Edith Wilson Secretly Ran America While Her Husband Lay Paralyzed

October 2, 1919. President Woodrow Wilson collapsed in the White House with a massive stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body. The country was told he had "nervous exhaustion." For the next seventeen months, his wife Edith decided which papers reached him, which officials could see him, and what the public would hear. The Vice President was never told how sick he was, the cabinet met without him, and the Treaty of Versailles died in the Senate while the President lay behind a closed door. Was Edith Wilson protecting her husband, or running the country? 0:00 The bathroom floor 1:08 1914: Ellen Wilson dies 1:41 Edith Bolling Galt 3:00 A president who was not healthy 3:55 Paris and the Treaty of Versailles 4:58 The western tour and Pueblo 5:48 October 2, 1919: the stroke 7:11 "The President says..." 8:24 Lansing, Tumulty and Vice President Marshall 10:08 The "smelling committee" 11:50 The treaty fails 12:33 Harding and the last years 13:16 Protector or president? 13:54 The 25th Amendment Sources: Edith Bolling Wilson, My Memoir (1939); Cary T. Grayson, Woodrow Wilson: An Intimate Memoir (1960); John Milton Cooper Jr., Woodrow Wilson: A Biography (2009); Edwin A. Weinstein, Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography (1981); Phyllis Lee Levin, Edith and Woodrow (2001); U.S. Senate records on the Treaty of Versailles (1919–1920); U.S. Constitution, 25th Amendment (1967). Footage and images: public domain (National Archives and Records Administration, Library of Congress, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Harris & Ewing, National Photo Company, Bain News Service, U.S. Department of Defense) via Wikimedia Commons; CC0: "Conférence à Versailles pour la remise du Traité de Paix" (Le Saint Lucien). Music and sound design: original. #history #woodrowwilson #edithwilson