", The White House Historical Association, 2009. facts only, no text reused. bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov
  3. Holley, "Edith Bolling Galt Wilson", Encyclopedia Virginia. facts only, no text reused. encyclopediavirginia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Edith Wilson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Maynard, p. 309; Nordhult, p. 195. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Edith Wilson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Person Details for Edith Bolling, "Virginia Births and Christenings, 1853–1917" —", Familysearch.org; Pezzoni, "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Wytheville Historic District", Virginia Department of Historic Resources, July 1994 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Edith Wilson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Will Donald Trump be the first president who has been divorced?"; Lord, "Who is Pocahontas? Seven things to know about the woman President Trump keeps referencing", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Stebbins, "Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend", 2010; The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 7, 1899, pages 352–53.; Ordhal Kupperman, "Indians & English: Facing Off in Early America", Cornell University Press, 2000; Ordhal Kupperman, "Settling with the Indians: the Meeting of English and Indian Cultures in America, 1580–1640", Ro en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Edith Wilson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Black, "The First Ladies of the United States of America", The White House Historical Association, 2009 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Edith Wilson" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: McArthur, "Minnie Fisher Cunningham: A Suffragist's Life in Politics", Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 124 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Edith Wilson (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In what year did Edith Wilson die?

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Not quite. The answer is 1961.

2. In which place was Edith Wilson born?

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Not quite. The answer is Wytheville, Virginia, U.S..

3. In what year was Edith Wilson born?

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Not quite. The answer is 1872.

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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