Born: 15 October 1872, United States
Died: 28 December 1961
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Edith Bolling, Edith Galt
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Raised in a formerly prominent Southern aristocratic family, Edith Bolling moved to Washington, DC and married jeweler Norman Galt in 1896. A few years after her husband’s unexpected death, Edith Galt caught the attention of widower President Woodrow Wilson, who was grieving the loss of his first wife, Ellen. The two fell in love and became inseparable, marrying in 1915. As First Lady, Edith Wilson frequently traveled with her husband, and even ran the affairs of the Executive Branch after Woodrow Wilson fell ill in 1919.
Timeline
1872 Edith Bolling is born in Wytheville, Virginia.
1896 Edith Bolling marries Norman Galt.
1908 Norman Galt dies, leaving Edith Bolling Galt to manage his jewelry store.
1915 Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt announce their engagement in October and are married in December.
1918 Edith Wilson travels with her husband throughout Europe.
1919 Woodrow Wilson has a stroke and Edith Wilson de facto controls the executive branch during his illness.
The following is republished from the US Mint. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson was born in Wytheville, Virginia, on October 15, 1872. At 15, she went to Martha Washington College to study music and later to a smaller school in Richmond. She married her first husband, Norman Galt, in 1896, and he died unexpectedly in 1908. Through friends, she met President Wilson and they married on December 18, 1915. She is often described as America’s first woman president because of the important role she played after her husband’s massive stroke in 1919. She chose which visitors he saw and what papers he read, though she insisted she never made a single decision on public affairs. After they left the White House in 1921, President and Mrs. Wilson lived in a comfortable home in Washington, where he died in 1924. She lived on there nearly 40 years until December 28, 1961, the anniversary of her husband’s birthday.