POTUS 28: President Woodrow Wilson - The President Who Short-Circuited & POTUS 28A: President Edith Wilson

President Wilson started out as an academic, working his way up to President of Princeton in 1902. He ran for governor, and won, in 1910, and was nominated for President at the democratic convention in 1912.

After winning re-election in 1916 on the premise that "he kept us out of war," he asked congress to declare war on Germany in 1917. The American presence in the war eventually helped tilt the balance in favor of the allies. After the Germans signed an armistice, Wilson went to Paris to work on the Treaty of Versailles and The League of Nations. Alas, in the midterms, the balance in Congress had tilted toward the Republicans. The Treaty died in the Senate.

After a long tour on the hustings to drum up support for Versailles and the League of Nations, President Wilson became ill.

On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed on his left side. His intellectual capacity remained intact, but his emotions and judgment were shattered. No one suggested that Wilson resign. The 25th amendment was fifty years in the future. His wife, Edith, undertook a massive cover-up of his condition. She controlled access to him and made the decisions for him. In a very real sense, Edith Wilson was the 29th President of the United States (or maybe 28A).

It's a mind f**ker for us in the age of revved up Kleig-light journalism and media scrutiny to imagine keeping a President on ice for two years. Imagine if in 2006, President George W. Bush disappeared from public view, and we never saw him again. We get communiques from him, we never actually see him. He is somewhere behind The Closed Door, like Charlie, of Charlie's Angels, or even Howard Hughes. Any information we do get comes from aides. You no longer really even know who is behind that closed door. No one has the power to peek beneath the covers.

Although President Wilson gradually recovered from the worst effects of the stroke, he never got his game back. In the meantime, the Senate twice rejected the Versaille peace treaty. Wilson had refused to compromise and the United States never joined the League of Nations. President Wilson left the White House in March 1921 a broken man.
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