Ellen A. Wilson : The Woman Who Made a President

The role of Ellen A. Wilson in shaping or making Woodrow Wilson president has never been examined. Perhaps it has just been overlooked, as Ellen herself has been. "She was a quiet, gentle, unassuming woman who avoided the limelight so successfully that she has been almost forgotten," wrote her daughter Eleanor in 1962. As Woodrow Wilson lay dying in early 1924, he turned to Eleanor and said, "I owe everything to your mother". This biography, in addition to being about Ellen, the first lady or the woman "who made Wilson president", also reveals Ellen the woman, the artist, the mother, the wife and lover of Woodrow Wilson. Thus, we learn about their domestic life, their married highs as well as lows and about their mindset and values. This new and important book personifies the overall character of Ellen Wilson and etches her historical figure into the mind of the reader as a person who had a significant influence on the course of the United States' history.

Foreword; Youth; First Love, a Wedding: Savannah and New York, 1883-1885; Young Wife and Mother, 1885-1890; Ellen in Princeton, 1890's; Mater Familias; Travels, Trials, Tribulations, and Mrs. Peck, 1900-1910; Politician's Wife, 1910-1912; First Lady and Artist; 1914; Epilogue; Notes; Index.