Edith Wilson was the first lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921 and the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson.
36 Facts About Edith Wilson
2.
Edith Wilson married the widower Wilson in December 1915, during his first term as president.
3.
Edith Wilson played an influential role in President Wilson's administration following the severe stroke he suffered in October 1919.
4.
Edith Wilson's birthplace, the Bolling Home, is a museum located in Wytheville's Historic District.
5.
Edith Wilson was the seventh of eleven children, two of whom died in infancy.
6.
The Bolling household was a large one, and Edith Wilson grew up within the confines of a sprawling, extended family.
7.
Many of the women in Edith Wilson's family lost husbands during the war.
8.
Edith Wilson had the responsibility to wash her clothing, turn her in bed at night, and look after her 26 canaries.
9.
In turn, Grandmother Bolling oversaw Edith Wilson's education, teaching her how to read, write, basic math skills, speak a hybrid language of French and English, make dresses, and instilled in her a tendency to make quick judgments and hold strong opinions, personality traits Edith Wilson would exhibit her entire life.
10.
The Bolling family attended church regularly, and Edith Wilson became a lifelong, practicing Episcopalian.
11.
When Edith Wilson was 15, her father enrolled her at Martha Washington College, a finishing school for girls in Abingdon, Virginia.
12.
Two years later, Edith Wilson's father enrolled her in Powell's School for Girls in Richmond, Virginia.
13.
Years later, Edith Wilson noted that her time at Powell's was the happiest time of her life.
14.
Edith Wilson hired a manager to oversee his business, paid off his debts, and with the income left to her by her late husband, toured Europe.
15.
Edith Wilson took an instant liking to Galt and proposed soon after meeting her.
16.
However, rumors that Edith Wilson had cheated on his wife with Galt threatened the burgeoning relationship.
17.
Distressed at the effect such wild speculation could have on the authenticity of the presidency and respectability of his personal reputation, Wilson proposed that Edith Bolling Galt back out of their engagement.
18.
Additionally, Edith Wilson became the first First Lady to travel to Europe during her term.
19.
Edith Wilson visited Europe with her husband on two separate occasions, in 1918 and 1919, to visit troops and to sign the Treaty of Versailles.
20.
Edith Wilson submerged her own life in her husband's, trying to keep him fit under tremendous strain, and accompanied him to Europe when the Allies conferred on terms of peace.
21.
Edith Wilson required they send her all pressing matters, memos, correspondence, questions, and requests.
22.
Edith Wilson took her role very seriously, even successfully pushing for the removal of Secretary of State Robert Lansing after he conducted a series of Cabinet meetings without the President present.
23.
Edith Wilson refused to allow the British ambassador, Edward Grey, an opportunity to present his credentials to the president unless Grey dismissed an aide who was known to have made demeaning comments about her.
24.
Edith Wilson assisted President Wilson in filling out paperwork, and would often add new notes or suggestions.
25.
Edith Wilson was made privy to classified information, and was entrusted with the responsibility of encoding and decoding encrypted messages.
26.
In My Memoir, published in 1939, Edith Wilson justified her self-proclaimed role of presidential "steward", arguing that her actions on behalf of Woodrow Wilson's presidency were sanctioned by Wilson's doctors; that they told her to do so for her husband's mental health.
27.
Edith Wilson maintained that she was simply a vessel of information for President Wilson; however, others in the White House did not trust her.
28.
Phyllis Lee Levin concluded that the effectiveness of Woodrow Edith Wilson's policies were unnecessarily hampered by his wife, "a woman of narrow views and formidable determination".
29.
Judith Weaver opined that Edith Wilson underestimated her own role in Wilson's presidency.
30.
Markel has opined that Edith Wilson "was, essentially, the nation's chief executive until her husband's second term concluded in March of 1921".
31.
Edith Wilson later attended the January 20,1961, inauguration of President John F Kennedy.
32.
Edith Wilson died of congestive heart failure on December 28,1961, at age 89.
33.
Edith Wilson was to have been the guest of honor that day at the dedication ceremony for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge across the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia, on what would have been her husband's 105th birthday.
34.
Edith Wilson was buried next to her husband at the Washington National Cathedral.
35.
Edith Wilson left her home to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, with a condition that it be made into a museum honoring her husband.
36.
The Woodrow Edith Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964.