"THAT WILL BE ENOUGH"

PRESIDENT WALKS 600 YARDS WITHOUT LIMPING

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 16, 1921, the New York Herald reported that President Woodrow Wilson* "went to the Executive Offices (yesterday) for the first time in seventeen months."  He walked 300 yards from the White House and back again "to preside at a regular meeting of the Cabinet."

During the hour and a half meeting, the President remained seated "in the President's chair at the head of the long table."  

Although President Wilson had been walking previously, it only amounted to taking a few steps to and from his automobile.

The President is described in the article as walking "very slowly" but with "no noticeable limp."  Mr. Wilson appeared to have "aged materially" looking like "an old man."

After two press photographs were taken in the Cabinet Room, Woodrow Wilson held up his hand and said...

"That will be enough."

Thomas Woodrow Wilson served as 28th POTUS (1913-1921).  The President suffered a massive stroke on Oct 2 1919 & remained incapacitated from the duration of his term which ended on Mar 4, 1921.  The stroke left him partially paralyzed on his left side.

SOURCE

"Wilson With Cane Walks 600 Yards Without Limping," The New York Herald, February 16, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/ 

   

 

Thomas Woodrow Wilson

Harris & Ewing Photo (1919)

Library of Congress Image

"WILSON INCAPACITATED UNTIL THE END"

PRESIDENT MAY APPEAR IN CONGRESS FOR FAREWELL ADDRESS

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) The Evening World reported on November 12, 1920 that President Woodrow Wilson's health was continuing to improve to the point that he might be able to "appear in Congress for the Farewell Address."

The Evening World states...

"Everybody about the White House seems to have become more hopeful about the President's ultimate recovery.  As the fourth of March approaches, his friends expect he will get stronger...(and) may be well enough to...appear in Congress for the Farewell Address."

According to Health and Sciences Library, however, the severe stroke that the President suffered "left him incapacitated until the end of his presidency." 

This is verified by an article in the Journal of Neurosurgery.  According to Drs. Richard P. Menger and Christopher M. Storey, Mr. Wilson was diagnosed with a "ischemic stroke without hemorrhage convergence."  There were left visual field cuts but speech was unaffected.

For a period of 17 months "nearly all communication to and from" the President was through the First Lady, Mrs. Edith Wilson. 

JFK+50 NOTE

Although Mr. Wilson rode with President-elect Harding to the Capitol, he did not stay for the inaugural ceremonies.  President Wilson rarely appeared in public again although he gave a brief radio address on Armistice Day, Nov 1923.  He died at the age of 67 on Feb 3, 1924.

 

SOURCES

"Wilson May Go Before Congress in Wheelchair," by David Lawrence, November 12, 1920, The Evening World, New York, New York, www.loc.gov/

"Woodrow Wilson's hidden stroke of 1919:  the impact of patient-physician confidentiality on United States foreign policy," by Richard P. Menger, M.D. and Christopher M. Storey, M.D., PhD., July 2015, Journal of Neurosurgery, www.the jns.org/ 

"Woodrow Wilson-Strokes and Denial," Health and Sciences Library, www.ahsi.arizona.edu/

 

 

 

Thomas Woodrow Wilson

Harris & Ewing Photo (1919)

Library of Congress Image

 

 

"THE PRESIDENT LOOKED AS IF HE WERE DEAD!"

WOODROW WILSON SUFFERS MASSIVE STROKE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) One hundred years ago today, October 2, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke at the White House here in the Nation's Capital.

The President had returned to the Executive Mansion after collapsing while on a whistle-stop tour across the country to gain support for the Versailles Treaty which he helped negotiate in France at the end of World War I. 
According to Eyewitness to History, Edith Galt Wilson found her husband on the floor of the bathroom of their private quarters.  He was unconscious and bleeding from a cut on the head.

Mr. Wilson's personal physician, Dr.Cary T. Grayson, was quickly summoned.  After a ten minute examination, he came out in the hall and said...
"My God, the President is paralyzed."  The President lay on the Lincoln bed.  According to witnesses, "he looked as if he were dead."


SOURCES

"A President's Illness Kept Under Wraps," by Michael Alison Chandler, February 3, 2007, The Washington Post, www.washingtonpost.com/

"President Wilson Suffers a Stroke, 1919," Eyewitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

President Woodrow Wilson &

Dr. Cary T. Grayson

Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Photo

"I HATE TO THINK WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE WORLD"

PRESIDENT WILSON RETURNS TO WASHINGTON NEAR A COMPLETE BREAKDOWN

Wichita, Kansas (JFK+50) On September 26, 1919, President Woodrow Wilson was scheduled to speak here in Wichita on his tour promoting the League of Nations and the Versailles Treaty but when the President's physician found Mr. Wilson close to a "complete breakdown," the speech was cancelled and the President's train returned to Washington.

President Wilson promoted a League of Nations at the Versailles Conference in Paris, but when the United States Senate blocked the treaty's ratification, the President took his case directly to the American people.  His barnstorming train tour left the Nation's Capital on September 3rd.

President Wilson said that if the League failed... "I hate to think what will happen to the world."

By the time the President reached Wichita, he was complaining of blinding headaches.  Back at the White House on October 2nd, the President suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed on the left side and with impaired vision.  He would be confined to bed for weeks with only his wife and doctor permitted to see him.

SOURCES

"President Wilson Suffers a Stroke, 1919," www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/

"Today-100:  September 27, 1919, America is big enough," www.whateveritisimagainstit.blogspot.com/

             

    

         President & Mrs. Woodrow Wilson
                       The White House
                              June 1920
                Photo by Harris & Ewing
               Library of Congress Image

WOODROW WILSON'S STROKE

WOODROW WILSON SUFFERS STROKE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Ninety-five years ago today, October 2, 1919, 28th President of the United States Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke at the White House here in the Nation's Capital.

The President had returned to the Executive Mansion after collapsing while on a whistle-stop tour across the country to gain support for the Versailles Treaty which he helped negotiate in France at the end of World War I.

The controversial peace treaty included a League of Nations which was to be a body of international cooperation to prevent another world war.

Wilson's tour had begun on September 2, 1919.  He was giving up to three speeches each day, but collapsed after speaking in Pueblo, Colorado on October 2, 1919.

The stroke, which left the President paralyzed on his left side, effectively ended Wilson's ability to influence the Senate vote on the treaty or, in fact, to conduct the daily business required of the President of the United States.

The public, however, was kept in the dark regarding the severity of the stroke or of the President's condition.

The Treaty of Versailles was not ratified by the Senate but President Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919.  He died four years later in Washington, D.C.  He is buried in the National Cathedral.

Woodrow Wilson's Sarcophagus

National Cathedral

Tony Fisher Photography

December 29, 2009

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