Women In History Books: Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

As America made history with the first female VP did you know that secretly we already had a female president? Well sorta.
I have always found the story behind Edith Wilson interesting. When President Wilson suffered a stroke he was bedridden and his loving wife did what she needed to do. She stepped up and became President, at least in duty only. Edith Wilson performed Woodrow Wilson’s daily tasks unless they were of high importance to which she brought the information to the President.
She kept the secret from the people of the United States and even most of his cabinet. She didn’t do this for her own glory or to prove a woman COULD do it but because the country needed a leader and her husband had been chosen to lead the people. And she would not allow the people to be let down.

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Edith Wilson was the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson and served as First Lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921. She married the widower Wilson in December 1915, during his first term as president. Edith Wilson played an influential role in President Wilson’s administration following the severe stroke he suffered in October 1919. For the remainder of her husband’s presidency, she managed the office of the president, a role she later described as a “stewardship,” and determined which communications and matters of state were important enough to bring to the attention of the bedridden president.