First Ladies of the United States: Edith Wilson

Described as “America's first female president,” Edith Wilson was the second wife of Woodrow Wilson, twenty-eighth president of the United States, and first lady from 1915 to 1921, taking on the duties of the president for over a year after her husband's stroke. She essentially ran the country in her husband's absence during her “stewardship,” the word she used to refer to her takeover of the West Wing.

Edith Bolling Galt Wilson was second wife of the 28th President, Woodrow Wilson. She served as First Lady from 1915 to 1921. After the President suffered a severe stroke, she pre-screened all matters of state, functionally running the Executive branch of government for the remainder of Wilson’s second term.

With war raging in Europe and his beloved wife Ellen dead, Woodrow Wilson was a lonely and unhappy man. But all of that changed one afternoon in 1915, when the doors of the White House elevator opened to reveal a striking woman in walking clothes and muddy boots. The president wasted no time introducing himself to Edith Bolling Galt, a 42-year-old widow.