Untold Power

The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson

By: Rebecca Boggs Roberts

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

A nuanced portrait of the first acting woman president, written with fresh and cinematic verve by a leading historian on women’s suffrage and power

While this nation has yet to elect its first woman president—and though history has downplayed her role—just over a century ago a woman became the nation’s first acting president. In fact, she was born in 1872, and her name was Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. She climbed her way out of Appalachian poverty and into the highest echelons of American power and in 1919 effectively acted as the first woman president of the U.S. (before women could even vote nationwide) when her husband, Woodrow Wilson, was incapacitated. Beautiful, brilliant, charismatic, catty, and calculating, she was a complicated figure whose personal quest for influence reshaped the position of First Lady into one of political prominence forever. And still nobody truly understands who she was.

For the first time, we have a biography that takes an unflinching look at the woman whose ascent mirrors that of many powerful American women before and since, one full of the compromises and complicities women have undertaken throughout time in order to find security for themselves and make their mark on history. She was a shape-shifter who was obsessed with crafting her own reputation, at once deeply invested in exercising her own power while also opposing women’s suffrage. With narrative verve and fresh eyes, Untold Power is a richly overdue examination of one of American history’s most influential, complicated women as well as the surprising and often absurd realities of American politics.

Daughter of Cokie and Steve knocks it outta the park

I learned so much about yet another First Lady Rebecca’s mom wrote another book about First Ladies I am so thrilled to add this to my bank of presidential knowledge yeah Rebecca following her vaunted family legacy.

Intimate view of a president and his wife

This book held all the intricacies of a relationship of one of our past Presidents with his wife. Some was good and some was not. The story does not hold back on telling an honest yet respectful story and painting a clear picture of this early twentieth century power couple. Warts and all. Wilson was president during WWI and during the Spanish flu epidemic, before radio! This is a real inside glimpse into his life and that of his fiercely devoted wife, Edith. Narration completely appropriate and did not detract from the story.

Excellent!

I did not know anything about this first lady and she was basically president while her husband was sick and she was amazing!

Well done!

I love First Lady stories and this one did not disappoint! It’s so well written and well narrated. I did not know anything about Edith Wilson or the dichotomy of the person she was. Highly recommend!

It was fine

Woodrow: racist. Very ill most of presidency. Completely devoted to attempting to form the "League of Nations" to prevent another World War
Edith: complex. Had a business, ended up involved in politics - was against women's suffrage. Wanted to be perceived as Woodrow's wife, not "The First Lady." Focused on caring for and protecting the president. Lied in her memoir.
Edith Wilson stands out historically because of the amount of political power she had by standing in for her sick husband. At least, that's what the author tells us. That's the whole justification for the book. But oddly, very little time is devoted to that topic. Almost no examples of this are given. We're only told at a remove that some people ironically called her "the first woman president" because of her actions on behalf of the president, without explaining what they were. Odd.