why why did edith wilson lie to the press? to conclude i will suggest three reasons, although there are undoubtedly more. first edith and woodrow wilson were products of their times. a lady did not engage with the third state. second unlike other first couples edith did not have the deep understanding of politics that nearly all other first ladies had by virtue of a long marriage and a shared political march toward the white house edith knew arguably less than any other first lady except young francis cleveland because edith had been married to wilson only three years and seven months before his illness began. third edith and woodrow married late in life and for the second time and they were still pretty much in their honeymoon phase her focus never wavered from protecting him. the repercussions from her decisions touch how we view the sphere of action of the first lady and act as a warning to every first lady down to our own day. power and the first lady have been an uncomfortable pairing ever since edith wilson. of course fi

i think is is probably what leads to the answer of edith wilson, and she i think edith wilson also because she becomes the the example of what not to do is first lady edith wilson overstepped bounds. she she decided when when president wilson was so ill she made several decisions about him that resulted in her. not exactly running the country, but she certainly misled the american people. she decided not to tell him the extent of his ill health. she decided not to tell the cabinet the extent of his ill health. she decided not to tell the american people the extent it was ill health. she decided that he should not step down. although there was no we didn't have a requirement for that and the vice president was widely seen as week or inconsequential and she continued to insist that he would be able to continue to be service president. she decided which mail he would see she decided which people would come to him. she decided which topics he should take up. she determined the timing of all this and this is all happening in the context of trying to bring a conclusion to world war one. so edith

edith wilson overstepped boundaries. she decided -- when president wilson was so ill, she made several decisions about him that resulted in her not exactly running the country, but she certainly misled the american people. she decided not to tell him the extent of his ill health. she decided not to tell the cabinet the extent of his ill health. she decided not to tell the american people the extent of his ill health. she decided that he should not step down, although we did not have a requirement for that. the vice president was widely seen as weak or inconsequential. she continued to insist that he would be able to continue to serve as president. she decided which mail he would see. she decided which people would come to him. she decided which topics he should take up. she determined to the timing of all this. and this is all happening in the context of trying to bring a conclusion to world war i. so edith wilson is the person that we look back to and say, you have stepped too far. we say this because even during nancy

but when edith wilson -- wilson went on to live there for three years, he died in 1924 in this house, edith wilson went on to live in this house for another 37 years. so, in fact, having lived in the house for close to, you know, 40 years, she really did -- she put a stamp on what the house would be, and she bequeathed it to the national trust for historic preservation upon her death in 1961. and it was opened to the public in 1963 and became really an official, officially a historic house and i museum in 196 a 5. her letters of bequeathment refer to it as being a shrine to woodrow wilson, and so we struggle with that because we're not really a shrine any longer. we talk about it as being a place where we can talk freely about his legacy and the legacy that he's left. and legacy, i think, is a much richer word. you can -- it describes both things that are positive and negative, the consequences and the results of some of the legislation in the parts of his administration that today we're realizing what that legacy is actually leaving, such consequences of that legacy. the house itself

widow, edith gault wilson. the library has evolved over the years from its original purpose, and over the years of acquiring some of the adjacent properties here, beside the birthplace, the foundation open the woodrow wilson museum with exhibits highlighting wilson's life and public service in 1990. and then entered it opened the library and research center in 2008. we will remain that which are listened presidential library in 2004, and it is an educational institution dedicated to but the study of wilson's life and the times in which he lived. from pre-civil war, 1856, to post world war i, 1924. many of the issues we grapple with today as a country, things such as the role of federal government, immigration, women's issues, race relations, taxes, america's role in the world, these were all prominent concerns during wilson's time. at the woodrow wilson presidential library provides the historic background to understand the subjects. during our 83 year history, this institution has educated millions of individu

wilson running the country. either of those things were true. first and foremost she saw herself as a protector of her husband's physical well-being. very close to that was keeping an eye on the people around him. she had a very sharp sense of who was serving the president and who was really in it for himself. it was helping the president and he was promoting agendas perhaps ronald reagan may not have shared a breaker asked one of the defining moments of the reagan presidency and the reagan's life occurred on march 30 , 81 when a deranged gunman nearly took the life of president henrico him was he was leaving an event at a washington hotel. it is hard to believe but it has been 40 years since that day. prices change everything especially for nancy but nothing could ever happen to my romney she wrote my life would be over. the world did not know what a time how he really came to death. ronald reagan was spared and t e believes semi- there is a higher purpose to his what life. going he be dedicated to that. nancy

we had edith wilson who created a designated china -- on the ground floor to house more of the collection, grace coolidge who worked with the committee of experts to assess donations to the white house and lou huber who oversaw the first systematically of white house artifacts, their origins, and even permitted documentary photographs to be taken of the private quarters. all of these women, and we heard this in the late morning panel, contributed, these women and others, to the evolving idea of preservation the white house, and after the truman renovation 1940, eight 1950, to first lady jacqueline kennedy spearheaded a restoration of the executive mansion. her hiring of the first curator of the white house, elaine pearce, as well as the support of congress through public law 87286, and acts concerning the white house and providing for the care in preservation of its historic and artistic contents, specified the need to preserve and interpret the museum character of the ground floor corridor and the public groups on the state floor. it also codify that furniture, fixtures, and decorative a

wife edith and his secretary joseph tumulty and his doctor robert grayson and they all got together and decided to pull the wool over the cabinets eyes, and they brought um, marshall and other members of the cabinet into the sick room where the paralyzed side of his body was on away from entrance to the door. they closed the drapes so that no one could see how incapacitated he was and he could sort of partly speak on one side of his mouth. and so he appeared to look like he was you know still functioning although in fact. is not um, they did not they were not able to pursue this was of course before the 25th amendment they weren't able to pursue moving him out of office and when he recovered somewhat the first thing he did was to take marshall out of office. so there was some revenge and some payback for that and but of course there's other examples of presidents who are incapacitated, but not dead, you know, and we can think of presidents who were extremely ill john kennedy extremely ill with addison's disease roosevelt extremely ill with end-stage cardiovascular disease where he w

wife, edith, and his secretary, joseph tumulty, and his doctor, robert grayson, they all got together and decided to pull the will over the cabinets eyes, and they brought marshall and other members of the cabinet into the sikh room, where the paralyzed side of his body was on away from the entrance to the door, they close the drapes so that no one can see how incapacitated he was. and he could sort of partly speak on one side of his mouth, and so, he appeared to look like he was, you know, still functioning, although, in fact, he was not. they did not, they were not able to pursue. this was, of course, before the 25th amendment. they were not able to pursue moving him out of office. when he recovered somewhat the first thing he did was to take marshall out of office. so, there was some revenge and some payback for that. but, of course, there are other examples of presidents who are incapacitated, but not dead. you know, we can think of presidents who were extremely ill. john kennedy, extremely ill with edison's disease. roosevelt, extremely ill with in stage cardiovascular disease, w