Though history has downplayed her role—just over a century ago a woman became the nation’s first acting president.
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson climbed her way out of Appalachian poverty and into the highest echelons of American power. In1919 Edith Wilson effectively acted as the first woman president of the U.S. when her husband, Woodrow Wilson, was incapacitated.
Author Rebecca Boggs Roberts takes the first comprehensive look at this complicated figure, in her book Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson.
Boggs Roberts says Wilson's quest for influence reshaped the position of First Lady into one of political prominence.
Rebecca Boggs Roberts is an award-winning writer and educator. Previous jobs include journalist, tour guide, forensic anthropologist, political consultant, jazz singer, & radio talk show host. Now Deputy Director of events at the Library of Congress, she lives in DC with her husband, three sons, and a long-eared hound.
Her mother was NPR's Cokie Roberts.
