The new role. About the funeral. They had the funeral in rome at the church where woodrow met her. The townspeople were there, but there wasnt a state funeral in washington. There was a little ceremony and the white house. Yes, there was, at the white we already finished our first hour. Cooper our guest john biography of Woodrow Wilson. Do as we closeo out here, mr. Cooper, is open it up and read this paragraph or you talk about her contributions to him. Low. Seth felt him a cold ellen had been his closest, wisest advisor. More influence over her than anyone else. He rarely let her severe depression affect him or her daughters. Ellen had given him so much, and he was a far better man for her gifts. He had gone further and accomplished more in the world of scholarship, education, politics, and government than he could have without her, and he knew it. Is it fair to say without ellen there might not have been a president Woodrow Wilson . Absolutely. This man blossomed. He met her as he was about to depart for johns hopkins. He had been playing around with write, tryingg to to find himself. Its extraordinary. Its amazing. Any academic would love to have ellen pao off life. It really is extraordinary. We have quite a bit of detractors and some orders on our facebook age. Biggest ellen wilsons biggest contribution was getting him to the white house . Absolutely. As she was dying, she tells the chief of staff to go to congress and says she will die more easily if they will pass a bill. The Senate Takes Action before she loses consciousness for the last time. The bill passes later, but it is never implemented the close of world war i breaking out. They didnt have the money. In 1933 there was a young woman whose has and was involved in the ad in the stray shin. Husband was involved in the administration. It was said nobody could move in a Light Society unless they could talk out. Made this fashionable. The first week Eleanor Roosevelt was in the white house, she went back to the federation, and she began to lobby for a bill. She lobbied for a great many things, but i firmly foreve ellen set an example elinor, and ellen are set an example for many first ladies who came after her. There are so many questions to ask. One interesting debate on our Facebook Page is Woodrow Wilsons attitude towards africanamericans. Here was ellen wilson reaching out to the plight of poverty stricken africanamericans in washington, d. C. Did she influence Woodrow Wilson, and what allah sees were used on the race issue . What policies were used on the race issues . Rex she was a southern woman, and i dont inc. You could say she believed in a quality of african impact i dont think you could say she believed in equality of africanamericans. She was a wonderful woman, but i think she thought African Americans belonged in their place. To beautify washington, not just to be helpful. Views iuse, think having grown up in the means less to his views. He allowed his southern cap net secretaries to attempt to introduce segregation in the work late. Made stabs at it. The naacp protested it. There is also an unfortunate incident shown in earth of the which in the white house is way out of proportion in what actually happened there. Time of thethe first lady . No, that was shortly before he met edith. The worst time in wilsons life. He was devastated. Shape. S in bad when it is asked if he got any political passage, political , was he even thinking about the state . Thats what held him together. He had to be president. He had to Pay Attention to these things. Otherwise it would have deteriorated badly if he had just been on his own. , to me it was like a white northerner. White northerners wanted race to go away. Booker t. Washington, we will make progress this was much more like that. Want to makers sure blacks were in their place. Wilsons sins are more of old mission. Of a mission o ommission. Each week we have a special feature attached to the first ladies we are looking at. This week it is on ellens artwork. If you want to look at more of asel, that ise website. On our i want to talk about one other. The White House Historical society has a version we have made available to you. About thesen more women. There is a short biography, and we will get it to you as quickly as we can so we can learn more about these women. As we look at it, we are going to listen too late in to leighton. Hello, how are you . That rome,e to say georgia, is the hometown of ellen wilson, and we are very excited you are doing a program on ellen. We celebrate not only the life in 2014. The art in 1914eresting that rome, georgia, raised 10,000 for ellen to return, but unfortunately, her untimely death prevented it from happening. 2014 will mark the anniversary of the homecoming that never occurred. Any final comments before we move on to edith . He was devastated. We talked about his love of having women in his life. He was a widowed resident. President. Lots of women were probably in love with him how did he approach this . The doctor was very concerned about it. It might cheer him up, so he arranged the official hostess to go walking with edith because helen was having health problems. He thought it would then a fit her to go walking with this number of they took a walks together, and that led to , meeting in the white house and they were immediately drawn to each other. Quickly fell in love and quickly propose to her. Edith is from virginia, and here is a map. It is about rehundred miles from washington, d. C. We visited in preparation for the series. 300 miles from washington, d. C. It looks very much like it did when they lived here. Originally in the 1840s this was two houses. They were joined together. Downstairs was used as retail space. Was home to the bollings. Let me take you inside. This was the birth room. This was the bedroom of her parents. She was the seventh of 11 children. She was one of over 20 family members who lived upstairs in the home. Two of the most interesting pieces are the cradle. The cradle they would have slept in. The other is a child share. We could imagine them sitting in the chair. We are pleased it has not been recovered. We know the little girl slept in the room with her grandmother. We know the grandmother was an invalid with back problems. She was the grandmothers favorite, but along with that came the responsibility of being caregiver. This is where they would enjoy evenings together. Think one of my favorite at ages is young edith 14. She has her books in her lap. We are very pleased to have this picture. We see how she is dressed. We see her books. A place where she was very comfortable and spent a lot of time as a young girl. Ediths parents sent her to washington to keep her away from an older gentleman who was looking to court her. Husband,ed her first and it really changed her life. There we learn more about the. Arly life of edith ie webber wants to know weber wants to know what did the father thing . Wax the they were happy. They were among the happiest people in washington about the marriage. What about the press . They try to keep it out of the press as long as they could. The reactions in the cabinet were mixed. Mainly they were worried about political fallout. We are getting beyond the Victorian Convention that widowed people of either gender should not remarried. They should not remarried soon. There is the phrase, a decent interval of time. Clearly for the president to want to marry again so quickly, a lot of them worried about it. Several of them wanted to warn him off. Dislike toan instant this advisor. Wilson patched it up and had them get together, but i dont think he understand what an enemy he had made. He had something to do with this. Lets take a call from carl in georgia. Thanks for taking my call. I heard a gentleman say there was a bit of dissension between the kernel and edith. This differences in living . Was he commanding too much of the president s time, or were their political differences . He did not have living quarters in the white house. He spent a lot of time there, but he did not have living quarters there. There is a bit of both. Edith was given secrets of state. She admits this was a good bit of her attraction to president wilson. This made him a more glamorous figure. She is ok. Just to get him out of the way. House was concerned house saul wilson as a very valuable property to manage and keep in power. Effect. Orried about the. E quickly backed off he turned tail very quickly, and he tries to make up to her a lot, but she masked her dislike until the time of the conference. To her sooned h after. She says no. There is a oath at this time is compressed in the white house. There is a quote at this time that time is compressed in the white house. One fact he pointed out to all three of the women he was neededd with was that he them so much, and it was a real. Enuine need he often said he could not do his work unless he was assured of their love. That was definitely one of the things he said to edith, and she responded. She said to know you have needed me is very sweet. That was a successful courtship tactic. Months later he proposed again, and she accept did. Refusal, that was what women were supposed to do anyway. That was the contention, that she was supposed to turn down, and the guy comes. She had every right to turn him down. They had known each other about weeks when he proposed. We both read that correspondence. It is clear she has to accept this guy. Of my favorite quotes from the secret service man the lady is retreating but how fast and with what intention we do not know . He would spend the evening there, and sometimes he would rake into a dance trying to go back to the white house. Project a president going to date at this womans house, it was a different era. There was such a fanaticism about baseball, theyre forced their first public date was baseball. He played on a college team at the bits and. At davidson. He was a Tremendous Base all fan. Thats their first baseball fan. We are going to have to move on, because our time is going to evaporate, but what did the general population think about wilson reading marrying so quickly . The public loved it. They went on a tour about six weeks after they were married. She was seen as a great asset. Really loved her. The crowds really loved her. They loved the idea of essentially being on their honeymoon, and it was great public relations. We take you to the wilson we are going to return there right now. We are currently in the dining room of the president Woodrow Wilson house, about a mile from the white house. Standing guard is an official portrait finished in sober of of 1920, soober nearly 93 years old. What can you tell us about this rest she is wearing this dress she is wearing . He could not have found a better helpmate than the dynamic and strong edith wilson. Shes wearing a dress that is for the 1920s. It was a gift for her from france. Some of the other artifacts like the place setting. This is the wilson china. Edith had a hand in designing this. Symbols see patriotic consistent with the nation at war. The china was stacked there. Reason was so he had room to ride a bicycle without crashing into the china. We need to remember edith wilson was the first first lady to go to europe as first lady, and it was important to figure out meetly how she should kings and queens and heads of state. Let me show you some of the details. The lining is spectacular and gives you a sense of the level of details and the clothing she purchased. President wilson lived there for three years after he left the white house. Was there a purposeful effort to make this like the white house . Airy much so. Very much so. She realized the president would be more comfortable if he understood where things were. It really emulated down to the detail of getting the lincoln that he enjoyed. The next time you come back to us we will be in the library. Reminder the and a wilson houses available for public tour. The wilson presidency were very momentous years for this country and for the world. It is hard to boil down important things that went down, but we will do it. The direct election of senators was passed. A major tariffs bill, which was an important debate in this country, the , the role ofve act the federal trade commission ts function was also created. Then of course there was the war. The u. S. Declaring war on germany. After the war, Woodrow Wilson winning the nobel peace prize. Also the 18th amendment, and the 19th amendment calling for women suffer age. Suffr was she . Lvo i would say very little. He liked to show her the papers, but mostly what she would do is get fired up and say, i think you should put this note to germany more strongly, or you should put this note to the secretary of state William Jennings bryan more strongly, and he liked her to be fiery. That. Ouraged it was funny because a lot of people thought she influenced tahim. She really did not prove approve of them and suffer rich suffrage. How difficult was it for him to make a decision to bring the. S. Into world war i very. The sinking of the lusitania is a great wakeup call as to how we might be involved in the war. Asreally is as comparable pearl harbor or 9 11. Then it took two years to try to get the germans not to sink ships and kill people on the seas. The election of 1916 was during a lull in foreign affairs, and this notion that he kept us out great pride, he kept us out of war with mexico, had receded. Hreat it was a very difficult struggle. He burden unburdened himself to a newspaper editor, and he predict did all of the terrible predicted all the terrible consequences that would happen if we went into the war. Sheldonould you answer cooper, who asks which wife gave more political clout to woodrow . I think it was ellen. She was involved. She lobbied. Reducedied for having duty on books and art supplies. When it was passed, she celebrated. It meant a lot to her. I dont think either of them had a great deal to do with it, but i think they had more than he did. David is in virgin you. In virginia. To join usur viewers. My question is when mrs. Wilson visited europe how she was received a royalty, and can you tell us about her relationship to pocahontas and other notable families . She was a direct descendent of pocahontas, and it was played by newspapersl and in europe when she went over there. What was theten other part of the question. How she was received in europe. They both were received joyously when they went over there. Edith road home and said she felt like cinderella. Buckingham at palace. They were received by the king of italy. There were thousands of people greeting them in paris. T was a magical moment which has a greater influence on America Today . Fax i would say ellen. Countryd to handle the , and i think she set a pattern of how not to do it. Up. As a cover said wes a segment that are not going to admit he had a stroke. The white house never admitted that. Admitted that, and in some ways, this uncertainty about what the president condition was really contributed nfalthat comes. Are on. N, you thank you for taking my call. My question is how was edith leading up the time to her marriage by the media . Did she get the Princess Diana reception or the Rachel Jackson reception . They try to keep it quiet. The announcement was made in the beginning of our sober. October. Time, a very different and no one was expected to get out there and be fodder. The callerteresting talked about Rachel Jackson. There was an undercurrent of a little bit of scandal. There were several scandals. Woodrow wilson was involved with another woman during that time he was married to ellen. 1908 he scribbled on a note, my precious one, my beloved mary. I dont think he sent it to her, but he was writing his feelings. Allen was very upset. She accused him of emotional love for this woman, but she tolerated mary and try to protect him from the scandal. Invited roosevelt was during the election to make use of it. Somebody said they had the letters. Even they were never as ardent as his letters to ellen had been, they were certainly compromising. They said, they were wrong. People said that was very roosevelt, but that somebody like him could be romeo. Nobody would believe that. It doesnt work. Best pr is doing his impression on the program. What happens in the white house in terms of their social, entertaining what does she do to support the war effort . Important part of the war story . Gets pitched in the middle of the term, and she really rose to the occasion. Popular in the press. The press had not been taken with her. Edith was trying to have two receptions. A party for the , buts and central powers she really was terrific, and everyone was impressed with her leadership and sense of style. She was a wealthy washington socialite and a business executive. She was ant say socialite. Er husband had been in trade. He was a businessman. There is a certain amount of as john said,ut there were scandals about the ways in which she and woodrow had been intimate. Later she makes a big road test, a big a big protest International Scandal about refusing to accept the designated British Ambassador because his assistant was telling not the stories about her. We are in the library of the wilson house with the executive director. Some of the artifacts. There are a couple of things very related. Why dont you tell us . The pen was used to sign the declaration of war. Discussing that he participated on a variety of. Ssues ,he president was with edith and she offered one of hers to sign the historic document. Edith was partn the businesse and of government. Every day they would retire to the president s office and go through what he called his roar. Through what he called his drawer. Papers to beant delivered, and he would go through them. The president and mrs. Wilson would go through these papers together. To put them int order. They would decipher together decoded messages. This lays the groundwork for her role later as steward of the presidency when the president was disabled. Our guest have been talking about edith and ellen wilson. What do you think . I think the most important thing edith wilson did was to bring the role of the first lady the senseodern era in that she supported the president and was aware of some of the issues he was involved with. May take on his role in the stewardship is different because her authority in the government relied entirely on the president s affection for her, trust for her, respect for her. You would not expect she would betray that trust to g