Woodrow Wilson was president from 1913-1921. On October 2, 1919, he suffered a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed on his left side and drastically limited his ability to act as president. His wife, Edith, in an effort to spare his health, kept access to her husband at a minimum, and screened all paperwork that crossed the president’s desk. She only presented him with what she felt was the most urgent of business, even signing some documents in his stead, without his permission. Rather than turn power over to the Vice President, who she did not trust, Edith did her best to continue with “business as usual.” At a time when women were not even allowed to vote, Edith was, in effect, the president.
I found the premise of this book very intriguing, but it fell a little flat for me. The author jumps back and forth between pre-stroke Wilson and post-stroke Wilson. First of all, it took me awhile to get used to the back and forth, it didn’t naturally flow for me. And secondly, I mostly enjoyed the pre-stroke sections, but the post-stroke sections all felt very much the same. Edith is trying to keep the president from dying, and keep the secret that the president is an invalid. Woodrow is sad. People are starting to wonder what’s up. We don’t know for sure, but come on guys, Edith was the president. Every section hit on these 4 basic topics. Over and over again. In some ways it felt like a thesis, trying to prove Edith was the president by showing us all the bits of evidence he could find. In the end this was my take-away: I get it. She was running the country. But I’m not convinced she was actively running the country so much as doing things by default (and letting most things fall through the cracks), and besides, it’s not exactly legal for an unelected official to run the country (I’ve watched The West Wing, I know what’s up), so I’m not sure we want to tout her as the first woman president and sing praises to her name.
I did finish it, which I wouldn’t do if I didn’t like the book at all. But it was a bit tedious. 3 stars, because I liked that it really happened, and there are pictures included. Otherwise it would have been 2.
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