Presidential Medical Secrets and the Real 1st Female President

It's Election Day and we're back with another presidential episode "Ohio v. the 25th Amendment." We look at two major presidential health emergencies that were covered up prior to the 25th Amendment and the history of presidential infirmity. First is the story of Woodrow Wilson's massive stroke in the fall of 1919 and how the 1st lady, Edith Wilson, became the first female president. And we look at a secret presidential surgery at sea for Grover Cleveland's cancer. Alex is joined by author William Hazelgrove to discuss his book Madam President (2016) about Edith Wilson, our 1st woman president. We analyze their quick courtship and Wilson reaching the heights of global popularity following WWI. The political battle at home over the League of Nations leads Wilson to a cross-country whistle stop tour that ends in a massive stroke. We cover the little-known history surrounding Edith Wilson taking over the executive branch in her husband's absence and the lengths she went to coverup the extent of his illness. Our second story covers Grover Cleveland's emergency surgery at sea for cancer during his second term. Author Annette Dunlap rejoins the program to discuss Cleveland's health scare and the celebrity status of his wife Frances Folsom Cleveland. Link below to Dunlap's Frances Cleveland biography Frank: America's Youngest First Lady (2009). Friend of the pod, Bruce Carlson discusses how Grover Cleveland became the only two, non-consecutive term President in US history (at the time of this recording). Check out Bruce's excellent political history podcast My History Can Beat Up Your Politics (link below). City of Buffalo Historian, Lindsey Lauren Visser rejoins the show to outline the coverup of Cleveland's cancer and the surgery to remove it aboard the Oneida, a yacht in the summer of 1893. Lindsey shares the dangers of the surgery and how the intricate coverup comes unraveled. But Cleveland's teams efforts to discredit the journalist EJ Edwards who broke the story led to the writer's career being ruined. Contact Alex and the show at [e-mail] or on the podcasts' Facebook, Instagram and Twitter page. Check out the Evergreen Podcast Network for Ohio v. the World and hundreds of other great podcasts www.evergreenpodcasts.com. See you on 11/26/24 for Ohio v. the World's Season 8 finale. Go Vote! Historian Lindsey Lauren Visser homepage: https://lindseylaurenvisser.com/ Listen to My History Can Beat Up Your Politics here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-history-can-beat-up-your-politics/id169078375 Buy Madam President by William Hazelgrove here https://www.amazon.com/Madam-President-Secret-Presidency-Wilson/dp/162157475X Buy Frank by Annette Dunlap here https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Cleveland-Americas-Youngest-Excelsior-ebook/dp/B007QWEEXE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices