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With war raging in Europe and his beloved wife
Ellen
dead, Woodrow Wilson was a lonely and
unhappy man. But all of that changed one afternoon in 1915, when the
doors of the White House elevator opened to reveal a striking woman
in walking clothes and muddy boots. The president wasted no time
introducing himself to Edith Bolling Galt, a 42-year-old widow.
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Edith lived most of her life either within or near the American
capital, rarely bothering to follow politics. She was born on
October 15, 1872, in the rural Virginia town of Wytheville. One of
eleven children, Edith claimed a lineage of southern aristocracy
extending back to Pocahontas, the 17th century Native American woman
who married into the English settlement at Jamestown. Edith married
the heir of a prominent jeweler in Washington, D.C. only after
compelling him to endure a rather extended four-year
courtship.
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Friendship with Woodrow Wilsonís cousin led to the widow Galtís
chance meeting of the president in the White House. Over fifteen
years Wilsonís junior, Edith captivated him with her charming,
independent vitality. After an intense, whirlwind, and almost
unseemly courtship, Edith and Woodrow were married, only nine months
after meeting, in a very small ceremony at her
Washington, D.C. townhouse.
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The new first lady rarely took an active
public political role, but dazzled the American people with her
gracious manner and fashionable couture. Privately, Edith worked
arduously at the presidentís side. She was apprised of state
matters and, after the outbreak of the First World War, even decoded
secret transmissions. All the while, Edith was attendant to her
husbandís increasingly burdened health.
After the warís conclusion, she pleaded with Woodrow not to
undertake a grueling cross-country campaign in support of his
cherished
League of Nations.
Wilsonís resulting physical breakdown and paralyzing
stroke gave occasion for Edithís most enduring legacy.
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During the presidentís months-long convalescence, Edith imposed a
self-described "stewardship" of the Presidency. Seeking to protect
her husbandís health at all costs, she allied with his loyal
physician to shield the president from all outside visitors. She
served as the only conduit to the president. White House usher Ike
Hoover recalled, " 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." Edith faced criticism for her actions, but she
was specific that she never made decisions on her own. Though she
carefully controlled her husband's days, the charges that she
usurped the duties of the Presidency were exaggerated
A frail Wilson muddled through the last year of his
Presidency. His favorite activity was watching newsreels from
his time in office, with old friends like
Ray Stannard
Baker. At the
conclusion of Wilsonís term in office, he and Edith retired to a
Washington, D.C. townhouse where Wilson died just three years later.
Edith would survive him by more than thirty-seven years.
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