Editing Edith Wilson (section)

==First Lady of the United States==

===Marriage to Woodrow Wilson===
[[Image:First ladies-wilson-edith.jpg|thumb|upright=.75|Wilson's official White House portrait]]
In March 1915, the widow Galt was introduced to recently widowed U.S. President [[Woodrow Wilson]] at the [[White House]] by [[Helen Woodrow Bones]] (1874–1951). Bones was the president's first cousin and served as the official White House hostess after the death of Wilson's wife, [[Ellen Axson Wilson|Ellen Wilson]]. Wilson took an instant liking to Galt and proposed soon after meeting her. However, the couple were troubled by rumors that Wilson had cheated on his wife with Galt<ref>Maynard, p. 309; Nordhult, p. 195.</ref> and even that Wilson and Galt had murdered the First Lady. Distressed at the effect such wild speculation could have on respect for the presidency and on his personal reputation, Wilson suggested that Edith Bolling Galt back out of their engagement. Instead, she insisted on postponing the wedding until the end of the official year of mourning for Ellen Axson Wilson.<ref>Hagood, p. 84; Wertheimer, p. 105.</ref> 

Wilson married Galt on December 18, 1915, at her home in Washington, D.C.<ref name=Black>{{cite book |first=Allida Mae |last=Black |chapter=Edith Bolling Galt Wilson |title=The First Ladies of the United States of America |publisher=The White House Historical Association |year=2009 |via=The White House |url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/about-the-white-house/first-families/edith-bolling-galt-wilson/ }}</ref> There were 40 guests. The groom's pastor, Reverend Dr. James H. Taylor of Central Presbyterian Church, and the bride's, Reverend Dr. Herbert Scott Smith of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C., officiated jointly at the ceremony.{{cn|date=July 2022}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Edith |title=My Memoir |publisher=Arno Press |year=1939 |isbn=0405128681 |page=84 |language=en}}</ref>

===Early role as First Lady===
As First Lady during [[World War I]], Edith Bolling Wilson had relatively few opportunities to be a social hostess, especially after the United States' entry into the war in April 1917.<ref name=Black/> In wartime, she observed gasless Sundays, meatless Mondays, and wheatless Wednesdays to set an example for the federal rationing effort. Similarly, she set sheep to graze on the White House lawn rather than use manpower to mow it, and had their wool auctioned off for the benefit of the [[American Red Cross]].<ref>Betty Boyd Caroli, ''First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama.'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).</ref> Additionally, Edith Wilson became the first First Lady to travel to Europe during her term. She visited Europe with her husband on two separate occasions, in 1918 and 1919, to visit troops and to sign the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. During this time, her presence amongst the female royalty of Europe helped to cement America's status as a world power and propelled the position of First Lady to an equivalent standing in international politics.<ref name="auto2"/> Meanwhile, Woodrow Wilson's health was failing under the stress of the presidency, and she devoted much effort to trying to keep him fit.<ref name=Black/>

=== Increased role after husband's stroke ===
[[File:Woodrow and Edith Wilson2.jpg|upright=.95|thumb|[[Woodrow Wilson]]'s first posed photograph after his stroke. He was paralyzed on his left side, so Edith holds a document steady while he signs. June 1920.]]
Following his attendance at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919, Woodrow Wilson returned to the United States to campaign against strong non-interventionist sentiment for the ratification of the [[Treaty of Versailles|peace treaty]] and of the [[League of Nations]] Covenant. However, in October he suffered a stroke that left him bedridden and partially paralyzed.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4234461/claire-underwood-house-of-cards-history/|title=The True History Behind Claire's Crazy Power Move on 'House of Cards'|magazine=Time}}</ref>

Edith Wilson and others in the President's inner circle (including his physician and a few close friends) hid the true extent of the president's illness and disability from the American public.<ref name="auto4"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@WestWingReport/the-first-lady-who-ran-the-country-59a75de40c5a|title=The First Lady Who (Really) Ran the Country|first=West Wing|last=Reports|date=February 4, 2016|website=Medium}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/2001/11/04/bedroom-politics/54ec33e6-edda-4bf9-a54a-ae9bf858a1d6/| title = Bedroom Politics - The Washington Post| newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> Edith also took over a number of routine duties and details of the executive branch of the government from the onset of Wilson's illness until he left office almost a year and a half later. From October 1919 to the end of Wilson's term on March 4, 1921, Edith, acting in a role she later described as a "stewardship", decided who and which communications and matters of state were important enough to bring to the bedridden president.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edith-Wilson |title = Edith Wilson &#124; American first lady| date=March 15, 2024 }}</ref> Edith Wilson later wrote: <blockquote>I studied every paper sent from the different Secretaries or Senators and tried to digest and present in tabloid form the things that, despite my vigilance, had to go to the President. I, myself, never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs. The only decision that was mine was what was important and what was not, and the very important decision of when to present matters to my husband.</blockquote>Edith became the sole communication link between the President and his Cabinet. She required they send her all pressing matters, memos, correspondence, questions, and requests.<ref name="auto2">{{cite web |title=First Lady Biography: Edith Wilson |url=http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=29 |website=National First Ladies' Library |publisher=The National First Ladies' Library |access-date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=May 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509090156/http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=29 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Edith 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 (or Edith herself) present.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 27550164|title = Edith Bolling Wilson as First Lady: A Study in the Power of Personality, 1919–1920|journal = Presidential Studies Quarterly|volume = 15|issue = 1|pages = 51–76|last1 = Weaver|first1 = Judith L.|year = 1985}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnJEAQAAMAAJ&q=%22robert+lansing%22+resign+1920&pg=PA394|title=The Chicago Daily News Almanac and Year Book for ...|date=August 10, 1920|publisher=Chicago Daily News Company|via=Google Books}}</ref> She also refused to allow the [[Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United States|British ambassador]], [[Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon|Edward Grey]], an opportunity to present his [[Letter of credence|credentials]] to the president unless Grey dismissed an aide who was known to have made demeaning comments about her.<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Waterhouse|first=Michael|title=Edwardian Requiem: A Life of Sir Edward Grey|year=2013|publisher=[[Biteback Publishing]]|location=London, England|isbn=9781849544436|pages=384–386}}</ref> She assisted President Wilson in filling out paperwork, and would often add new notes or suggestions. She was made privy to classified information, and was entrusted with the responsibility of encoding and decoding encrypted messages.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |last1=Holley |first1=Shiloh |title=Edith Bolling Galt Wilson |url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Wilson_Edith_Bolling_Galt_1872-1961 |website=Encyclopedia Virginia |publisher=Virginia Humanities |access-date=March 22, 2019}}</ref>

====Controversy====
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.<ref>Wilson, p. 289; and Klapthor and Black, p. 65.</ref> Edith Wilson maintained that she was simply a vessel of information for President Wilson; however, others in the White House did not trust her. Some believed that the marriage between Edith and Woodrow was hasty and controversial. Others did not approve of the marriage because they believed that Woodrow and Edith had begun communicating with each other while Woodrow was still married to Ellen Wilson.<ref name="auto1"/>

In 1921, [[Joseph Patrick Tumulty|Joe Tumulty]] (Wilson's chief of staff) wrote: "No public man ever had a more devoted helpmate, and no wife a husband more dependent upon her sympathetic understanding of his problems ... Mrs. Wilson's strong physical constitution, combined with strength of character and purpose, has sustained her under a strain which must have wrecked most women."<ref>Joseph Patrick Tumulty, ''Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him'' (New York, NY:, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1921), 436.</ref> In subsequent decades, however, scholars were far more critical in their assessment of Edith Wilson's tenure as First Lady. Phyllis Lee Levin concluded that the effectiveness of Woodrow Wilson's policies was unnecessarily hampered by his wife, "a woman of narrow views and formidable determination".<ref>Levin, p. 518.</ref> Judith Weaver opined that Edith Wilson underestimated her own role in Wilson's presidency. While she may not have made critical decisions, she did influence both domestic and international policy given her role as presidential gatekeeper.<ref>Gregg Phifer, ''Speech Monographs'', Vol. 38 Issue 4 (Nov 1971), p. 278; and Weaver, "Edith Bolling Wilson as First Lady," pp. 51–76.</ref> [[Howard Markel]], a medical historian, has taken issue with Edith Wilson's claim of a benign "stewardship". Markel has opined that Edith Wilson "was, essentially, the nation's chief executive until her husband's second term concluded in March of 1921".<ref>Howard Markel, [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/woodrow-wilson-stroke "When a secret president ran the country,"] ''PBS NewsHour'' (October 2, 2015).</ref> While a widow of moderate education for her time, she nevertheless attempted to protect her husband and his legacy, if not the presidency, even if it meant exceeding her role as First Lady.<ref>Hazelgrove, ''Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson'', 2016.</ref> This period of her life was dramatized in the 2021 historical fiction podcast ''Edith!'' starring [[Rosamund Pike]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url= https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/historical-fiction-podcast-rosamund-pike-first-lady-edith-wilson-satire-1181708/|title=Historical Fiction Podcast 'Edith!' Stars Rosamund Pike as Former First Lady|first=Andrea|last=Marks|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=June 10, 2021|access-date=September 11, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2021/07/edith-rosamund-pike-best-new-podcasts.html|title=Rosamund Pike Is First Lady Edith Wilson (and 3 More Podcasts Worth Trying)|first=Nicholas|last=Quah|website=[[Vulture.com]]|date=July 28, 2021|access-date=September 11, 2021}}</ref>