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Editorial Review Product Description
Elegantly written, tirelessly researched, full of shocking revelations, Edith and Woodrow offers the definitive examination of the controversial role Woodrow Wilson's second wife played in running the country. "The story of Wilson's second marriage, and of the large events on which its shadow was cast, is darker and more devious, and more astonishing, than previously recorded." -- from the Preface Constructing a thrilling, tightly contained narrative around a trove of previously undisclosed documents, medical diagnoses, White House memoranda, and internal documents, acclaimed journalist and historian Phyllis Lee Levin sheds new light on the central role of Edith Bolling Galt in Woodrow Wilson's administration. Shortly after Ellen Wilson's death on the eve of World War I in 1914, President Wilson was swept off his feet by Edith Bolling Galt. They were married in December 1915, and, Levin shows, Edith Wilson set out immediately to consolidate her influence on him and tried to destroy his relationships with Colonel House, his closest friend and adviser, and with Joe Tumulty, his longtime secretary. Wilson resisted these efforts, but Edith was persistent and eventually succeeded. With the quick ending of World War I following America's entry in 1918, Wilson left for the Paris Peace Conference, where he pushed for the establishment of the League of Nations. Congress, led by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, resisted the idea of an international body that would require one country to go to the defense of another and blocked ratification. Defiant, Wilson set out on a cross-country tour to convince the American people to support him. It was during the middle of this tour, in the fall of 1919, that he suffered a devastating stroke and was rushed back to Washington. Although there has always been controversy regarding Edith Wilson's role in the eighteen months remaining of Wilson's second term, it is clear now from newly released medical records that the stroke had totally incapacitated him. Citing this information and numerous specific memoranda, journals, and diaries, Levin makes a powerfully persuasive case that Mrs. Wilson all but singlehandedly ran the country during this time. Ten years in the making, Edith and Woodrow is a magnificent, dramatic, and deeply rewarding work of history.Amazon.com Review
It's hard to say who comes off worse here: President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), depicted as arrogant, egotistical, and so poor at negotiation or compromise it's a wonder he ever got involved in politics; or his second wife, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson (1872-1961), portrayed as deceptive, unreflective, and encouraging of the president's worst qualities to an extent that had grave consequences for America and the world. Journalist Phyllis Lee Levin, author of a previous biography of Abigail Adams, scathingly assesses the Wilson marriage, which took place in 1915 only 16 months after the death of his beloved first wife. It was, she argues persuasively, the fatal union of a narcissistic, self-righteous man with an uncritically admiring woman who isolated her husband from other people even before his disabling stroke on October 2, 1919. At that critical juncture, with a host of serious international issues resulting from World War I facing the nation, Edith Wilson conspired with the president's doctor to cover up the gravity of his condition and forestall any talk of the vice president assuming command. (Levin's account of Wilson's impaired physical and mental state leaves little doubt that this would have been constitutionally justified.) She kept cabinet members away from him and took it upon herself to interpret his wishes for the rest of the government. The U.S. Senate's refusal to ratify the League of Nations was one result of the way Edith Wilson handled this crisis, hence she must bear some responsibility for the diplomatic failures that led to World War II. It's never entirely enjoyable to read a book in which the author's distaste for her subjects is so evident, but Levin's relentlessly detailed (though always readable) chronicle fascinates with its depiction of "the influence wielded over great decisions by a woman of narrow views and formidable determination." --Wendy Smith ... Read more Customer Reviews (12) 
Our First Woman President
At last, a book that tells the truth about Edith Wilson, the President's second wife. All the drama is here: the cover-up by the wife Edith Wilson, the personal physician Dr. Cary Travers Grayson, who was promoted over hundreds of other more qualified Naval officers to Admiral, and the faithful and loyal personal secretary, Joseph Tumulty who was, in the end, excluded by the petulant and protective Edith.
Because of newly released medical records thought lost, the truth is out about the physically and emotionally impaired Woodrow Wilson. We can now dismiss claims to the contrary, made by the late Arthur S. Link's in his work as editor of "The Papers of Woodrow Wilson."
Phyllis Levin gives us an accurate view of a man who not only had an affair with Mary Peck, but also of a second woman, the wife of a colleague at Princeton University, when he first taught there and was married to his first wife Ellen. New evidence, not covered in her book, is now available that Wilson was blackmailed by that colleague's wife, who divorced her Princeton professor husband, and was living in Washington, D.C., when Wilson was president.
With accurate diagnosis by Dr. Bert E. Park, and other doctors of the medical records now available, we now know the true condition of Wilson's health long before he entered the White House. We also now know that several doctors were sent from the United States to France when he had a major stroke there while attending the Paris Peace Conference.
The central thesis of the book centers on the cover-up by Dr. Grayson, Edith, and Tumulty (to a lesser extent). Little did the public, press, Congress, and Vice-President Marshall realize that Wilson was paralyzed and unable to discharge the duties of his office. Misleading and outright lies in the bulletins from Dr. Grayson and hand-written notes by Edith on White House stationary (which begin "The President says..."), which serve as Wilson's "supposed" answers to important questions sent from cabinet officials, are now exposed in this tome.
New evidence, since this book was published, now confirms what is in this book as fact: Edith Wilson was behind the breakup of the friendship and relationship between Colonel House and Woodrow Wilson, as well as the friendship between Wilson and his private secretary Tumulty. She saw Secretary of State Lansing as a threat to her on-going cover-up of Wilson's medical condition, and engineered his dismissal. He was getting to close to the truth; Edith had a talent for fiction.
Tumulty, who is typically always presented as "loyal to the end," was continually treated shabbily by Edith Wilson and finally barred from seeing the President whom he admired and served.
Wilson was a vindictive man; he was a racist (another aspect that Arthur Link never covered; one of Wilson's statements appears in the silent film "The Clansman"); he felt personally betrayed by anyone who did not agree with his position(s); he was self-serving and ultimately, transparently disingenuous.
As Commander-in-Chief, he is found wanting: when in France during the close of WWI, he refused to visit the soldiers in the field. It is now known that a survey conducted at the time revealed the extent of the president's unpopularity among the troops.
To quote the author, "Edith Wilson was by no means the benign figure of her pretensions; the president far less than the hero of his aspirations." "The revelation of the physical and mental condition of the invalid Woodrow Wilson alters history's pious perception of him as a star-crossed victim of other people's frailties, rather than as a deeply flawed man." And I would add what Mark Twain said, "Denial is not a river in Egypt."
Woodrow and Edith Wilson, revealed:
I admired the author's thorough research, which uncovers Woodrow Wilson's character flaws, and the health issues (especially those prior to the debilitating stroke of October 1919) which were concealed from the American public.Edith Bolling Wilson is not flattered but I don't think the author assumes undue harshness in recounting her less than stellar actions on Wilson's behalf, after his stroke in October, 1919.There can be no question that Wilson should have been removed from office at that time, and his vice-president given the authority due to him, but Edith Wilson circumvented this and usurped this authority, with the assistance of Wilson's physician and private secretary.In point of fact, the author shows that Edith was far from acting in a Presidential capacity; the extensive work required of the office ground to a halt for approximately five months, while Wilson struggled to make even a limited recovery.
The author's style is not 'sparkling', in the sense that her writing makes you turn the pages with great eagerness and enjoyment, but it is solidly written, and well researched.I also found many interesting parallels in the description of Wilson's election(s); the personalities involved in the conduct of WWI and the Versailles peace conference, with the current situation in Iraq; the personalities of the current administration and this November's election (although this book was published in 2001).I almost couldn't help but compare Edith Wilson's unreflective, somewhat narrow-minded and stubborn character with G.W. Bush...they seem to have a great deal in common!
I enjoyed this book and will look for more from this author.
Tedious Speculation
I love biographies of historical figures but this one was a disappointment from the beginning...and a plodding read, to boot.
All it really manages to confirm is that politics is a dirty business and that corruption & deception are part and parcel of it all.The more things change, unfortunately, the more they stay the same.
As for Mrs. Wilson, she wouldn't be the only First Lady in history who was more of a WIFE than a politician!
An uncritical, biased, attempt at biography
There are several fundamental flaws in Ms. Levin's book. First and foremost, she sympathizes with Col. Edward House. Plain and simple House is not one to treat sympathetically. A critical biography of the Wilson family would point out that Col. House deliberately attempted to sabotage the President's great peace plans starting in late 1916 (a great friend and confidant). House (and Secretary of State Lansing) collaborated with the British assuring them that the President would eventually enter the war on the side of the allies. In reality, President Wilson had no desire to enter the war (even after the German's resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917). Wilson waited two long months to finally make the decision. Edith Wilson perspicaciously distrusted House from the beginning. Maybe it was a hunch, perhaps she saw through his rather obsequious personality, but she destroyed Woodrow's relationship with House. In fact, after January 1917, House no longer held a high position in the President's mind. In short, Mrs. Levin is highly critical of the Wilson's because they abandoned Col. House.
Second, Mrs. Levin's assertion that Edith Wilson was the first female president is highly overstated. While she did control, along with Dr. Grayson and Secretary Tumulty, who and what the President saw she never made an important governmental decision. While Wilson was unable to appear in public he was able to read and perform limited duties of his office. Any scholar who has combed even the surface of Wilson's papers understands this. For an unbiased and complete review of Wilson in the months before and after his infamous stroke an interested reader should look at John Milton Cooper's "Breaking the Heart of the World." Cooper is the foremost living authority on Wilson. My point here is not to completely excoriate Mrs. Levin's book but to caution readers of its flaws. There are much better books on both President Wilson and the first lady: the mentioned book by Cooper, Arthur Link's "Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era," and John Cooper's dual biography of Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, "The Warrior and the Priest." As a student of Wilson I am most disappointed by Levin's failure to observe Wilson's high moral purpose and the energy which he devoted to it (this is what eventually brought on the stroke).
Disappointing
Being a fan of presidential biographies and after having read some books on both of the Wilsons, I was very excited to see what appeared to be a dual biography of the couple.Levin's book was dry and downright boring .It is a very interesting and debatable premise....whether Edith Wilson really "ran" the White House when Woodrow was incapacitated by stroke.
My complaints are that the book was much more Woodrow than Edith and I am still not sure I feel like I buy Levin's theme that Edith was the first female president.
I was surprised to learn just how incapacitated Wilson was and how little the country was aware of.
This could have been a much better book.
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