On October 2, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson had a stroke, leaving the nation without a President for nearly a month. Those of you who are familiar with constitutional law and presidential succession policy, or have seen The West Wing, know that were the President to suffer a debilitating medical condition but not die, he would transfer his powers temporarily to the Vice President under the 25th Amendment. This is actually done more often than you’d think: President Bush invoked the 25th multiple times during his term when he was placed under general anesthesia. But President Wilson suffered his stroke nearly half a century before the protections of the 25th would be enacted into law, and he, and his first lady, were left with the decision of how to handle this unprecedented situation.
The fact that Wilson was suffering from health issues was not hidden from the public, probably because it was impossible to do so. The episode started on September 26, 1919 when, on his speaking tour campaigning for the creation of the League of Nations, Wilson collapsed in Colorado. He was rushed back to Washington to recover, and the incident was reported by the President’s physician, Cary Grayson, as a nervous breakdown caused by his extensive touring schedule. At the time, Grayson was most likely being truthful when describing the President’s condition. However, when the situation grew worse following the President’s stroke and paralysis of his left side, Grayson began to release only vague and selective reports on the President’s condition.
From September through November of 1919, President Wilson made no public appearances, and in fact never even left his bedroom. His world was controlled by his wife Edith who reportedly dictated who was allowed to see the President and what work the President would be able to do. Grayson released periodic bulletins the press, reporting on October 2nd that the President had suffered yet another restless night’s sleep, and on November 2nd that the President’s condition continued to improve and that he was satisfied with the progress. With Edith Wilson allowing no visitors aside from Grayson, there was no way for the public, or even much of the government, to know the President’s true condition.
The greatest unknown throughout this ordeal is the extent to which Edith Wilson was making decisions on behalf of the President. Wilson biographer John Milton Cooper believes that she was responsible for at least one major choice when President Wilson ordered a veto of the Volstead Act, which was ultimately overridden, on October 27 before he had re-emerged from his private convalescence. We will never know exactly who was calling the shots during this period, but we can be certain that Edith Wilson had the ability to exert as much influence as she chose to.
There was no official mechanism for the President to relinquish power without doing so permanently. Wilson would not resign, and his Vice President Thomas Riley Marshall, despite the urging of Wilson’s aides, would not assert himself to the powers to the presidency by publicly questioning the President’s fitness to hold office.
It is hard to imagine a similar event occurring today with the persistent media coverage around the President and the White House. It was a different story in 1919. Wilson sent regular communications through letters and press releases during this period, which was not irregular for the President. There was no television and no radio, and save for the public appearances he would have made, nothing seemed amiss to the general population. It wasn’t until after his death in 1921 that the full severity of his ailment in late 1919 came to be known. This revelation, coupled with the realization that there was no way to remove Wilson from office aside from a stigmatized impeachment, led to the eventual drafting and enactment of the 25th Amendment. We can be certain that with our hyper vigilant media and bespoke laws in place this situation could not be repeated today, however we can never the change the fact that for at least five weeks in 1919, we don’t know who was running this country.
