On Oct. 2, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke after delivering speeches around the country in support of the Treaty of Versailles. The stroke left the president largely incapacitated for several months and led to one of the strangest periods in presidential history.
After Germany signed the armistice that ended World War I in November 1918, Wilson traveled to France to personally oversee the peace conference against the advice of his doctors. He selected mostly fellow Democrats for his chief advisers at the conference, and the only Republican he chose, Henry White, had retired a decade earlier and had no influence with the current Republican leadership. GOP leaders felt that Wilson had alienated them from the most important diplomatic event in the history of the world.
The result of the conference was the Treaty of Versailles, a document that unfairly punished Germany as the sole nation responsible for the war, and which called for the creation of a League of Nations to arbitrate future disagreements between nations and defuse crises before they led to war. In fact, Wilson had largely agreed to Britain and France's insistence on harsh treatment toward Germany to get them to go along with the league, something that Wilson felt was necessary for preserving the peace.
The treaty was finished by June 1919, and Wilson took it before Congress on July 10. His reception told of things to come, with only minority Democrats cheering the president while the majority Republicans remained icily silent. The Republicans, led by Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Mass.), believed that in accepting the treaty and joining the League of Nations, America would surrender its sovereignty. It was unlikely that two-thirds of the senators would vote to ratify.
Many Americans as well believed that the treaty committed America to act as Europe's policeman and would see American soldiers fighting across the Atlantic again before too much time had passed.
Wilson, whose health was already deteriorating, made his decision. He would travel around the country and deliver speeches in American cities. If he couldn't convince the Senate, he would try to persuade the American people that ratification of the treaty and membership in the League of Nations were the only things that could prevent future wars. Once again his doctors, led by his personal physician Dr. Cary Grayson, a serving admiral in the United States Navy, urged him to reconsider. His health, the doctors asserted, was too fragile for such an exhausting undertaking.
Wilson, ever convinced of his own abilities, insisted. He reminded them that he had just ordered millions of Americans to fight and die on European battlefields in order to secure a lasting peace. Could he risk no less to obtain the same object? Privately he told his wife, Edith, that if the Senate did not ratify the treaty then the war would have been in vain.
He made preparations for his national speaking tour. It was the West that needed the most convincing, and Wilson's itinerary would take him to every state west of the Mississippi River except four, and see him delivering a speech in 29 American cities. He boarded his presidential car, the Mayflower, on Sept. 3 and headed west.
The trip was exhausting, covering tens of thousands of miles on railroad tracks that prevented the president from getting the rest he dearly needed. His route zigzagged throughout the Midwest and West, with engagements in Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; Spokane, Washingon; Los Angeles and many others. By mid-September his health was taking a turn for the worse and he began to complain of headaches, and his speeches began to take on a more hostile tone. In the book “The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I,” historian Thomas Fleming wrote:
“At a brief stop in Ogden, Utah, he lashed out at 'pro-Germans' and claimed everyone opposed to the treaty was 'in cahoots' with Germany. His next major speech, in Salt Lake City (at the Mormon Tabernacle, to 15,000 people), was an incoherent mess. … As the train rolled toward the next speaking date in Wichita, Kansas (after a speech in Pueblo, Colorado), Wilson told his wife he felt horribly ill. … Waves of nausea were engulfing the president. He struggled for breath, his face twitched convulsively. The ache in his head had become intolerable.”
Grayson and Edith Wilson feared the worst, and insisted that the train return to Washington. Woodrow Wilson finally bowed to their wishes and canceled the remainder of his trip. Grayson further insisted that Wilson get his rest, which continued to prove difficult in the moving train. The president finally arrived back in Washington at the end of September, and on Oct. 1 appeared to rally. Grayson was optimistic, though still insisted that Wilson refrain from work.
In the evening of Oct. 2, however, Edith found her husband collapsed in the bathroom. Grayson soon arrived, and the White House staff summoned a team of doctors including the renowned neurologist Francis X. Dercum of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.
In the book “Wilson,” biographer A. Scott Berg wrote: “Dercum examined Wilson in bed. He found his left leg and arm in a condition of 'complete flaccid paralysis,' with the lower half of the left side of the face drooping. The President was conscious but somnolent. His temperature, pulse and respiration were all normal, but in addition to his left side having lost all feeling, his left eye responded feebly to light. He had suffered thrombosis — an ischemic stroke — a clot in an artery of the brain.”
Because Wilson appeared able to speak relatively normally, and his wits remained sharp, the doctors believed a serious rupture in the brain had been avoided. Within a few days the doctors concluded that the worst was over, and Wilson could very well make a full recovery. In the meantime, however, the president must rest. That meant not engaging in his official duties and work schedule. That led to a very serious constitutional question: Could the country carry on without its executive?
When Edith Wilson wondered whether or not Woodrow Wilson should resign in favor of Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, Decrum said that it would not be necessary. Rather, he suggested that she act as gatekeeper for her husband, allowing him to see only the most important matters. The next few months saw Edith Wilson, with the collusion of Grayson and some members of the White House staff, essentially running the executive branch of government in secret. She decided which matters came to Wilson's attention and which she handled herself.
What occurred in the White House in the fall of 1919 amounted to nothing less than a coup d'état, where an unelected citizen and a serving naval officer were exercising presidential authority. Their motives were not malevolent, and indeed, Edith Wilson was only looking out for her husband's well-being.
Even if her actions had been public, it is doubtful that anything could have been done if Woodrow Wilson refused to resign. Though the Constitution at the time stated that a president could be removed if he was unable to fulfill his duties, it provided no mechanism for removing a sitting president against his will. Had the true nature of Wilson's illness been known, it could have created one of the largest constitutional crises in the history of the republic.
As fall and winter gave way to spring, 1920, Wilson's health began to improve. By that point, many in Washington and around the country knew that something was wrong, but Edith kept insisting that the president was suffering from minor illnesses, and would soon resume his duties full time. Finally, he was able to hold Cabinet meetings once again. Though Wilson had mostly recovered from his stroke, the goal that he had worked for had been blunted. The Treaty of Versailles had been shot down by procedural rules in November and had been firmly voted down on March 19.
As the Democratic Party nominations approached, Wilson told Edith that he'd like to run for a third presidential term, but his wife flatly refused. He died from a stroke in February 1924 in Washington, D.C. His successor as president, Warren G. Harding, had signed the legislation formally ending the war with Germany in 1921. America never did sign the Treaty of Versailles or join the League of Nations.
In 1967, the 25th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted, which provided the mechanism for presidential removal from office.
Cody K. Carlson holds a master's in history from the University of Utah and teaches at Salt Lake Community College. An avid player of board games, he blogs at thediscriminatinggamer.com. Email: ckcarlson76@gmail.com