In Search of History

Madam President

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that left him gravely ill and partially paralyzed. For the remainder of his term, he would be protected and guarded by his devoted wife, Edith Bolling Wilson. Edith Wilson controlled access to the president and kept the strains of office from overwhelming the ill president. Many believed that she herself was running the country. But Edith Wilson did not make decisions of state, although she did decide what was important enough for her husband to know and who he should see, prompting an opposing senator to call Wilson’s administration a “petticoat government.”

Madam President would be useful for classes on American History, Women’s History, American Culture and Political Science. It is appropriate for middle school and high school.

• adage
• alleviate
• ardor
• armistice
• behest
• clarity
• confidante
• cortege
• deplete
• distraught
• incapacitated
• ostracize
• paranoid
• portico
• pretentious
• ratification
• repudiate
• shrouded
• slacker
• undaunted

Discussion Questions

1. If the president of the United States dies, what is the order of succession?

2. Woodrow Wilson was a Progressive. What was the Progressive movement? Who were its leaders? What were the platforms of Progressivism?

3. Edith Bolling Galt hesitated in giving her consent to marry Woodrow Wilson. Why did she hesitate?

4. What does the American public want from its First Lady?

5. Europe hailed Woodrow Wilson as a hero after World War I. Europeans heralded Wilson’s plan for the League of Nations, but senators at home voted it down. Why did the senate reject Wilson’s Fourteen Points and his plans for the League of Nations?

6. Woodrow Wilson suffered from hypertension. What is hypertension? How is the disease managed today?

7. Discuss how Edith Wilson acted as a protector and presidential aid for her ailing husband.

8. Could this situation happen today?

9. First Ladies have an important, though unofficial role in American politics. What do you think the role of the president’s spouse would be if the president were a woman?

Extended Activities

1. Imagine that you are the editor of the society page of a Washington newspaper in 1915. Write a column for your readers about the new love interest, Edith Bolling Galt, of the president.

2. Imagine that you are Edith Bolling Galt and the president of the United States has proposed to you. Keep a journal of your thoughts as you make your decision. Weigh the pros and cons of becoming the president’s wife.

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Air Dates

• March 08, 2005