President Woodrow Wilson had a stroke 104 years ago. Did it lead to the ‘first female president’?
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
As Monday marks the day when former President Woodrow Wilson suffered a severe stroke that left him incapacitated until the end of his presidency, it’s time to talk about the alleged, secret “first female president” of the U.S.
Her name is Edith Bolling Galt Wilson.
Did the U.S. have a secret female president?
The White House reported on its website that following Wilson’s massive stroke on Oct. 2, 1919, his wife, Edith Wilson, was “his constant attendant” and she “took over many routine duties and details of government.”
Of course, Wilson never referred to herself as a “secret president,” but rather described her actions as a “stewardship” of the presidency.
Related
What did Edith Wilson do in the White House?
PBS elaborated on how much Edith Wilson did in the White House, saying that in order to “protect her husband’s health at all costs, she allied with his loyal physician to shield the president from all outside visitors.”
Edith Wilson “began to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of the chief executive,” The Smithsonian reported.
White House usher Ike Hoover reportedly said, “If there were some papers requiring his attention, they would be read to him — but only those that Mrs. Wilson thought should be read to him. Likewise, word of any decision the president had made would be passed back through the same channels.”
The time period that Wilson reportedly “stewarded” over the many routines of the “president’s executive role” was from October 1919 to March 1921.
Wilson insisted that “she never made a decision regarding government or public affairs,” but despite this, her presence in aiding her husband’s presidency was certainly noted by some, according to The Collector.
The Smithsonian further reported on Wilson’s White House activities, “Though her Oval Office authority was acknowledged in Washington circles at the time — one senator called her ‘the presidentress who had fulfilled the dream of suffragettes by changing her title from First Lady to Acting First Man’ — Her legacy as the first woman president is now largely forgotten.”
Related
What others think about Edith Wilson
Some are critics of Wilson’s role that she took on while her husband was incapacitated as the president.
“She did not initiate programs or make major decisions, and she did not try to control the executive branch. She selected matters for her husband’s attention and let everything else go to the heads of departments or remain in abeyance,” the White House reported on its website.
Historians reportedly believe that the view that Edith Wilson “ran the country” was an exaggeration, as there was a “lack of leadership” during this time.
Despite some pushback against the “secret president” label that has been used to describe Wilson, other reports detail that it was because some critics believed “Edith was running the government” that some Americans objected to her husband maintaining the presidency.
Britannica reported, “One senator charged that the nation was under a ‘petticoat government,’ and rumors spread about an ‘Assistant President.’”
