[Abridged] Presidential Histories 28.E.) Wilson's Wives, an interview with Paul Brandus
Woodrow Wilson's wives had a tremendous impact on his presidency. His first wife, Ellen Axson Wilson, died the week World War I broke out in Europe, leaving the president so depressed at a moment of crisis that he told aids he wished someone would shoot him. Less than a year later, he was over it, and instead obsessed with his courtship of Edith Bolling Galt, sometimes writing her three letters a day. When a stroke crippled Wilson in the final years of his presidency, it was Edith who cared for him and maintained the illusion that he was still healthy enough for the office - leading some to dub her the first female president.
Join me as I talk with White House correspondent Paul Brandus (@WestWingReports on Twitter), author of several books on the presidency and first ladies, about the relationships and influence of Wilson's Wives.