Last evening, I was back at the Atlanta History Center to hear Tracey Enerson Wood discuss her historical fiction novel The President’s Wife. As always, Carolyn Curry facilitated an amazing conversation with the author!
Wood is the author of several other books, but her previous occupations were as a register nurse, interior designer, and military wife. The latter occupation influenced some of her other works like the compilation of recipes from other military families in Homefront Cooking and behind the scenes advice in Life Hacks for Military Spouses. However, her novels all take a historical fiction approach and tell the stories of important women you may not have heard of before. The President’s Wife centers on the second wife of President Woodrow Wilson – Edith Bolling Wilson.
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When asked why she had chosen to write about Edith Wilson, Wood stated she, as I have, heard rumors about Edith’s work behind the presidency and wanted to learn more about the truth of her impact. Edith also created such a long-lasting impact in the White House by mentoring the women who took on the FLOTUS role after her, all the way through to Jacqueline Kennedy. However, it was when Wood read Woodrow Wilson’s letters to Edith that she knew there was a special story to tell.
Wood read from President in Love – a compilation of the letters between Woodrow and Edith during the courtship. This book was a starting point for her research into the pair and she was taken by how quickly Woodrow had fallen head over heels for the younger Edith. Wood mentioned she was also intrigued by Edith’s quite opposite, nearly cold response. Where Woodrow opined about how he needed Edith to feel complete, Edith discussed the people around Woodrow and presidential decisions he needed to make – not the type of love letters I would have expected!
In terms of research, Wood recounted that Wilson’s presidency is well documented – one of the first such in history. Where a writer may have to dig for primary source material with some topics, there was almost too much information available to sort through. Another challenge is how contradictory much of the writings about the couple could be – this was a topic that required some discernment to find the truth.
While I was aware of the short period between the death of Wilson’s first wife and his subsequent marriage to Edith, I didn’t realize how quickly things actually progressed for the couple. The first wife passed in the Fall, the following Spring the two met, and Woodrow pushed Edith to marry him that summer. Edith was able to pause the wedding till December to allow the official year of mourning to pass first, but it didn’t stop the rumors the couple killed the first Mrs. Wilson in order to be together.
The Wilson’s marriage came with several other scandals and rumors along the way. Edith was very involved in the presidency, acting as a sounding board and advisor for Woodrow through the remainder of his time in office. After his stroke in 1919, Edith acted as his intermediary, giving directions to the staff and cabinet, while also deciding what materials and information were delivered to the president. However, this was forced upon her when Wilson’s doctors and Chief of Staff determined it would kill him to be removed from the presidency and the vice president had no intentions of stepping into the role. With the impending war, all felt it best to provide continuity of leadership instead of a constitutional crisis.
Edith also was in conflict at times with Wilson’s eldest daughter. Wilson’s three girls could see the change in their father, but also worried he moved on from their mother’s death too quickly. There was also a contention that Edith wasn’t up to par with their mother – Edith had minimal formal education where their mother was well educated and an equal to Woodrow in that respect.
One topic I was surprised by was the lengths the Wilson administration went to in order to make it appear Woodrow was up to the job after his stroke. Similar to some of the photo ops and rules for the press in the FDR presidency, the administration created situational photo ops that featured the right side of Woodrow’s body, hiding the stroke-damaged left side, and utilized Edith’s intimate presence to bolster him in sitting positions and support him in other “candid” shots. I have to wonder if similar smoke and mirrors techniques would be as successful in today’s digital age.
Towards the end of the discussion, an audience member asked Wood if she liked Edith after doing this research and writing about her. Wood remarked that she had mixed feelings. Edith was incredibly savvy in terms of both business and politics. She had a great sense of people and understood how to determine if someone was useful for your goals or would work against you. However, she was not without her faults, including an opposition to suffrage. Edith did make a great adviser though for Woodrow and the future first ladies she counseled. I asked Wood if she saw anywhere in her research were someone had counseled Edith on her role as FLOTUS – she remarked that she had not and that maybe this was something Edith recognized was missing. I also wonder if this was just another way of Edith looking to maintain influence in the White House.
I am looking forward to reading this great book, but I’m even more excited about what Wood has upcoming! She shared last night that she recently turned in a manuscript that should be published in late 2024 centering around Katherine Wright Haskell, the youngest sibling of Orville and Wilbur Wright. We will be visiting the Outer Banks around Thanksgiving this year and have the intention to see the memorial to the brothers near Kitty Hawk. I have heard of a sister who aided them in their work, but never read much about her – I am excited to have that opportunity now!
If you have already read The President’s Wife, I’d love for you to share your thoughts in the comments below!
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld
- Current audio book: The Emperor’s Children, Claire Messud
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Triptych, Karen Slaughter
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