Booktalk: Madam President
Join William Hazelgrove, author of Madam President, the Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson, for a presentation about the role Mrs. Wilson played after the President fell victim to a stroke until the end of his presidency.
After President Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralyzing stroke in the fall of 1919, his wife, First Lady Edith Wilson, began to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of the Executive Office. Mrs. Wilson had had little formal education and had only been married to President Wilson for four years; yet, in the tenuous peace following the end of World War I, Mrs. Wilson dedicated herself to managing the office of the President, reviewing all correspondence intended for her bedridden husband. Though her Oval Office authority was acknowledged in Washington, D.C. circles at the time--one senator called her "the Presidentress who had fulfilled the dream of suffragettes by changing her title from First Lady to Acting First Man"--her legacy as "First Woman President" is now largely forgotten.
William Hazelgrove's Madam President is a vivid, engaging portrait of the woman who may have been the acting President of the United States in 1919, months before women officially won the right to vote.
Mr. Hazelgrove will be available to sign books following the program.
Free. (Registration required.)