Bus. Coming up next, on the presidency, author William Hazelgrove talks about his book madam president , the secret presidency of edith wilson. She married Woodrow Wilson after his first wife died in the white house and when he suffered a massive stroke in 1919, it was edith who guarded access to the recovering president. The president Woodrow Wilson house in washington, d. C. Hosted this hour long event. Okay. Well, welcome, everyone, to the Woodrow Wilson house. Im thrilled to see you all here tonight. Im carrie villar, the interim director at the wilson house. And just before we get started, point out the portrait on the wall. I think it is thats the lady were going to be talking about tonight. And it is fitting that were here. Her birthday was a couple of days ago, so to be here celebrating her birthday. Were indebted to edith wilson for her forethought and commitment to preserving her husbands legacy. Without her generosity, the wilson house wouldnt exist. Shes the woman who saved everything, collected it and then donated it to the National Trust in the 1960s. Ais with much of womens history, though, ediths story is generally relegated to second tier when talking about her husband. So it is a real pleasure tonight to have William Hazelgrove here to share his perspective and thoughts on edith wilson and her contributions to American History. His new book madam president is a look at ediths role after wilson suffered his debilitating stroke. This latest book is just one of 13 of his books. And after his talk, books will be available for purchase and hell be happy to sign them. If youre not already, please be sure to connect with us on through our website and social media, so we can keep you up to date on our Upcoming Events and exhibitions. Well be opening our latest exhibition on october 2th, it is called evolving election and looks at the 1916 versus the 2016 election. Which we will be all glad is history soon. And our next vintage game night, one of our most popular events is on november 2nd. So please ask any of the staff who is here if you have any questions about how to get involved or other events here at the wilson house. So without further ado, William Hazelgrove. [ applause ] thank you for coming. Thank you for the National Trust for Historic Preservation for letting me speak here. I thought i would start with an overview and go through the story. Ill probably talk a lot the way i write, everything gets thrown in a blender and i spin it up. Lets start there. I was reading scott bergs biography of wilson, big thick book. And he had an interesting quote in there that really threw me. And it is basically he said that edith wilson was almost the president. Scott berg is a fairly conservative historian, i thought that was a very strange thing for him to say. And actually he went on and ill just ill read a little bit from his book. Insisting that she never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs, miss wilson failed to acknowledge that commanding nature of her role. That in determining the daily agenda and formulating arguments thereon, she executed the physical and most of the mental duties of the office. Then went on to say that edith wilson did not become as some have asserted the first female president of the United States. But she came close. She considered herself more a lady in waiting to her husband than an executive. But, and this is it tal sized, she was in a position to act, which she could only react. So i thought this was a very strange thing for him to go off and say. That sent me off to the papers of Woodrow Wilson, the library outside of chicago. And first thing i started to notice, i thought i would approach it like this, how ill was wilson . You have to have a vacuum of power if you start with someone who took over the presidency. I read lots of secondary i Read Everything i could find on it. And the range went from one end to the other, some people said he was very sick, but a lot of people said they thought he recovered after six weeks, which wasnt true. And dr. Weinstein basically talked about him, last time ill go back to this book. Woodrow wilson, medical and biographical history, weinstein writes the symptoms indicate wilson suffered an inclusion of the right middle cerebral artery which resulted in cleat paralysis of the left side of his body, a loss of sensation on that side and a left anonymous hematoma i botched that, loss of vision in left fields of both eyes, he had clear vision only in the temporal half field of his right eye, weakness of the muscles on his left side of the face, tongue and jaw and larynxinged for his difficulty in swallowing and impairment of speech. He was severely, severely set back by this stroke. So we had the situation, where the sitting president in 1919 has a severe stroke. Edith wilson, only married to him at this point for five year, has two years of schooling, a d dissenter. The doctor says you can step in. He was a leading neurologist at the time. They only had really one answer for somebody who had a stroke or somebody who had a heart condition. That was the rest care. Rest care basically told people, go into your house, live the life of an invalid and hopefully nature will heal you. He turned to edith and said, listen, hes only going to heal if you take over and no stress reaches him. If he gets stressed at all, hell die. So edith wilson is confronted right then with a choice. Take over the presidency, and, you know, again, he knew she worked with wilson. Well get into that more. But take over the presidency or your husband will probably die. Also, adding to this, Vice President marshall, edith said at this point too, what about Vice President marshall . Vice president marshall was brought on for regional reasons. He was from indiana. The wilsons saw him as a low brow, his famous quote was what we really need is a good five cent cigar, which we still do. And they actually moved him out of the white house. They did not tell him about his stroke. That was first thing. Edith said, nobody is going to mention this again. Dr. Grayson, who is also at the center of this. Dr. Grayson put out the press releases on his health. We had a lot of things about the health of president s recently. And the thrombosis that wilson suffered from actually Hillary Clinton has from her fall. But the difference is, of course, we have beta blocker and blood thinners and Everything Else thated wilson to live or hillary to live, sorry. Wilson has dr. Grayson who said it is nervous exhaustion. This coverup starts right there. They decided were going to keep him in power, and, remember, we have a spoil system in the United States where everybodys job depends on who is going to remain in power. And so the men around her said to edith, youre the person to do this. So they began after that. So the question comes to us, well, who is edith wilson . And, you know what was was she a singular person . This remarkable person, could rise to the occasion or a person caught in a very extraordinary situation. Edith is southern girl, came from the south, who, after going to school for two years, basically her schooling stopped. She had a grandmother who fill in the blanks, very literate father who helped her out, but her brothers went to school. She was stuck in witveil, i was at a few days ago and wanted to get out. So she married a guy named norman galt. Norman he was older, i dont think there was a very intimate relationship. They think, you know, edith saw this is a way to go out. He had a Jewelry Store in baltimore. Norman then died at a point, and edith stepped in. This is very interesting because early in her life, she was confronted with death, very large scale, and in one year her son died, their baby, her husband died, and her fatherinlaw died. And so edith had a choice at this point, most people told her, you know, take the Jewelry Company and let it go. She decided to keep it. She hired two people to run it and took no salary. And it was failing. It was severely in debt. And then she brought it back. So at this point edith is becoming a woman of means. Shes in her 40s. She buys an electric car. She is the first woman to get a drivers license, district of columbia. So we would call her a progressive woman of her time. She starts traveling. One day shes out and going to cut over to Woodrow Wilson here at this point, Woodrow Wilsons first wife ellen had died. And dr. Grayson here motoring along, they go by edith and Woodrow Wilson says who is that woman . And grayson tells him. And they arrange a meeting. At this point, edith, last thing she wants to do is become involved with a president. They go to the white house. They have a dinner. Woodrow wilson we have an image of him as a very austere man, he was a president of princeton, seemed sort of cold, aloof, but he was more like a sort of a victorian lover, the best way i can put it. So almost like a poet. F. Scott fitzgerald has a great quote, it says, a sentimentalist is someone who hopes that things will never end, romantic has a desperate conviction they will. And wilson had that tragic nature about him. After his first wife died, he considered quitting the presidency. He was severe depression. So he meets his very young vivacious woman. His first wife ellen was very cultured. In her own right, but she didnt she didnt have a lot of wit. And wilson was a guy who loved women with great wit, very perky women. This was edith. Edith was very fast on the draw, wilson, while more highly educated, they were sort of intellectual equals in their bantering and actually ellen would have women over to the house, young women, to talk with woodrow and banter, which sounds a little strange. But well go on to that too. So he meets this woman, asks her immediately to marry him within the first year. She says, your wife just died. No. Absolutely not. He continues. Just buries her in love letters. This was the texting if you will of the time. And so would send very salacious love letters. Keeps having her picked up, goes for drives, he stays on her. He literally at one point goes to bed because she says no to him. Wilson, in a story different on this, he had an affair of sorts. Her name was mary peck. Wilson was married to his first wife, went to bermuda, three times. Curious thing is he never took his wife. I was reading about him, i thought, why didnt he ever take his wife . First time he did have kids. This was wilson suffered from hypertension, hardening of the arteries, his wife said youre stressed, you need to go to bermuda and relax. Bermuda was the left bank of the age. Mark twain was there. Bohemian types. And mary peck was there. Mary peck was a woman who married well, didnt care about her husband, smoked, early flapper, and was very witty and wilson took was smitten with her. This happened three times, three times he went to bermuda and he actually sounded had her out about running for president first. She said you should do this. Historians are divided what actually happened. But ellen wilson said mary peck was the only unhappy that it did cause them. Im circling around because when wilson was entertaining marrying edith, colonel house, he was an adviser who was so wilsons righthand man. Unofficial adviser. He had no real title. Wilson liked that. He loved to have people who werent official people and sound things off of. House didnt want him to marry either. He let it be known these letters were out there and they might get sold to the press. Wilson freaks out, sends fwra n grayson to tell edith. Edith is taken aback, wow. And wilson goes to bed. The president of the United States in bed because he thinks his girlfriend is done with him. Edith writes him a letter, says, you know what, ill stay with you, were good, dont worry about it. Wilson is so i guess uptight about the situation that he actually doesnt open the letter. And she has to go to the white house, into his bedroom and get him out of bed and tell him that, yes, she will marry him. So, again, we see this sort of victorian lover who goes up and down and wild mood swings. Wilson said three months later he never opened the letter, he couldnt bear to open it. This is a guy had who didnt want to hear bad news among other things. So they get married. And i say this very lightly. Theyre the clintons of their time. What i mean by that, wilson did a very strange thing with edith. Right from the beginning. He included her in everything. He would send her state papers, top secret papers he would send to her as they were dating. She would write them back and say, you know what, i appreciate the love letters. Can you send me more state papers, those are interesting. She started deciphering code from him. World war i. So she is deciphering top see credit code for him, it takes a long time and he has her doing this. Fact of the matter is, edith wilson was the first person to know that world war i had ended. The armistice had been signed because she deciphered the code. What does this do . This sets up what i would call the edith wilson presidency. In a very remarkable way. Up to then, no first lady had ever had this sort of role. It just didnt exist. But wilson was a guy who saw his wife as not only his lover, but also his confidant, his adviser, he took all these role and put them in one. And edith wilson was a person who had a very natural curiosity, she was a quick learner, she learned by doing, and so she really took all this information and she was very opinionated. Gh wh when wilson fired Williams Jennings bryant, she was, like, yeah, hes a traitor, get rid of him. Wilson was taken aback and says, boy, you can hate better than anybody i know. So she had this ability to hate and also to hold a grudge. She was very strong willed woman. They would go golfing. They loved to take drives in the big and i said theyre doing all this code decipher iing. Lets go to the league of nations. War ends. And they have the treaty of versailles. They have to wilson decides im going over there to negotiate the end of the war. Colonel house says dont do that. He says, no, im coming, im bringing my wife. And, you know, again, edith had already butted heads with house and several other advisers, she was slowly putting herself in as the main person. If you read other histories, people ascribe all sorts of nefarious motives to edith, people say she grabbed power and all this and i dont think thats true at all. I dont buy any of that. But she was a person who was very strong willed. And she was she had the president s ear. She was the first goto person. His other unofficial advisers took a back seat and knew it and didnt like it. They go over there, they negotiate the peace, wilson has a series of mini strokes while theyre over there. This is kept very quiet. Stress is incredible. Remember, hes a man who has been dealing with hypertension by literally just laying down in darkened bedrooms with wash rags on his face, pushing his head against the back of a chair because it would throb so much here. Remember, they had absolutely no beta blockers or anything like that. If you had hypertension, you were expected to not do anything. You were expected to lay around. So he comes back with the league of nations as his reason for the war. This is the way to look at americas mothers and say this is why your son died, because i have the war to end all wars. It said basically if one country attacks another country, all the other countries will go against that country. By the way, the United Nations does not have article x in it. Henry cabot lodge was heading up the republicans, he hated wilson, couldnt stand him. He had beaten Teddy Roosevelt in the last election, who was his best friend. But he just he thought wilson was arrogant. The lodge was arrogant. So there are two arrogant lodge who hate each other for being arrogant. And but he was determined the league would be a failure. So starts to water it down immediately. And wilsons basic premise was, look, i negotiated this, i cant go back on what i did. And so he realizes that lodge is not going to budge, that the league is in danger of dying and makes a decision to convince the American People that this is where the United States should go. We should make this war mean something, all these hundreds of thousands of men who died. So he does. Now this is not air force one. It is 1919. Hes on a train without air conditioning. And he has hypertension, he has hardening of the arteries, hes stressed, hes exhausted, but yet hes going on this grueling tour throughout pueblo, colorado, it is hot. Wilson has a the preamble to his major stroke out there. Edith sees him with his head against the chair, he cant feel anything in his left arm, he cant hold his razor, his hand trembles so much. Dr. Grayson says it is over, you have to go back. They turn the train around and go back to washington. When they get back, wilson seems to improve a little bit. But then the next night edith hears a sound upstairs, she goes up and the president of the United States is laying on the tile floor, blood coming out of his head and hes out. This is the massive stroke that he had that, you know, the doctors had been warning him about. This is where edith begins. I want to go off to ediths governing style at this point. Now, were back to where dirkum says to her, you can do this thing. Ediths governing style was one of access. If president ial power is a river, it went up to the door of the president s bedroom where he was, and edith diverted it. So nothing got to him that was deemed stressful. First of all, according to ike hoover, his valet, this is where you have multiple people giving different views of what really happened to the president , hoover was very blunt, he said he looked dead. He thought he would go in there many times and thought he was dead. He was essentially out. Edith began to meet people from the cabinet outside the door. If it was a problem she couldnt solve readily she would write a note to him and say i will the president will deal with this when the president is better. Her handwriting was a very sort of childlike scrawl, s