she and wilson himself a very recent widower fell in love. quite quickly edith became a close confident of the president's even to the point. where as first lady scholar lewis gould put it. wilson used affairs of state as a seductive ally in his effort to persuade edith to marry him. he shared state secrets with her and is gould stressed. they operated as working partners. well the widow got fell hard for that kind of high-level courtship and the couple married in december of 1915 when world war one in europe was well underway. edith continued to serve as the president's private ear and as his assistant she spent much of every day at his side. she screened some of his correspondence answered letters that she thought didn't really need his attention. and tried to push aside two of wilson's closest advisors because she mistrusted them. thanks to wartime measures. there were few social functions this meant that the first lady was not distracted by entertaining and that woodrow wilson's world became much smaller after he married edith. once the united states entered

please comment on edith wilson's role after president wilson had a stroke. yes, that's what i was referring to earlier that people think that she you know petticoat government. that was the phrase that she was running the government and he was incapacitated. i mean she didn't let anyone in to see him or only of the very few trusted staff members into sea. but if you look at the things that did not get done, you know, there was a major strike there were problems with deporting people from the united states who didn't agree with certain policies. she really functioned as more like a a barrier to people who wanted to get near him. so if she'd been really a door. it should really take an over government. she would have acted in some of those cases where she did not so i think it's a it's been exaggerated. we have a number of questions from greg and excuse me maureen from new jersey and many others who want to know your thoughts on jackie kennedy who is obviously a favorite in this program because of her role in founding the white house historical association. ye

she and wilson herself a recent widower fell in love. quite quickly, edith became a close confidant of the presidents even to the point where as first lady scholar wilson used the estate as a subjective ally in his effort to persuade needs to marry him. he shared state secrets with her and they operated as working partners. the widow fell hard for that kind of high-level courtship. and the couple married in december of 1950, one world war one in europe was well underway. it is continued to serve as the president's private here, and as his assistant. she spent much of every day at his side. she screamed at some of this correspondence, answered letters she thought didn't need his attention. and tried to push aside to of wilson's closest advisers because she was not trusting them. thanks to wartime measures, there are few social functions. this meant the first lady was not distracted by entertaining and woodrow wilson's world became much smaller after he married. once the united states entered the war in 1917, 80th who did not espouse the cause volunteered for

edith wilson says that she never. she never took over the role of president wilson after he was incapacitated with a stroke. she said instead. she was just trying to save her husband's life and she thought it would kill him if he had to resign because of disability. and so she assisted him in carrying out the duties and that she never carried out any actions or policies that he didn't agree with. a first lady who sometimes was at loggerheads with her husband was eleanor roosevelt. she was certainly much farther out than her husband on the issue of black civil rights. she was probably black america's strongest white ally in the 1930s and her husband didn't feel he could go that far and advocate for black civil rights in the way that mrs. roosevelt did because he wanted to keep of course white southern voters as part of his roosevelt political coalition. so eleanor roosevelt also pushed her husband on tried to get him to accept more jewish refugees. before the us entered world war ii she was always there pushing her husb

please comment on edith wilsons rule after president wilson had a stroke. >> that is what i was referring to earlier again, people think that petticoat government, that was the phrase, but she was running the government. and he was incapacitated. she didn't let anyone to see him, or have trusted staff members in to see him, but if you look at the things that did not get done, there was a major strike. there were problems with the port of people into the united states who did not agree with certain policies. she really functioned as more like a barrier to people who want to get near him. so if she had really been -- if she had taken over government she would have acted in those cases where she did not. so i think it has been exaggerated. >> we have a number of questions from maureen in new jersey and many others want to know your thoughts on jackie kennedy, who's obviously a favorite of this program because of her role in founding the white house historical association. >> she did. that was important. she also made changes to the white house. her famous stories about when she first visited

edith wilson designated the china room for the display of presidential state services and lou hoover oversaw the first major effort to organize and catalog all objects in the white house collection. these efforts both preserve the past and transform the house into a museum and with mrs. kennedy support and her successors that has become even stronger today. while history is given more attention and credit to their husbands. it was these women who collectively saved pieces of our history for future generations. much of the associations work the acquisition of fine and decorative arts for the permanent collection. conservation and preservation efforts the selection of state services and the commissioning of portraits directly involved the first lady of the united states. we've been honored to work with 12 remarkable first. ladies since 1961. we could not do these things without our supporters. so on behalf of the white house historical association. thank you for your continued support of our work. now i'd like to introduce sylvia burwell president of american university. she's american