Title

Edith and Woodrow : the Wilson White House

Description

Constructing a thrilling, tightly contained narrative around a trove of previously undisclosed documents, medical diagnoses, White House memoranda, and internal documents, journalist and historian Phyllis Lee Levin sheds new light on the central role of Edith Bolling Galt in Woodrow Wilson's administration. "Shortly after Ellen Wilson's death on the eve of World War I in 1914, President Wilson was swept off his feet by Edith Bolling Galt. They were married in December 1915, and, Levin shows, Edith Wilson set out immediately to consolidate her influence on him and tried to destroy his relationships with Colonel House, his closest friend and adviser, and with Joe Tumulty, his longtime secretary. Wilson resisted these efforts, but Edith was persistent and eventually succeeded."--BOOK JACKET.

Identifier

980979

743211588

Creator

Levin, Phyllis Lee

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

2001

Program air date: December 9, 2001

Publisher

Scribner

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes from front endpapers: "Colonel Edward House; Cary Grayson; Henry Cabot Lodge, Joseph Tumulty; Thomas B. Marshall. - 1944 film - Wilson, the rise and fall of an American Pres. - Oct. 2, 1919 - stroke; Feb. 3, 1924 - dies; 1990: release of Dr. Grayson's papers - original diagnosis. - Alters history's pious perception of him, p. 14. - Edith's memoir; letters to 3 women: Ellen, Mary Peck, Edith. - Edith: repelled by women suffragettes, p. 181 - John Singer Sargent's portrait - dinner with Lodge. - Women's rights. - League of Nations. - 14 points." -- Notes from back endpapers: "Edith watched after: National Cathedral, [?], her memoir, control of her husband's papers, control of biographer Ray Baker. - Transfer [of] papers to Library of Congress 1958. - Ed. Wilson dies late 1961 - 89 yrs. old. - Treaty rejected: 53-38. - House sent letters to Wilson asking for compromise - never opened until 1952 when they reached Library of Congress, p. 388." -- Annotations by Brian Lamb in the margins and underlining of pertinent phrases throughout the book. Examples: p. [15] : "Colonel Edward House; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge; Sec. State Robert Lansing; V.P. Thomas Riley Marshall - reasonable temperament; Edith was not "a benign figure"." -- p. 342: "In the three or four days following Wilson's stroke, the White House metamorphosed into a hospital, as doctors, nurses, and equipment poured in." -- p. 343: "Her compelling account of how she wisely sought and received the compassionate and constructive advice that shaped the course of history was universally echoed by scholars and biographers for decades." -- p. 361: "...only Edith Wilson and Cary Grayson knew the truth of the president's pronouncements, comments, or decisions." -- p. 515: "In recently recovered documents, the original diagnosis of Wilson's physicians confirms the rumors of the time - that the president of the United States was, in the last years of his tenure, physically unfit for office."

Subject

"Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924."

"Wilson, Edith Bolling Galt, 1872-1961."

"Presidents--United States--Biography."

"Presidents' spouses--United States--Biography."

"Married people--United States--Biography."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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