8 Dreadful Acts From US Presidents
1. Edith Wilson Stages A Coup D'état, Sort Of
If you've seen 'Weekend At Bernie's' you have an idea of the kind of scheme Edith Wilson perpetrated. Edith Wilson was the wife of president Woodrow Wilson, she was never elected in any stage of the government but her actions have caused some historians to call her America's first female president.
At the end of WW1 Woodrow Wilson had campaigned to create The League Of Nations, what would in essence become the basis for the United Nations.
It was so hard going he found it difficult to find support for what he felt was going to be his legacy, and in 1919 suffering from exhaustion Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke.
Edith Wilson became the de facto government, only she and a handful of doctors were allowed direct access. Woodrow was in no state to run the country, and any issues of were brought directly to her to decide what was important enough to bother the ailing president.
She would routinely take reports from cabinet member into the president's room to have him look over. She would then return with a dictate from the president.
The full effects of Edith's involvement is still a mystery but it is clear that she hid the full extent of the president's illness and had a major impact on policy during the remaining year of Wilson's term.