This day in history: President Wilson, who was widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt on this day in 1915. When President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke in office and was seriously incapacitated, Edith Wilson stonewalled press and public about his condition and became the acting president...in effect making her the first acting female president.
In My Memoir, published in 1939, Edith Wilson justified her self-proclaimed role of presidential "steward," arguing that her actions on behalf of Woodrow Wilson's presidency were sanctioned by Wilson's doctors; that they told her to do so for her husband's mental health. Edith Wilson maintained that she was simply a vessel of information for President Wilson; however, others in the White House did not trust her.
Did You Know: "The first woman to actively pursue the country’s highest office was Victoria Woodhull—a stockbroker, newspaper publisher, and champion of social reform who ran for the presidency in 1872, some 50 years before women throughout the United States had achieved the right to vote." Source
Going back even further, many consider John Hanson the first president of the United States. John Hanson was a Founding Father and a merchant and public official from Maryland during the era of the American Revolution. In 1779, Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress after serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland. He signed the Articles of Confederation in 1781 after Maryland joined the other states in ratifying them. In November 1781, he was elected as first President of the Confederation Congress (sometimes styled President of the United States in Congress assembled), following ratification of the articles. For this reason, some of Hanson's biographers have argued that he was actually the first holder of the office of President of the United States.
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