Dark History - 13: The story of the first female President of the United States: Edith Wilson

Episode Date: September 29, 2021

A rowdy mountain girl inherits a million dollar jewelry business, drag races through the streets of Washington D.C., goes on a blind date with the President, marries him and then takes over the country after he suffers a stroke. No, this isn’t the premise of a Rom Com. Today, Bailey dishes on the true story of Edith Wilson - the unapologetic First Lady who gave Washington politicians the middle finger and did what she wanted.

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to the Library of Dark History. This is a safe space for all of the curious cats out there who think, hey, question mark, is history really as boring as it seemed in school? Oh, nay nay. I mean, this is where we can learn together about like all the dark, mysterious, dramatic stories our teachers never told us about. At least, that's what I think I'm doing. I'm not sure yet. Anyways, hi. How's it going? Quarantine,

it's given me a lot of free time, you know? A lot of time to sit, think, reminisce on past experiences in my life. And I remember that my mother, mother, mom, she set me up on a blind date once and I was like fine, fine, I'll go mom, whatever, you know? So I meet up with him at some sushi place and we start talking about what we each do, you know? And he's like, oh, I quit my job and I was working on Wall Street and I moved back in with my parents to pursue my career

as a DJ and I wasn't judging, my parents to pursue my career as a DJ. And I wasn't judging, you know, hey, live your dreams. Go after them, you know. So then we headed to a karaoke bar where I sang TLC's No Scrubs. I mean, I was pretty soft stuff at this point, but I believe I was hitting all the high notes. Okay, yeah. But what I'm getting at is that I wish my mom would have maybe set me up with a wealthy president.

I don't know. I hope his career has a DJ worked out though. Anyways, what I'm getting at essentially is today's story, which is about a blind date with a wealthy president. I know. You see how I linked it together? I did. Welcome to my podcast.

I link things together. Anyways, so blind date with a wealthy president and then like, she just takes a left-hand turn, no blinker, okay? And next thing you know, this woman, she's running the goddamn country. Oh, I know. I'm sure you didn't even know about this. First female president. I think so. I think so. Would you believe me if I told you that she was like propping up the president for PR photo op? Mm-hmm. Like he couldn't even function. So she was just propping them up. Good for her. It's kind of hilarious like when you think about it, the story is kind of hilarious.

And let's have a little fun. Let's do some giggling. Let's chat about Miss Edith Wilson. America's kind of maybe first female president of the United States. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I'm here all day. Thank you. Okay. Let's talk about Edith Wilson. Well, let me tell you about her.

She was born Edith Bowling in 1872 in a small Virginia town. She lived in a really tiny town in the middle of the mountains pretty much, but that didn't stop Edith from having a big ol' personality. The biggest driving factor to this whole story is that Edith was full of opinions,

and she was fearless. And this was true, even like when she was a little kid. Maybe it's because her dad was a circuit court judge, or maybe she was born with it. Maybe it's me, the lean. I know, I'm just full of all the latest hits today. Anyway, so there was this one time when Edith was a teenager and these two guys came over to her house to visit the family.

Well, Edith was hanging with her boys and she felt like they were being super dull. She's like, I'm bored. So she's like, hey, a day you guys to both jump off the upstairs balcony, you know, for entertainment. They were both like, okay, fine, you know, and they probably just wanted to like show off or impress her, I don't know. But they decided to do it. So they both jumped off the balcony.

Well, actually, let me go back a little bit because they decided to hang or dangle onto the edge of the balcony and then drop to the ground. Mm-hmm. And they're about to fall, okay? And Edith is watching them, and she thought it would be even more funny if she stomped on their fingers

while they're holding on for dear life. I know it kind of sounds like an episode of murder mystery makeup, but na na na, it is not. Anyway, she stomped on their fingers, and they did indeed fall, but luckily for them, they ended up not getting hurt.

Later on in life, Edith would admit that she did it because she just thought they were boring and she was like, you know what, I just wanted to laugh about it. Like, ha ha ha. I'm terrible. Oh me. This kind of gives you an idea of who Edith was as a person. So it's the late 1800s. Women, you know, you're expected to be polite, pretty, and quiet, like shantobak. Not be pushing men off balconies out of boredom. I mean, we probably still shouldn't do that, but you get what you get when we're saying you get it. Great. Okay. But Edith, she wasn't like all the other girls. She was not afraid to let anybody know how she felt. But for her.

Anyways, when Edith turned 19, she met a man named Norman Galt when she was visiting Washington, DC. Now Norman was rich. He was rich rich. You know what I'm saying? He was a businessman and he ran a successful jewelry shop and Edith is seeing dollar signs. Yes she is. She saw this as her opportunity to get the hell out of the tiny mountain town she was living in. So Edith and Normie, that's so cute, Normie, they dated for years, no they didn't, they dated for like four years specifically, okay, and then they decided to get married. Now they were living the dream together, just being super rich. They would travel the world, go on lavish vacations, and just do whatever it is you do in the 1800s.

But get this. Edith, she even had her own car at this point. This was a total flex on her neighbors, because cars were only for rich people at this time. And she was showing off. Oof! Edith would be the first person to get her driver's license in Washington, DC. I mean, that's pretty iconic.

The first person to get a driver's license? Hello, groundbreaking. What were the driving tests like back then? You know, like how'd they test driving? I don't know. Because Edith, she was like pretty known in the neighborhood to be a very bad driver. Yeah, it was said by the neighbors

that she drove like an absolute mad woman. She was just all over the damn place. Edith probably thought that they were just jealous because she had a car. And not only that, like, she was driving the damn car. She wasn't a side car bitch, you know? She was a strong independent woman, and you couldn't tell her nothing, okay?

And people actually loved her for it. Snaps to you, Edith. Snaps to you. Unfortunately though, happiness doesn't last forever, they say. And for Edith, only after five years of marriage, her sweet rich husband Norman, Normie, Normie Boo Boo, he suddenly died.

Leaving Edith completely heartbroken. But the heartbreak wouldn't last forever because when he died, he left her a huge shack pot. Norman left Edith $125,000, and on top of that, he left her his jewelry shop, which today would be equivalent to over $4 million. You go girl, you are set, she is set. So Edith is now 36 years old, she's a widow, but she's in charge of the jewelry shop,

which was so successful, it was named the Tiffany's of Washington. It was a place where like you wanted to go to be seen, but also to get the best of the best. If you were there, you had M-me. You know what I'm saying? It was all about show and status, not so much about jewelry. Anyways, it didn't really have many friends in the area

because she, unfortunately, was given the label as quote unquote, someone who had new money. Mmm, such a shame. Which was heavily frowned upon by the super wealthy. New money? Ew. That means you were a peasant once before. Dirty.

So many people didn't want to associate with Edith, which honestly, I'm sure it was probably super lonely for her. So a friend of a friend was talking to Edith and was like, hey, you should meet my friend like you guys have so much in common, you know. And she's like, tell me more. And she's like, okay, well, he lives in a super big house. There's like lots of natural lighting, super clean, super white. I mean, like really white. I mean, this guy is powerful and wealthy,

but not only that, he's a sad boy, just like you eat it, wealthy and sad. So, Edith is like, ooh, tell me who is this guy? I'm dying to know, you know? And that's when she was informed that his name was Woodrow Wilson, aka the president of the United States. Yeah, what a hook up. Let's pause for an act. Edith wasn't really interested in dating or politics, okay? It seemed like she kind of thought it was lame for her and the president to bond over grief, but her friends were determined to make it happen.

One of her friends trying to hook Edith up was literally Woodrow's first cousin. So one day the friends invite Edith out for tea. They're like, oh my god, what a coincidence. We're like right by the White House. Let's go pop in. Come on, it'll be fun. And Edith is like, oh my god, this is so embarrassing. But whatever, like let's go in and get this over with. So since her friend is the first cousin, they can just, at this time, they can just walk into the White House. When they open the door, guess who's standing right there?

Well, it's none other than the president himself, Mr. Woodrow Wilson, played by Richard Geer, if this were a romcom. Because it's kind of like sounds like a romcom, right? Like a widow and the president are perfect for each other, but they don't fall in love, but they can't help it after a series of planted coincidences by some mischievous friends.

I'd watch that and rent it, not buy it, but you get it. Okay, since this story is mainly about Edith, I'm not gonna go too much into Woodrow's past and like what he's all about, but I'll give you the talking points. How about that? So who was this mystery bachelor? Well, first of all, his name was really Thomas, but everyone called him Woodrow or Woody. I don't know, I guess Thomas was too boring.

Or maybe they didn't want to confuse him with Thomas Edison? No, I'm just kidding, but he went by his middle name. Great. And some of the big things he did as president were setting up the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission, brought in labor laws and he also raised income tax. Worrying, but you know, it's important because we still feel the effects of these things today. Widrow was a master politician, super smart, very well spoken, always dressed to the nines, and he was actually married once before. And it's kind of funny, is it?

Kinda. Because Ellen, his first wife, was a soft spoken intellectual. Basically the opposite of Edith. But Ellen and Woody, they adored each other and it was just a beautiful marriage until she died in 1914. That kind of ruined it. Now Woody seemed to have mommy issues and that's not me being mean, it seemed to be the truth because this man, he needed constant love and attention from a woman to function. Okay?

He even admitted multiple times throughout his life that if he didn't have a woman, he straight up couldn't work at all. What Woody striped for in his relationships was to connect deeply on a more personal, emotional level, having someone he could trust with the secrets, someone who was loyal, someone who was there to reassure him that he's doing amazing. Well, when Eith opens the door to the White House, Woody described their first meeting as love at first sight, like doves are just flying everywhere. We hear their heart beats a thousand miles away, and Eagle turns towards the eastern wind, and sheds a single tear. The world just stops.

The two must have hit it off, because within two months, he was writing her letters almost daily. He knew him and Edith were meant to be together forever. Oh yes, and he wasn't gonna accept anything else. He was kind of like honestly low-key a stalker, okay? But Edith, she was kind of into him, okay? There were some red flags going on. I mean, he was really pushing Edith to get married just saying the cornea shit in his letters.

And even when as far as proposing to her via letters, saying, quote, in this place, time is not measured by weeks or months or years, but by deep human experiences. What does that even mean? I don't know, man. It's funny because she responded to his proposal by saying, no, slow your roll, Mr. President. No. This didn't stop Woody, though. He would write letter after letter after letter to her to the point that he was neglecting his presidential duties. letter to her to the point that he was neglecting his presidential duties. Duties?

Duties? Right? He wanted to see her every day and needed her to tell him that she loved him constantly. It's just like, it's just a lot. It's just a lot, man. And I guess he did this with like multiple women throughout his life and it was just, honestly, how he rolled. It's how he worked.

He was a very passionate man, obsessive man, and he always seemed to get what he wanted. So by the summer of 1915, the two are still exchanging love letters, I think Edith had like given in a bit and was feeding into his kind words. But then Woodrow decided to take their relationship to the next level. Well he started sending her official government papers and in return was expecting her to tell him what she thought about the issues at hand. Now, Edith honestly thought this was weird,

okay, because for starters, he's the president, but also they weren't marrying, you know? So, you know, it's just she wasn't even a politician. He was just basically venting to her about all of his presidential issues. He would go on expressing the problems he was having with Congress, possible wars that were gonna happen, he was gossiping about his friends and enemies.

Like he was just giving her way to watch info that legally a president should not be giving. It got to the point that he installed a private phone line between the White House and Edith's place. So he could just like, color up and like get her thoughts on random, high and level intel. He's like, be, be, be, be, be, be, be, be, be, be, be. Hey, babe.

Hey, try and drop the bombs or no. He just trusted her. He trusted her so much. He's like, hey, Edith, like, can I send you these confidential messages? Just pretend you're me or something. I don't know. They won't know. And she's like, okay, sure. So she started to send and receive these confidential messages to and from European countries pretending to be the president of the United States. They had no clue. They had no clue.

They did not. It was like they were catfishing the world together, you know? But he did express that she felt kind of weird doing this. I mean, she didn't really understand why he was confiding in her like this. Again, she had zero background in politics, but he was constantly reassuring her and told her that she was like, she was just as fit to guide him as anybody else in his inner circle was.

Now, what he believed that even though his team was very smart, they weren't going to be as honest and transparent with him as Edith was. She was a fast, driving mountain woman and unfiltered. He loved that about her. Eventually, Edith learned how to decipher secret codes for him and she actually really enjoyed doing it. She had a photographic memory and she was very, she was a very quick learner, okay?

And with all of this on her side, she started to enjoy the work she was doing. And even when Woody was being irrational, she felt comfortable enough to state her opinions on how the White House was doing certain things, you know. She was unafraid to tell him the blunt truth. Edith, she didn't like to sugarcoat anything, okay? And at this point, she really started opening up about everything to Woody. She even joked about how she would like to be Secretary of State since technically she was like already doing a job

One time Eth was talking to Woody about a former president she didn't like and she was saying something like oh, I would knock his dirty teeth out Okay, look in the olden days saying something like I want to knock his dirty teeth out from a woman Oh, that was shocking words, okay? And she loved shocking Woody. He was like, oh my god, you filthy, dirty woman. She's like, I know. Talked dirty to you, me, my baby. Anyways, Woody would just laugh because he just really enjoyed the side of her. He loved it. So the two of them, they actually loved talking shit together because normally Woody was like way too nice. I mean, he had to be. He was the frickin president, okay? He couldn't just go out and be a douche. But behind closed doors, Edith got that little gossip girl to come right out of him

and he was spilling all that juicy info with her. He was like, oh my god, listen, listen. Congress wants to make booze illegal. Oh god, listen, listen. Congress wants to make booze illegal. Ah, hilarious, hilarious, because half of them are alcoholics. And then they were just like giggle and like, yay all night. It's actually true though, you probably think I'm joking. No, the two of them would have summer parties at the White House and like giggle all night.

Facts, look it up. Or not, because I'm telling you, because I looked it up. Now we're gonna pause for an ad break really quick. I'll be right back, I promise, don't worry. Well, Woody was ready to propose to eat it again in September of 1915. Now this time she said, yes, I do, I will. Woody was so excited he could hardly contain himself and he went straight to the press to announce her engagement. And honestly like they were super thrilled for him, okay? The

people really liked the president at this time and they were heartbroken when his first wife died. So seeing him happy again it just made everyone else happy. They're like good for him. Good for him. So this is a side note but I thought it was kind of fun to add. Okay, so remember the Thomas Edison story? We mentioned the invention of the motion picture camera. Yeah. Okay, so you see, when word got out about the proposal to the media, the press decided to use this new invention to the fullest potential and go out following Edith capturing her every move, you know, just like her doing stuff.

Essentially inventing the da da da da da da da da. Popper Marazzi! Yeah, super iconic moment in history. Wow. So they literally got like footage of Edith walking her dog or something and the popper rotsie's yelling at her like, Edith walking her dog or something and the paparazzi's yelling at her, like, eat it! Well, there's no sound at this time, but this is what I'm not in. Edith, like, tell us about the proposal and she's like, oh my God, what? Oh my God, what?

And like, Edith, we love your shows! Edith, and she's like, oh my God, thanks. Now, she said it weirded her out, but, come on. I think she was loving it. She's like, oh my God, oh my God, stop it you guys. She's like posing while the video's being taken up. I'm like, oh my God, this is so weird you guys. This is so weird.

Thank you. Thank you for being jazzed for me. What I'm getting at is that the people were just excited, okay, and paparazzi was invented and that's kind of cool. The end. That is kidding. Because there's more of this story, Shush. So, um, listen.

Most people were excited for them, but not all of people. Mm-hmm. You see, within Woody's inner circle, they were really worried about Woody getting married just like so soon after Ellen had died. They thought that the public would turn against him. I mean, who gets remarried so soon? It just wasn't a good look, you know? And there was one guy in particular who was not very fond of mis-edith.

Okay, and that guy was Woody's closest advisor, Joe Timulti. Now, he didn't like Edith from the start. He thought she was a bit of an asshole. Honestly, he said it, not me. But she had a voice of her own, and she let it be heard, and you know how that makes men uncomfortable. None of the suggestions towards Woody mattered, though. You couldn't stop him from following his heart.

Now one of Joe's biggest concerns was that his marriage would hurt Woody's re-election chances, which in turn would mean that he will lose his job. But people are kind of saying behind Joe's back like, you know, he really shouldn't be that worried about it because essentially she's already working his job as chief of staff. I mean not officially, but honestly kind of officially. And if Woody had a pick between Joe and his wife, who do you think he's going to pick? Who do you think he's going to pick? For his wife. And Joe was pissed, okay? And he was like, I need to

get rid of this problem that we're having. So Joe did his best to try and stop the whole wedding thing. And he told Woody the truth. He's like, look, I don't think it's a good idea to get married to Edith, period. Woody listened to Joe's words, but he took nothing to heart. He was madly in love with Edith and was going to marry her no matter what. But get this because this is kind of funny. So Joe tells Woody this and then Woody, he goes straight, running to Edith and he told her everything Joe said. The pure drama of it all. It's like the real White House wives of Washington DC. This Tuesday on Bravo. I'm just kidding, but I'd be interested.

As you can imagine, Edith did not let this go, okay? She would constantly be little him, calling Joe Common, which is like a rich white lady way of calling someone a basic peasant bitch. He's common. You don't need to talk to that commoner, you know? That's fighting words. It wasn't just Joe who didn't want them to get married. It was like everybody within Woody's inner circle. You see, some letters were found by the president's people, addressed to Woody himself from another woman, a woman named Mary Peck. Oh yeah, and there were a ton of these letters, like 200 of them, and it seemed like this was going on for years.

Now, this is just the ammunition they needed to get Edith the hell out of the White House. So what these people thought, hey, this is going to, this is a great opportunity to blackmail him. You know, so they go to the president and they're like, okay, you tell Edith about these letters or we're going to tell Edith. Either way, they know that she's probably going to be pissed and leave. And they're like, yeah, yeah, plan is gonna work to get her out of here bye bye bye bye bye bye bye you're welcome the question is like what was in the black male letters from marrying you to Woody was it news was it something freaky was it a love affair well the answer is an ad break the answer is, an ad break. We're gonna take an ad break.

Sorry about that. I love you. Okay, welcome back. So who the heck is Mary Peck? Oh, that was good. That was good, you guys. I'm on a good roll today. I think I'm just done for the day, honestly,

like my rhyming skills and singing is off the fricking church right now. 1907. Mary was on vacation in Bermuda and guess who she ran into. Okay, look, Woody. It was Woody Woodrow. Okay, now Mary wasn't just a nobody. She was a well-known socialite. Okay, she came from M.A. N.E. Yes, she did. She was able to just go up to Woody and just have a conversation with them because they come from the same social circle. And then they got along pretty I'm great. They made jokes together and they're like, Hey, we should keep in touch after

our vacation. And they did just that. They wrote letters back and forth for years. And Woody did what he knew best. He would over share constantly over sharing He'd be like, hey, so I got this rash, you know like you guys see it Whoa, and they both were just very open and vulnerable with one another Mary she even opened up to Woody expressing how unhappy she was in her marriage And when a woman opens up about how unhappy she is in a marriage, especially to the president,

I'm sure we can agree that's not usually a good sign. And all of this was going on behind his first wife's back. After he met Mary, he kept going back to Bermuda every winter while his wife stayed home and painted. going back to Bermuda every winter while his wife stayed home and painted. Now, historians debate if anything sexual was happening in Bermuda. But like, come on, come on, you don't go on a thousand mile trip to meet a woman who's just your friend. Sure, sure, yeah, in the man.

So sure. Some shit. They tried, they say Yeah, in the mean. So sure. Some shit. They tried, they say that, you know. They were just friends. Mm-hmm. That's my response. Anyhow, again, there's really no evidence that proves anything was sexual, but some believe that they were knocking boots,

doing the nasty, whatever you kids want to call it, it was possible. Uh huh. Mary and Woody, the energy, B-A-N, B-A-M, how you spell banging, hold on.

B-A-N-G, banging, but the main reason the blackmail letter seems credible was because at one point Mary hit some hard times. You see, she finally got divorced from her husband, which left her completely broke. So one of her letters to Woody, she asked for some help. You know, some financial help. And since Mary was probably Yankee doodling his

dandy, he had no problem sending her some money. He now he offered her $1,500 to go towards, well, whatever it was, she needed. So when Woody was faced with the idea that Mary may have written a blackmail letter, he was like, oh shit, whoops, like just he just believed it, you know. He knew how bad it looked for him at this time. A married man sending this woman a lot of money and a lot of letters. I mean 200 letters. He probably didn't even remember what he wrote half the time. When Woodrow was told about this blackmail letter, he freaked. And without hesitation, he sprinted his ass to Edith and he told her everything, okay?

It sounds like something an innocent man would do, sure. Anyway, so he tells Edith, he goes, or he's like, baby, baby, look, listen, babe, I love you. I freaking love you, babe. Listen, I'm being blackmailed. And then he goes into great detail about his relationship with Mary. Now, to make a long story short, Edith, she didn't really care.

This all happened before she was even with him. So why would she care? She didn't care. So she just decided, you know what? I'm going to ignore the rumors. Okay, and we're going to continue on with this engagement. The funniest part of this whole blackmail letter situation for Mary? Yeah, it didn't even exist.

No, it didn't. Woody's people, they were trying to sabotage the wedding and they made the whole thing up. Mm-hmm. If anything, to you and I, that probably just shows how guilty Woody was over here. So sometime down the line, given who Edith was, she probably asked to see the blackmail letter revealing the truth. If she did, she caught those men with their pants down. She found out it was all bullshit, okay? And

it would explain why she never really trusted Woody's people. And that was a bad move, because grudges were her specialty. Make sure more. Edith always felt like an outsider and now she had the proof she needed and, you know, she would always be an outsider. It's like petty high school drama, except like this is in the White House. So in December of 1915, Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bowling would officially become

husband and wife. Shanah Shanah Shanah Shanah Shanah Shanah Shanah Shanah Shanah Shanah Shanah Shanah You're welcome you guys, I know. You look my way. Anyway, Woody, he became one of three presidents to get married during his administration. Who are the other two you ask? I don't know, I didn't look that part up, I forgot. But he was one of three.

Now the wedding was a big deal, and the press they loved Edith, because she was serving mountain realness to Washington, D.C. Most of the time, the first lady is expected to like just stand there and be pretty and like redecorate the Lincoln bedroom. But not Edith. Mm-mm. She was like, let me put on my boots and do some shit. Let me dry the car.

Like, yeah, she was wild. Wild. You know what? You never see in TV shows and movies about the president? The first lady seeing next to him at his desk as he gets daily briefings. So Edith, she did just that. She would sit in on his important meetings

and she would even like help him write his speeches. Now Woody, he was writing the new popularity wave as president and Eth was right by his side charming everyone along the way. In 1916, they, Eth and Woody, they would win re-election. You see a lot of people think Woody wouldn't tap one without Edith, you know. If I were Edith, I would have rubbed that right into Tumulti's cute face, that Joe guy. Yeah, Google him. Okay, look, everyone was making fun of him.

They're like, oh, he's so ugly, he's so ugly, but I googled him. He's got a very strong nose. It's great, honestly. It's very, it's a sturdy nose. That's my review. Anyway, so after the inauguration, another big thing happened. The United States joined World War I. Now, what he was public about how much he hated like all this war shit, okay? So he was like, you guys, I'm going to go on a cross country road trip and tell Americans everywhere that they need to

pressure their local politicians to support world peace. Like he was all about it. And you can imagine probably traveling across the country was very tiring for him. He was 62 years old. And you know, so yeah, he was a little dehydrated. And then drama drama strikes again. You see, let me tell you, let me come, thing, hold on. One day while Woody was giving a speech in Colorado, mid-sentence, he collapsed. Gas. So they sent him back to DC to get some rest. But the minute that he got back, Woodrow suffered from a stroke. Super gas. Now if you don't know anything about strokes, I hear that that shit can really fuck you

up, you know? Which it definitely happened to Woodrow. It left him now paralyzed with no function over the left side of his body and he was bound to a wheelchair. He couldn't even talk for more than a few minutes before his voice became too weak to continue. Now, this isn't ideal for someone who needs to make, you know, public speeches or run the free world. So now what's gonna happen? Who's gonna take charge? Where do we go from here? Well, you'll never guess who steps in. I'm sure you can,

because who is this episode about? Silly. Let's take a nod, Brb. And we're back. Okay, so Edith stood by her husband and she was taking care of him and his every need. Oftentimes she would speak for him, telling people what he thinks or what he thinks he wanted, because like I said, his voice would get pretty worn out. Now, Edith wasn't trying to take power from him. She wanted to ensure what he kept his power, you know? But that didn't stop people from claiming that Edith was some kind of political opportunist, somebody who wanted to be the first female president of the United States. But was this true?

Eh, not really, but kinda, kinda. It's not wrong, but it's not right, you know? So she did make a few major decisions while Woody was in recovery. The biggest one was not telling the public the true nature of his condition. She would not allow visitors to come and see him and she would like hide this information from the people, the press, and the public.

Doctors who were taking care of Woodrow would tell the people he was recovering from a nervous condition, which is vague, you know? But they were doing that on purpose because they didn't want the vice president to know. Because what happens, you see, is that the vice president will then become president. It's just a whole mess, okay?

So Edith was like, look, I'm keeping quiet. I'm not gonna say anything, okay? She would like sit, would throw up in his bed, put some sunglasses on him, she was like, look, see, he's good. See Let me guess you think I'm joking. I am not I'm not there's actually this very famous picture of Woody propped up at his desk Okay, and it's like made to make it it's supposed to look like that he's working He has a pen in his hand and he's like looking down at papers.

But Edith is right next to him holding the papers down and like kind of pushing him up a little bit. She's like, you know, baby got it, you know. It's just like, she's trying to make it seem like he can write. No, I think missing from my joke is sunglasses. Yeah, it's like weekend at Woody's. Honestly, this was just a full-on crisis being swept under the rug by Edith and the few people who knew. I feel bad for Woody, you know?

He probably just wanted to take a nap. He was tired. Now, Edith wasn't kidding herself. She would never become or get the title of president, you know, but the power, she's like, that's something I don't mind too much. The people were getting so concerned because like, no one had heard from the president in a while, so naturally rumors start spreading.

Mm-hmm, people are talking, especially in the press. One of them were suggesting that the president had gone absolutely insane. There were bars put on the window to keep him from escaping. To be fair, there were bars on the window, you see, but they had always been there and just no one had noticed before. Yeah. But Eve wasn't charged of controlling

what information came to the president and she would filter out the ones she didn't feel weren't important or that he just didn't need to know. So in this way, she had a ton of power. Now, whether it was power she was after or just taking care of her husband, she spent nearly all of her time in her husband's room just looking after him. The country was a need of a leader. I mean, we had just come out of World War I and flation and unemployment were high and

it just wasn't looking good for Woody. His doctor said that if he simply resigned, he would have no motivation to get better, right? But on the flip side, if presidential problems were too difficult for his weak mind to deal with, I mean, it could make his condition worse technically. All this to say,

eat it the side to take care of Woody in office and be the person to push his agenda forward without overexposing him to information. I mean, she was just trying to protect her husband, her man, you know, just so happens that he was the leader of the free world. And if that meant she had to run the country, then so be it. So remember Joe to multi eat his enemy number one in the White House. Yeah. Well, he's thinking something fishy is going on. He's like, you know what? I've been setting the president important letters and nobody's answered them.

That's a little weird. So kind of unlike him. So Joe is like, you know what? I need to go go see him. Sit down, talk about it. And he realized that he hadn't seen the president in over a month. So he's like, you know what? Someone's up. I'm going to find out. So what does he do? He puts pen to paper and writes, eat it the letter demanding that the president sent down for a meeting with him. Show me the

woody. So finally, Joe's like, knock, knock, knock. I'm here to see the president. All three of them sat down and got to talking about how to best help the country. Now Edith transcribed woody's thoughts into a series of letters that were then given to the Congress to work out like a few important decisions that were needing to be made ASAP, you know. Now the thing is, the thing is the thing is these letters were very suspicious a little suspicious To everybody who was reading them Edith wasn't known for being a good writer so everyone was like hmm Hmm, this is signed would draw, but like How sure are we that it's would grow in one of of the letters, okay look the word America was misspelled. So the thing about all of this is that there really wasn't any proof that, you know,

Edith was doing something illegal, so nobody can do anything about it. And there was no television or radio at this time, just newspapers. So Americans were super used to not seeing the president or really having any insight as to what's going on. But Washington Insiders knew something was up. Okay, they knew better. They were just confused over why the President subtly stopped responding to problems he used to be able to handle in the morning.

Now months were passing and simple things were stacking up and things weren't getting done. There were tons of empty positions at the White House that were never filled, and 28 bills became law without the President's signature. Previous appointments the President had were being ignored or canceled just altogether, and if it's not clear to you by now, Edith was struggling with her new position. If you know what I mean.

So again, the press, they are sniffing around, okay, they're spread in rumors as to what they think is going on in the White House. And most settled on the idea that Edith was the one helping the president. Probably more than she should, you know. So since Woody wasn't responding to much of anything, that's when people started going right after Edith just more directly. Not only was she keeping secrets, but potentially a woman in charge? Oh hell no. America is just not ready for that emotional rollercoaster that a woman would bring into the White House. Oh, she's bleeding on the thing. She's a woman. She probably eats like salt and stuff. I don't know, she cries and they eat chocolate.

She's so emotional, we might have wars. Oh, me, me, me, me, me, me. You know, that's what they're probably doing. They still do it now. There was this time during a congressional meeting, a senator stood up and he was like, you know what, we need to stop and take a break because the country is being run by a presidentress.

That's like literally what he said, a president trist. He's like, super mad about it. He's essentially complaining that there's a woman in charge and like, we need to do something about it because this is not very America. I mean, to be fair, she wasn't the president, you know, like she can't be doing that shit, but she was one time the Secretary of State State went to Congress trying to discuss the President's stroke. Well, this got back to Eda, then she was like, oh, heck. No, you're supposed to keep your mouth shut like what are you doing?

You're running, you're ruining this for me. I mean us. So what does she do? She fires his ass. Yes, she does. Well, she didn't fire his ass technically. The president fired his ass. But everyone believes it was actually Edith who did that. Mm-hmm. Another big thing that happened while Edith was around was women got the right to vote. Good for you Edith. Good for you. Thank you. Thank you. But guess what? Guess what? This is Dark History, bitch. Listen up. The truth? The truth is that Edith hated women's rights. She did. She didn't like them. And like

many rich white women of the era, Edith did not like the idea of women voting. In fact, she once referred to the women fighting for this cause as disgusting creatures. I made it a point to let everybody know that she was not in any way related or supporting the feminist movement. It was actually her husband who pushed for women's voting rights. Now, Edith may have been a progressive woman owning a business driving a car running the country, but supporting other women? No, that was not high on her to do list. So despite his illness, would he wanted to run for a third term with Edith's help, which

was legal back then? Well the leaders of this political party were like, dude dude bro. You could barely you're barely hanging on Okay, we can't let you run again like are you nuts? And yeah, he was nuts. Maybe it was Edith who was nuts, but they decided you know what maybe right Maybe we shouldn't run, you know Maybe it's best not to run for reelection. So they decided not to And it seemed like break Woody's soul because just two years later,

sadly, Woody would pass away. Now for the rest of her life, Edith would be the protector of Woody's legacy and defend the work he did as president. She didn't die until 1961, almost 40 years after Woody. She never remarried, and she never ran for office, but she did stay involved

in party politics. I feel like I went on a really weird journey of my emotions towards Edith when I was like putting this together. Let me tell you why because first of all, I didn't know who she was, right? And then I heard that she was like secretly the first woman president and I was like, oh my god, this is amazing. We gotta tell the story, like I need to know more. And then I started to figure out like, oh, she actually wasn't that great. Like she was kind of the worst, yeah, you know?

And like she didn't really do anything with this presidential power. She just propped Woody up and like, made like a PR moment out of it. She didn't do anything helpful, and she used the highest office to take out personal vendetta against her enemies. Is that a bad thing though? No. I mean, I'd probably do the same honestly. It's good for her. Instead of opening doors for other women to

have power, she put a weird amount of effort into preventing women from voting. Luckily, that's in it work. And I want to be really upset with her for totally blowing her chance at this, but, eh, you know, this is who she was. She totally winged it. And she tried her best, I guess. But she was mainly doing so just to protect her husband and his interest.

She knew him very well. He constantly poured his heart out to her before he got sick. And she was just doing what she thought was best for him. And when you dive into history like I do, you know, sometimes you come across fingers from the past, too, honestly, they didn't know that they were probably maybe perhaps become legends. Now this is one of those situations. History kind of chose her. She didn't choose it. And I have a feeling despite all of her faults, and there was probably a lot of them. She played the best hand that she

could. This put her in a position that nobody could have ever seen coming, you know, especially not Edith, who probably just wanted to like drag race and talk shit about Joe to multi. And honestly, this, it was a problem that even the United States Constitution wasn't really prepared for either. It wasn't until 1967 that the 25th Amendment was added, which makes it way more clear what the country needs to do when a president dies or like in Woody's case becomes disabled. So at least, you know, he just got one thing done. She helped usher in the 25th amendment. You go, girl, woo, you did it. You think I did it, girl? Yeah.

When Woodrow Wilson died, it said that some of his last words were to call himself a broken piece of machinery, almost like he was a robot or something. And if Woody was like a machine, he probably saw Edith as the engineer that kept him going. Oh, and then at the moment he died, he said his last words, which were Edith. That's so special. In the end, it was always about her, whether she wanted that or not. What do you guys think? Did you learn something new about Edith? Hmm?

Well, everyone, thank you so much for learning with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions to get the whole story because you deserve that. Now I'd love to hear your reactions or thoughts to the story, so make sure to use the hashtag darkhistory over on social media so I can see what you're saying. Join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs and also catch my murder mystery makeup which drops every Monday. Hope to see you there. Have a good rest of your day, I hope you make good choices and I'll be talking to you next week. Bye. Dark History is an audio boom original.

This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Chelsea Durgan from Slash Management, and Ed Simpson from Willhouse, DNA, produced by Lexi Kiven, Dariel Christon, and Spencer Strassmore. Research provided by Jed Bookout, writers, Jed Bookout, Michael Obersd, Joey Scavuzzo, and me, Bailey Sarianne. Today's historical consultant, William Hazel Grove, author of Madam President, you can find the book below to learn more, and Professor Michael Felix, MA.

And I'm your host, me again, hey, me, tell about me. Bailey Sarianne was kidding, it's not all about me, but it's me, your host. A. And I'm your host, me again, hey, me, it's all about me. Bailey Saran was kidding, it's not all about me, but it's me, your host.