How Did Edith Wilson Gain Power In The 1920s

New technologies transformed daily life as the 1920s blazoned limitless horizons. Americans took inordinate risks and disburdened themselves from old traditions as the prosperity of the modern age displayed extravagance, but progress surely had its price. While the period showed an unsettling rate of change, political corruption arose in Congress and the government often failed to live up to the ideals that Constitution set forward, starting with the nation’s most powerful leader. Early on, President Wilson proved to be incapable of holding his position after suffering a stroke, which led the government’s incompetence to allow an extraneous woman to take charge of the country. Edith Wilson’s de facto assumption of power during the early 1920s

Between December of 1918 and June of 1919, President Wilson had been negotiating the Treaty of Versailles and planning the League of Nations. While receiving opposition from Republicans and Irish Catholic Democrats in the Senate, Wilson worked indefatigably to get the Treaty passed and insisted on traveling across the country in order to obtain votes. Meanwhile, the President’s physician, Carry T. Grayson became deeply concerned for his health, and physician Silas Weir Mitchell had already predicted that the President would not finish his first term. While traveling in Colorado on September 25, 1919, the President collapsed due to physical exhaustion, and Grayson later diagnosed him with a stroke. The remainder of Wilson’s trip was immediately cancelled. Wilson had been left paralyzed on his left side, half-blind, and barely coherent. Someone clearly needed to step up to the executive position, and Edith left the position to be filled by none other than herself. Vice President John Marshall had stated that the idea of him taking over Wilson’s presidency was unconstitutional, but either way, Edith’s de facto assumption of power was unconstitutional as well. At the time, Edith seemed to be the only choice as no one else knew how severe Wilson’s condition was, and everyone thought that Wilson’s illness was not a big

Ironically, Edith, while seeking to gladden Wilson, who wanted the unamended treaty to pass, used her ingenuine executive power to ultimately defeat the Treaty in the United States Senate. Her narrow views and formidable determination led her to deny the idea of compromise brought up by the Cabinet. A compromise with the Treaty could have allowed for an agreement in the Senate, Edith claimed that the President would not hear for it. Edith’s unwillingness to accept compromise caused the United States inability to pass participation in the League of Nations, which could have brought more peace into the American life and more power into the League. Even then, Edith’s actions would not stop there. When a British Ambassador came to discuss the details of the League of Nations with the President, Edith insisted that he fire a minor British Embassy aide for firing a joke at her-- or else she would refuse the credentials of the Ambassador to see the President. The Ambassador did nothing of such matter and instead, went back to London. This wrongdoing hurt the United States’ ties with Great Britain and again, the United States ability to pass the Treaty of Versailles. Not only did Edith affect British views on the United States, but she affected the French as well. Edith also denied French Ambassador Jene Jules Jusserand