President Woodrow Wilson, who had just cut short a tour of the country to promote the formation of the League of Nations, suffers a stroke on October 2, 1919.
The tour’s intense schedule–8,000 miles in 22 days–cost Wilson his health. He suffered constant headaches during the tour, finally collapsing from exhaustion in Pueblo, Colorado, in late September. He managed to return to Washington, only to suffer a near-fatal stroke on October 2.
Wilson’s wife Edith blamed Republican opponents in Congress for her husband’s stroke, as their vehement opposition to the League of Nations often took the form of character assassination. Edith, who was even suspicious of the political motives of Vice President Thomas Marshall, closely guarded access to her husband.
She kept the true extent of Wilson’s incapacitation from the press and his opponents. While Wilson lay in bed, unable to speak or move, Edith purportedly insisted that she screen all of Wilson’s paperwork, in some cases signing Wilson’s name to documents without consulting the convalescing president. Edith, however, denied usurping her husband’s position during his recovery and in her memoirs insisted she acted only as a “steward.”
Wilson slowly regained his health, but the lasting effects of the stroke—he remained partially paralyzed on one side–limited his ability to continue to campaign in favor of the League. In 1921, Republican Warren Harding’s election to the presidency effectively ended efforts by the League’s supporters to get it ratified. Wilson died in 1924.
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What a shame that it didn’t happen a decade earlier, but truly Wilson was just a symptom of the Progressive plague that had captured the weak minds of republicans and democrats alike by that time.
History rhyming again?
“The Vagabonds” details various adventures organized by Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and a cranky old bird named Burroughs (who shared a love of birds with Ford, so they became friends). Ford was, among other things, outwardly pacifist and was somewhat aligned with Woodrow Wilson. WW needed more support in the Senate to get his League of Nations sanctioned by the Senate, so he wanted Ford in 1918 to run for the Senate in Michigan. Ford allowed his name to be placed on the primary ballot for both the Democrat as well as the Republican parties, but claimed he would not campaign and would not spend any money on the primary. The interesting twist was that if he won both (he was immensely popular with many groups) he would become Senator by default and not have to weather a general election campaign. He did not win both and did not become Senator.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Vagabonds/Jeff-Guinn/9781501159305
There are four women on the Supreme Court who could use a stroke right about now.
Amen.