Woody takes a Bride
In 1915, the Christmas season around the White House added something new to the festivities: a Presidential wedding. President Woodrow Wilson was a widower at the time. His wife Ellen, to whom he had been married since June of 1885, died on August 6, 1914, just 17 months into Wilson's first term in office. She had suffered from Bright's Disease, a kidney ailment. It is reported that on her deathbed she told her physician that she hoped that her husband would remarry, something he did sixteen months later.
In March 1915, Wilson met a widow named Edith Bolling Galt. He was introduced to her at the White House by Helen Bones, the president's cousin and official White House hostess since the death of Ellen Wilson. Wilson is said to have taken an instant liking to Mrs. Galt, who is described as being very charming. He too was quite the charmer, and is said to have proposed to her by stating "in this place time is not measured by weeks, or months, or years, but by deep human experiences."
The two of them had been a romantic item for what was in those days considered such a short courtship period. Some in Washington were quick to poke fun at the marriage. One joke of the day went, "when Edith Galt heard the President propose marriage, she nearly fell out of bed." A typographical error in the Washington Post unintentionally made fun of the sexual nature of their relationship. The story meant to describe a date that the president and his then girlfriend had at a local theater, stating "rather than paying attention to the play the President spent the evening entertaining Mrs. Galt." What was printed in the first run of the Washington Post was the phrase "rather than paying attention to the play the President spent the evening entering Mrs. Galt." The first run of the paper was recalled, but a few copies were not recovered and are now highly prized collectibles.
Wilson's political enemies spread rumours that Wilson had been cheating on his first wife, or that he and Mrs. Galt had actually murdered the First Lady. Wilson offered Mrs. Galt the opportunity to back out of their engagement. She supposedly replied that she would stand by him "not for duty, pity or honor, but for love."
President Wilson, then aged 58, married Edith Bolling Galt, then 43, on December 18, 1915 (96 years ago today), at Edith's home in Washington, D.C. The wedding was attended by 40 guests and was performed jointly by the Reverend Dr. James H. Taylor of Central Presbyterian Church and the Reverend Dr. Herbert Scott Smith of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, pastors of the churches attended by the groom and bride respectively. The couple honeymooned two weeks in Hot Springs, Virginia and at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
In March 1915, Wilson met a widow named Edith Bolling Galt. He was introduced to her at the White House by Helen Bones, the president's cousin and official White House hostess since the death of Ellen Wilson. Wilson is said to have taken an instant liking to Mrs. Galt, who is described as being very charming. He too was quite the charmer, and is said to have proposed to her by stating "in this place time is not measured by weeks, or months, or years, but by deep human experiences."
The two of them had been a romantic item for what was in those days considered such a short courtship period. Some in Washington were quick to poke fun at the marriage. One joke of the day went, "when Edith Galt heard the President propose marriage, she nearly fell out of bed." A typographical error in the Washington Post unintentionally made fun of the sexual nature of their relationship. The story meant to describe a date that the president and his then girlfriend had at a local theater, stating "rather than paying attention to the play the President spent the evening entertaining Mrs. Galt." What was printed in the first run of the Washington Post was the phrase "rather than paying attention to the play the President spent the evening entering Mrs. Galt." The first run of the paper was recalled, but a few copies were not recovered and are now highly prized collectibles.
Wilson's political enemies spread rumours that Wilson had been cheating on his first wife, or that he and Mrs. Galt had actually murdered the First Lady. Wilson offered Mrs. Galt the opportunity to back out of their engagement. She supposedly replied that she would stand by him "not for duty, pity or honor, but for love."
President Wilson, then aged 58, married Edith Bolling Galt, then 43, on December 18, 1915 (96 years ago today), at Edith's home in Washington, D.C. The wedding was attended by 40 guests and was performed jointly by the Reverend Dr. James H. Taylor of Central Presbyterian Church and the Reverend Dr. Herbert Scott Smith of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, pastors of the churches attended by the groom and bride respectively. The couple honeymooned two weeks in Hot Springs, Virginia and at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.