Edith Wilson ( Bolling, formerly Galt; October 15, 1872 – December 28, 1961) was the
first lady of the United States
The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...
from 1915 to 1921 and the second wife of President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
. She married the
widower
A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died.
Terminology
The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...
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
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
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.
Early life
Edith Bolling was born October 15, 1872, in
Wytheville, Virginia
Wytheville is a town in, and the county seat of, Wythe County, in southwestern Virginia, United States. It is named after George Wythe, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and mentor to Thomas Jefferson. Wytheville's populat ...
, to
circuit court judge William Holcombe Bolling and his wife Sarah "Sallie" Spears (née White). Her birthplace, the Bolling Home, is now a museum located in
Wytheville's Historic District.
Bolling was a descendant of the
first settlers to arrive at the
Virginia Colony
The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...
. Through her father, she was also a descendant of Mataoka, better known as
Pocahontas
Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...
, the daughter of
Wahunsenacawh
Powhatan ( c. 1547 – c. 1618), whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh (alternately spelled Wahunsenacah, Wahunsunacock or Wahunsonacock), was the leader of the Powhatan, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans living in Tsenacommacah ...
, the paramount
weroance
Weroance is an Algonquian word meaning leader or commander among the Powhatan confederacy of the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. Weroances were under a paramount chief called Powhatan. The Powhatan Confederacy, encountered by the coloni ...
of the
Powhatan Confederacy
The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhatan ...
. On April 5, 1614, Mataoka (then renamed as "Rebecca" following her conversion to Christianity the previous year) married
John Rolfe
John Rolfe (1585 – March 1622) was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia in 1611.
Biography
John Rolfe is believed ...
, the first English settler in Virginia to cultivate
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
as an export commodity.
Their granddaughter,
Jane Rolfe
Jane Rolfe (October 10, 1650 – January 26–27, 1676) was the granddaughter of Pocahontas and English colonist John Rolfe, (credited with introducing a strain of tobacco for export by the struggling Virginia Colony).
Her husband was Colonel Robe ...
, married
Robert Bolling
Colonel Robert Bolling (December 26, 1646July 17, 1709), sometimes called Robert Bolling, Sr., after he gave a son his own name, was a wealthy early American settler planter and merchant.
Ancestry and early life
Robert Bolling was the son o ...
,
[The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 7, 1899, pages 352-353.] a wealthy
slave-owning planter and merchant. John Bolling, the son of Jane Rolfe and Robert Bolling, had six surviving children with his wife, Mary Kennon; each of those children married and had surviving children. Additionally, she was related, either by blood or through marriage, to
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
,
Martha Washington
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...
,
Letitia Tyler
Letitia Tyler ( ''née'' Christian; November 12, 1790 – September 10, 1842) was the first wife of President John Tyler and first lady of the United States from 1841 to 1842.
She married Tyler, then a law student, in 1808 at Cedar Grove, her ...
and the
Harrison family
The Harrison family of Virginia is an American family with a history in politics, public service, and religious ministry, beginning in the Colony of Virginia during the 1600’s. Their descendants include a Founding Father of the United States, ...
.
Edith was the seventh of eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. The Bollings were some of the oldest members of Virginia's
slave-owning,
planter elite prior to the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. After the war ended and
slavery abolished, Edith's father turned to the practice of
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
to support his family. Unable to pay taxes on his extensive properties, and forced to give up the family's
plantation seat, William Holcombe Bolling moved to Wytheville, where most of his children were born.
The Bolling household was a large one, and Edith grew up within the confines of a sprawling, extended family. In addition to eight surviving siblings, Edith's grandmothers, aunts and cousins also lived in the Bolling household. Many of the women in Edith's family lost husbands during the war. The Bollings had been staunch supporters of the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
, were proud of their Southern planter heritage, and in early childhood, taught Edith in the post-Civil War South's narrative of the
Lost Cause. As was often the case among the planter elite, the Bollings justified slave ownership, saying that the persons that they owned had been content with their lives as
chattel and had little desire for freedom.
Education
Edith had little formal education. While her sisters were enrolled in local schools, Edith was taught how to read and write at home. Her paternal grandmother, Anne Wiggington Bolling, played a large role in her education. Crippled by a
spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...
injury, Grandmother Bolling was confined to bed. Edith had the responsibility to wash her clothing, turn her in bed at night, and look after her 26
canaries.
In turn, Grandmother Bolling oversaw Edith's education, teaching her how to read, write, basic math skills, speak a
hybrid language of French and English, make dresses, and instilled in her a tendency to make quick judgments and hold strong opinions, personality traits Edith would exhibit her entire life.
[Schneider and Schneider, p. 191.] William Bolling read
classic
A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
aloud to his family at night, hired a tutor to teach Edith, and sometimes took her on his travels. The Bolling family attended church regularly, and Edith became a lifelong, practicing
Episcopalian
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...
.
[Gould, p. 237.]
When Edith was 15, her father enrolled her at Martha Washington College (a precursor of
Emory and Henry College
Emory & Henry College (E&H or Emory) is a private liberal arts college in Emory, Virginia. The campus comprises of Washington County, which is part of the Appalachian highlands of Southwest Virginia. Founded in 1836, Emory & Henry College is ...
), a
finishing school
A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the education, wit ...
for girls in
Abingdon, Virginia
Abingdon is a town in Washington County, Virginia, United States, southwest of Roanoke. The population was 8,376 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Washington County. The town encompasses several historically significant sites and f ...
.
William Holcombe Bolling chose it for its excellent music program. Edith proved to be an undisciplined, ill-prepared student. She was miserable there, complaining of the school's austerity: the food was poorly prepared, the rooms too cold, and the daily curriculum excessively rigorous, intimidating, and too strictly regimented. Edith left after only one semester. Two years later, Edith's father enrolled her in Powell's School for Girls in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
, image_map =
, mapsize = 250 px
, map_caption = Location within Virginia
, pushpin_map = Virginia#USA
, pushpin_label = Richmond
, pushpin_m ...
. Years later, Edith noted that her time at Powell's was the happiest time of her life.
Unfortunately for Edith, the school closed at the end of the year after the headmaster suffered an accident that cost him his leg. Concerned about the cost of Edith's education, William Bolling refused to pay for any additional schooling, choosing instead to focus on educating her three brothers.
While visiting her married sister in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, Edith met Norman Galt (1864–1908), a prominent jeweler of
Galt & Bro. The couple married on April 30, 1896, and lived in the capital for the next 12 years. In 1903, she bore a son who lived only for a few days. The difficult birth left her unable to have more children. In January 1908, Norman Galt died unexpectedly at the age of 43. Edith hired a manager to oversee his business, paid off his debts, and with the income left to her by her late husband, toured Europe.
First Lady of the United States
Marriage to Woodrow Wilson
In March 1915, the widow Galt was introduced to recently widowed U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
by
Helen Woodrow Bones (1874–1951). Bones was the president's first cousin and served as the official White House hostess after the death of Wilson's wife,
Ellen Wilson. Wilson took an instant liking to Galt and proposed soon after meeting her. However, rumors that Wilson had cheated on his wife with Galt threatened the burgeoning relationship.
Lurid gossip that Wilson and Galt had murdered the First Lady further troubled the couple. Distressed at the effect such wild speculation could have on the authenticity of the presidency and respectability of his personal reputation, Wilson proposed that Edith Bolling Galt back out of their engagement. Instead, she insisted on postponing the wedding until the end of the official year of mourning for Ellen Axson Wilson. Wilson married Galt on December 18, 1915, at her home in Washington, D.C. Attended by 40 guests, the groom's pastor, Reverend Dr. James H. Taylor of Central Presbyterian Church, and the bride's, Reverend Dr. Herbert Scott Smith of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C., performed the wedding jointly.
Early role as First Lady
As First Lady during World War I, Edith Bolling Wilson observed gasless Sundays, meatless Mondays, and wheatless Wednesdays to set an example for the federal rationing effort. Similarly, she set sheep to graze on the White House lawn rather than use manpower to mow it, and had their wool auctioned off for the benefit of the
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...
. Additionally, Edith Wilson became the first First Lady to travel to Europe during her term. She visited Europe with her husband on two separate occasions, in 1918 and 1919, to visit troops and to sign the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
. During this time, her presence amongst the female royalty of Europe helped to cement America's status as a world power and propelled the position of First Lady to an equivalent standing in international politics.
Though the new First Lady had sound qualifications for the role of hostess, the social aspect of the administration was overshadowed by
war in Europe and abandoned after the United States formally entered the conflict in 1917. Edith Wilson submerged her own life in her husband's, trying to keep him fit under tremendous strain, and accompanied him to Europe when the Allies conferred on terms of peace.
Increased role after husband's stroke
![Woodrow and Edith Wilson2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Woodrow_and_Edith_Wilson2.jpg)
Following his attendance at the
Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Woodrow Wilson returned to the United States to campaign for Senate approval of the peace treaty and the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
Covenant. However, the president suffered a stroke that October which left him bedridden and partially paralyzed.
The United States never did ratify the
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...
nor join the League of Nations, which had initially been Wilson's concept. At the time, non-interventionist sentiment was strong.
Edith Wilson and others in the President's inner circle (including his physician and a few close friends) hid the true extent of the president's illness and disability from the American public.
Edith also took over a number of routine duties and details of the executive branch of the government from the onset of Wilson's illness until he left office almost a year and a half later. From October 1919 to the end of Wilson's term on March 4, 1921, Edith, acting in the role of First Lady and shadow steward, decided who and which communications and matters of state were important enough to bring to the bedridden president. Edith Wilson later wrote: "I studied every paper sent from the different Secretaries or Senators and tried to digest and present in tabloid form the things that, despite my vigilance, had to go to the President. I, myself, never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs. The only decision that was mine was what was important and what was not, and the very important decision of when to present matters to my husband." Edith became the sole communication link between the President and his Cabinet. She required they send her all pressing matters, memos, correspondence, questions, and requests.
Edith took her role very seriously, even successfully pushing for the removal of Secretary of State
Robert Lansing
Robert Lansing (; October 17, 1864 – October 30, 1928) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as Counselor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I, and then as United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wils ...
after he conducted a series of Cabinet meetings without the President (or Edith herself) present. She also refused to allow the
British ambassador,
Edward Grey, an opportunity to present his
credentials to the president unless Grey dismissed an aide who was known to have made demeaning comments about her.
She assisted President Wilson in filling out paperwork, and would often add new notes or suggestions. She was made privy to classified information, and was entrusted with the responsibility of encoding and decoding encrypted messages.
Controversy
In ''
My Memoir
''My Memoir'' is a 1938 memoir by Edith Wilson, a First Lady of the United States and the wife of Woodrow Wilson. She wrote the book as an apologia to defend her husband from perceived attacks, and to preserve his legacy. Critics generally cons ...
'', published in 1939, Edith Wilson justified her self-proclaimed role of presidential "steward", arguing that her actions on behalf of Woodrow Wilson's presidency were sanctioned by Wilson's doctors; that they told her to do so for her husband's mental health. Edith Wilson maintained that she was simply a vessel of information for President Wilson; however, others in the White House did not trust her. Some believed that the marriage between Edith and Woodrow was hasty and controversial. Others did not approve of the marriage because they believed that Woodrow and Edith had begun communicating with each other while Woodrow was still married to Ellen Wilson.
In 1921,
Joe Tumulty (Wilson's chief of staff) wrote: "No public man ever had a more devoted helpmate, and no wife a husband more dependent upon her sympathetic understanding of his problems ... Mrs. Wilson's strong physical constitution, combined with strength of character and purpose, has sustained her under a strain which must have wrecked most women". In subsequent decades, however, scholars were far more critical in their assessment of Edith Wilson's tenure as First Lady. Phyllis Lee Levin concluded that the effectiveness of Woodrow Wilson's policies were unnecessarily hampered by his wife, "a woman of narrow views and formidable determination". Judith Weaver opined that Edith Wilson underestimated her own role in Wilson's presidency. While she may not have made critical decisions, she did influence both domestic and international policy given her role as presidential gatekeeper. Dr.
Howard Markel
Howard Markel (born April 23, 1960) is an American physician and medical historian. Markel is the George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and Director of the University of Michigan's Center ...
, a medical historian, has taken issue with Edith Wilson's claim of a benign "stewardship". Markel has opined that Edith Wilson "was, essentially, the nation's chief executive until her husband's second term concluded in March of 1921". While a widow of moderate education for her time, she nevertheless attempted to protect her husband and his legacy, if not the presidency, even if it meant exceeding her role as First Lady. This period of her life was dramatized in the 2021 historical fiction podcast ''Edith!'' starring
Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...
.
Later years
Upon leaving the White House in March 1921, Edith and the former president moved into a home on S Street NW in Washington, D.C.. There she cared for him until his death on February 3, 1924. In subsequent years, she headed the Woman's National Democratic Club's board of governors when the club opened formally in 1924 and published her memoir in 1939.
On December 8, 1941, the day after Japan's
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
asked Congress to
declare war
A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national government, in ...
, taking pains to draw a link with Wilson's April 1917 declaration of war. Edith Wilson was present during
Roosevelt's address to Congress. On April 14, 1945, she attended Roosevelt's funeral at the White House. She later attended the January 20, 1961,
inauguration
In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...
of President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
.
Edith Wilson died of
congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
on December 28, 1961, at age 89. She was to have been the guest of honor that day at the dedication ceremony for the
Woodrow Wilson Bridge
The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge (also known as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge or the Wilson Bridge) is a bascule bridge that spans the Potomac River between the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia, and Oxon Hill in Prince George's County, M ...
across the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
between
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, on what would have been her husband's 105th birthday. She was buried next to her husband at the
Washington National Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the cap ...
.
Legacy
Wilson left her home to the
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...
, with a condition that it be made into a museum honoring her husband. The
Woodrow Wilson House opened as a museum in 1964. To the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, Mrs. Wilson donated first President Wilson's presidential papers in 1939, then his personal library in 1946.
The Edith Bolling Wilson Birthplace Foundation & Museum in Wytheville, Virginia was established in 2008. The foundation has stabilized the first lady's birthplace and childhood home; it had been identified in May 2013 by Preservation Virginia as an Endangered Historic Site. The foundation's programs and exhibits aspire to build public awareness "honoring Mrs. Wilson's name, the contributions she made to this country, the institution of the presidency, and for the example she sets for women." The Foundation shares First Lady Mrs. Wilson's journey "From Wytheville to The White House".
In 2015, a former historic bank building in Wytheville, located on Main Street, was dedicated to the First Lady and bears her name. Adapted as the Bolling Wilson Hotel, it serves Wytheville residents and travelers alike.
References
Bibliography
*Caroli, Betty Boyd. ''First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama.'' Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2010.
*Foster, Gaines. ''Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South, 1865 to 1913.'' Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1988.
*Gould, Lewis L. ''American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy.'' Florence, Ky.: Taylor and Francis, 2001.
*Hagood, Wesley O. ''Presidential Sex: From the Founding Fathers to Bill Clinton.'' Secaucus, N.J.: Carol Pub., 1998.
*Hatch, Alden. ''Edith Bolling Wilson.'' New York: Dodd, Mead, 1961.
*Hazelgrove, William Elliott. ''Madam President : The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson.'' Washington, D.C.: Regency Publishing, 2016.
*Klapthor, Margaret Brown and Black, Allida M. ''The First Ladies.'' Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association, 2001.
*Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. ''Indians & English: Facing Off in Early America.'' Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000.
*Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. ''Settling with the Indians: the Meeting of English and Indian Cultures in America, 1580–1640''. New York, NY: Rowman and Littlefield, 1980.
*Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. ''The Atlantic in World History''. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2012.
*Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. ''The Jamestown Project''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.
*Markel, Howard. "When a secret president ran the country," ''PBS News Hour'' (October 2, 2015)
*Miller, Kristie. ''Ellen and Edith: Woodrow Wilson's First Ladies.'' Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2010.
*Lamb, Brian. ''Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites.'' New York: Public Affairs, 2010.
*Levin, Phyllis Lee. ''Edith and Woodrow: The Wilson White House.'' New York: Scribner, 2001.
*Maynard, W. Barksdale. ''Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency.'' New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2008.
*
Mayo, Edith. ''The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies: Their Lives, Times, and Issues.'' New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1994.
*McCallops, James S. ''Edith Bolling Galt Wilson: The Unintended President.'' New York: Nova History Publications, 2003.
*Nordhult, J.W. Schulte. ''Woodrow Wilson: A Life for World Peace.'' Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1991.
*Phifer, Gregg. ''Speech Monographs'', Vol. 38 Issue 4 (Nov 1971).
*Robertson, Wyndham. ''Pocahontas: Alias Matoaka, and Her Descendants through Her Marriage at Jamestown, Virginia, in April 1614, with John Rolph, Gentleman.'' Richmond, VA: J W Randolph & English, 1887.
*Schneider, Dorothy and Schneider, Carl J. ''First Ladies: A Biographical Dictionary.'' New York: Facts On File, 2010.
*Townshend, Camilla. ''Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma.'' New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2004.
*Tribble, Edwin. ed. ''A President in Love : The Courtship Letters of Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt.'' Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1981.
*Tumulty, Joseph Patrick. ''Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him.'' New York, NY:, Doubleday, Page & Co., 1921.
*Waldrup, Carole Chandler. ''Wives of the American Presidents.'' Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2006.
*Weaver, Judith L. "Edith Bolling, Wilson as First Lady: A Study in the Power of Personality, 1919–1920," ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 15, No. 1 (Winter, 1985), pp. 51–76
*Wertheimer, Molly Meijer. ''Inventing a Voice: The Rhetoric of American First Ladies of the Twentieth Century.'' Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.
*Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt. ''My Memoir.'' New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1939.
*Young, Dwight and Johnson, Margaret. ''Dear First Lady: Letters to the White House: From the Collections of the Library of Congress & National Archives.'' Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2008.
External links
Edith Bolling Wilson Birthplace*
Edith Wilsonat
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
's ''
First Ladies: Influence & Image''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt
1872 births
1961 deaths
19th-century American women
20th-century American women
American people of English descent
American people of Powhatan descent
Bolling family of Virginia
Burials at Washington National Cathedral
First Ladies of the United States
People from Wytheville, Virginia
Woodrow Wilson family
Washington, D.C., Democrats
Virginia Democrats
Writers from Virginia
Rolfe family of Virginia