The question is often asked if the United States is ready for a female president.
Considering the influence such first ladies as Eleanor Roosevelt, Nancy Reagan, and Hillary Rodham Clinton had on their husbands, one could argue that the country has come close to having a woman in the Oval Office a handful of times.
However, if historians are to be believed, the country already had a female Chief Executive -- almost 90 years ago!
When Woodrow Wilson was disabled by a stroke on October 2, 1919, his wife Edith virtually served as acting president, deciding which matters and issues could be brought to her husband's attention.
While, in her memoirs, Mrs. Wilson denied making any major decisions, only a few people could have known how much in charge she truly was.
Woodrow Wilson died in 1924, but Edith
Wilson lived until 1961
-- dying, coincidentally, on her husband's 105th birthday. Maybe any list of
U.S. Presidents is in need of an asterisk.
Suggested Sites...
- The White House: Edith Bolling Galt Wilson - official White House biography of the 30th first lady.
- PBS News Hour: When a secret president ran the country - brief overview of the deception.
- Author Makes Case for Edith Wilson as "Madam President" - William Hazelgrove discusses his book on whether she did or didn't she run the country.
- National First Ladies' Library: Edith Wilson - biography, facts, and figures.
- American Experience: Woodrow Wilson - PBS documentary about the 28th president, with photos, facts, and the chance for viewers to run for President in 1912.
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