Meet the First Female President of the US...

[Boss]

Edith Wilson

On October 2, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke which left him nearly completely incapacitated. For months, he was sequestered from the public by his wife and physician who actively conspired, along with his chief of staff, to stave off questions and inquiries from the media. They even went so far as to "fake" an interview with the President.

For more than two years of his second term, Edith acted as de facto president, holding pen in his debilitated hand to sign his name to legislation and executive orders, making sometimes critical policy decisions on his behalf. For all intents and purposes, she was acting president of the United States for this period. She was in such a state of denial over his obvious incapacitated condition, she "informed" the party that he intended to run for a third term. It was at this point, party officials who had long-since become aware of the grave situation, informed Mrs. Wilson they would expose the fraud that had been transpiring over the past two years and would not back his run.

This story is buried in history and never talked about much. It is the impetus behind our passage and ratification of the 25th Amendment. At the time, there really weren't any provisions as to how to handle such a situation.

So for all of you who are getting excited about Hillary's potential to be the first woman president... sorry to burst your little bubble. It happened in 1919-1921. Now you know.

 

[yiostheoy]

Ok Hillary can be the 2nd then. Fine.

 

[Preacher]

No wonder we got into ww1!



I'm kidding!

 

[Iceweasel]

No VP at the time?

 

[Disir]

And Victoria Woodhull was the first to run with Frederick Douglas as VP.

 

[Boss]

No VP at the time?

There was a VP... there was no provision for transfer of power. We simply didn't have a way to remove the president from office as long as he was still alive unless we impeached him. Wilson's wife and physician were unwilling to take the responsibility of declaring him incapable of carrying out the duties of office.

As I said, for two years, she literally signed his name for him to important legislation and made his policy decisions. She was fully prepared to run him again for a third term and carry on as she had for the past two years. He was essentially a vegetable.

The party leaders had pretty much caught on to what was happening and when she announced the plans to run for a third term, they confronted her. After this amazing chapter in history, we passed and ratified the 25th Amendment which lays out the provisions for Congress to act in such an event.