The First Lady Who SECRETLY Ran the White House

In 1919, the president of the United States vanished from public view. His wife was running things.

Woodrow Wilson had been touring the country to promote the League of Nations when he collapsed. A massive stroke left him paralyzed on one side and bedridden.

The public was never told how bad it was. His wife Edith sealed off his room and decided who reached him. She chose which papers he saw and which questions got answers. Officials who needed decisions had to go through her.

Edith always insisted she only managed his schedule, never policy. But for months she controlled the flow of power in Washington. Historians have called it her stewardship, and some call her the first female president.

Wilson served out his term hidden behind closed doors. The country was led, in part, by a woman no one had elected.

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