Talk:Edith Wilson

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 10 January 2019 and 25 April 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Eyoung7.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 20:10, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Untitled
Have had to paste an old version of this entry, due to vandalism. Apologies for the lack of dignity it has as I am unable to give it sufficent tidy-up at present. Apologies paulburgin
 * I've reverted to a previous clean version. Have a look at How to revert a page to an earlier version to see how to do this in future. -- Michael Warren | Talk 20:32, Jun 9, 2005 (UTC)

Racist?
That she referred to black people as "darkies" did not prove she was racist. That was a polite term for black people back then. "Colored" was another. "Black," back then, was considered derogatory. If she had called them "niggers" in otherwise polite conversation, that would help prove a charge of racism. Also, many people, North and South, believed that some blacks were worse off after slavery. They had been given only their freedom. They had no money, no education, no training, and many of them resorted to a life of crime and destitution and wound up in prison. One of the correlative obligations of the master, on the other hand, was the duty to provide food, clothing, and shelter for the slave, and to care for him in his times of sickness, infirmity, and old age.John Paul Parks (talk) 15:53, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

Descent from Pocahontas
The Bollings are among several famous Virginia families descended from Pocahontas. Edith Bolling Galt Wilson was a 13th-great-granddaughter, in the direct line of descent, via the marriage of her ancestor Thomas Bolling to Pocahontas's granddaughter Jane Rolfe.
 * Where is a credible source for that? Also, you need to sign your comments -- Sleyece (talk) 14:16, 6 August 2018 (UTC)
 * It is also in the article and sourced at the time of this comment -- Sleyece (talk) 14:23, 6 August 2018 (UTC)

Widowhood
Sarah Polk survived James K. Polk by 42 years, thus making her, and not Edith Wilson, the First Lady with the longest widowhood.
 * Is there a credible source for that? Also, you need to Sign your comments. -- Sleyece (talk) 14:17, 6 August 2018 (UTC)

Mistress
Was she really Wilson's mistress during his first marriage?


 * No, they met in late March 1915. --Hanover81 13:49, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I marked the phrase, "Complicating matters were rumors, apparently groundless, that Wilson had been cheating on his first wife or that he and Mrs. Galt had actually murdered the First Lady," as needing clarification. My understanding is that Wilson cheated on his first wife several times, but did not meet Mrs. Galt until after the first wife died. Does the word "rumors" refer to his infidelity, or to a supposed plot between him and Mrs. Galt? John Paul Parks (talk) 15:06, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

article name
It would be more appropriate for this article to be named "Edith Wilson" which is the far more common usage. There are 56,000 Google hits for "Edith Wilson" vs 2000 for "Edith Galt Wilson". The lowest number of hits is for "Edith Boling Galt Wilson" at 1400. Any objection? Tvoz | talk 03:43, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Woodrow Wilson was mad?
18:20, 30 July 2018 (UTC)}I read on a book (The Madness of Kings) that Woodrow Wilson became mad, from 1919, until his death.Is this true?Agre22 (talk) 23:09, 5 July 2008 (UTC)agre22
 * There is a clip of film showing him walking in the street, making exaggerated bows to passers-by. Valetude (talk) 01:38, 16 July 2016 (UTC)

De-Facto President
I've removed the box describing her as acting president. The article it linked to described the title "acting president" as: "a reference to a person who is legitimately exercising the Presidential powers even though that person does not hold the office of the President of the United States." Clearly she couldn't be described as legitimately exercising such powers, so the box is incorrect. the addition of "unofficial" to the box left it as nonsensical, particularly since the predecessor and successor were legitimate. she simply does not belong in that line of succession, and since the rest of the article explains her role in the Wilson administration, the box didn't add any useful information to the article. 60.240.104.183 (talk) 15:21, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
 * More than eight years after the above comment was made, I totally agree with it. Info boxes should used for basic objective information, not for subjective notions. Motsebboh (talk) 16:48, 4 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Ms. Wilson was listed as De-Facto President. It has been reverted on several times. I believe the it is an important historical footnote. --Sleyece (talk) 00:41, 6 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Listed where as De Facto President? Motsebboh (talk) 19:28, 6 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Listed at the BEGINNING of the article, until, of course, you blanked information. Good on you, my friend! -- Sleyece (talk) 15:12, 6 January 2017 (UTC)
 * The sources say that Wilson brought information to her husband. It doesn't say she was the President of the United States. It's presumptuous to put an unofficial office in the infobox.--Sunshineisles2 (talk) 00:25, 7 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Comment I think calling it presumptuous is presumptuous.


 * http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-inauguration-edith-wilson-kogan-ent-0117-20170116-story.html
 * https://www.biography.com/news/edith-wilson-first-president-biography-facts
 * https://allthatsinteresting.com/edith-wilson
 * https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/first-ladies/edith-bolling-galt-wilson/
 * https://millercenter.org/president/wilson/essays/wilson-edith-1913-firstlady
 * https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/did-we-once-have-an-unelected-madam-president/2016/11/17/79f47a22-a850-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html?utm_term=.e45527ac1d0a

This is only the tip of the iceberg of abundant credible sources showing that the subject of the article was indeed President in all but name. -- Sleyece (talk) 22:36, 3 August 2018 (UTC)

book Edith and Woodrow cited, but pages should be cited
The article cites Phyllis Lee Levin as a source. I've added her book on Edith as a bibliography item. What I don't know is whether any passage in the article should be attributed to Phyllis Lee Levin's book, since I didn't write those passages in the article and I've just started reading the book, and may not notice the exact passages in the book, especially if they can't be found by its index.

If you know the pages that should be cited, please edit the article to cite them.

Thank you. Nick Levinson (talk) 16:36, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

Bad link for reference 2
The link for reference 2, which is supposedly about Edith's opposition to the Vice President assuming the presidency, leads to a page in Japanese about used cars! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.191.111.35 (talk) 22:45, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Middle name?
I have yet to find a reputable resource that indicates her middle name was "White." Lordmarmont (talk) 18:51, 8 June 2014 (UTC)

Seeking consensus
Should the subject of the article be recognized as De Facto President in the infobox from October 2, 2019 - March 4, 1921? -- Sleyece (talk) 15:49, 18 August 2018 (UTC)
 * No. The article text describing the situation is sufficient. Trying to shoehorn this info into the infobox as if it were some kind of official position she was appointed to or elected to is a very bad idea.  Peacock (talk) 17:45, 2 November 2018 (UTC)


 * No, this is better dealt with in prose. To say that she was ever the de facto or acting president is controversial in itself (she personally denied it), let alone for the entire period after her husband had a stroke. Ivar the Boneful (talk) 04:08, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

De facto President or not?
Edith Wilson should be recognised in the infobox (like so) and in the article as de facto President of the United States. She essentially was at this time, even if not officially (of course). And while she didn't call it this - she used terms such as "stewardship", she did exercise the responsibilities and (basically) the powers of President from October 1919 to 1921. See also previous discussion (not resolved) in support of this position. Thunderstorm008 (talk · contributions) 23:16, 13 May 2020 (UTC)