The Women in White and Our First Woman President

You couldn't help but stare at the women in white last night during the State of the Union. It has been a hundred years since women got the vote and the women of the senate were showing their solidarity with those women who marched a century before. But there is another one hundred year anniversary and that is the Presidency of Edith Wilson. She took over the White House when Woodrow Wilson had a massive stroke and was hidden away in a bedroom. She really was our First Woman President even though she was not elected.

But the symbolism of all those women in the House of Representatives shows how far women have come. Edith Wilson only had three years of school and had buried a baby and a husband when she met Woodrow Wilson. She was forty four to his fifty nine and driving an electric car with the first drivers license issued in the District of Columbia. She had only been married to the President four years when he had a stroke after returning from a whistle stop tour to pass the League of Nations. The decision not to tell the public and the reluctance of the Vice President made Edith the defacto President.

She ruled for only two years and in a touch of irony the suffragettes had been chaining themselves to the White House gates for years to convince Wilson to support the vote for women. Little did they know a woman would run the White House. So the women in white are really celebrating two anniversaries, the vote for women and a secret presidency where a Woman ran the United States.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Teddy Roosevelt Wanted to Charge the Germans in World War I

Teddy Roosevelt won the war with Spain. On this we can agree. He charged up San Juan hill and turned the tide of battle. It was the last time men on horseback would determine the outcome of a war involving the United States. But Roosevelt wasn't finished. Hew wanted to get his Rough Riders together again and turn the tide of World War I by charging the Germans. All he had to do was get permission from President Woodrow Wilson and he was ready to go overseas.

Roosevelt had become politically radioactive after losing the 1912 election for the Republicans. He had decided he wanted to run again and split the ticket. His hand picked successor William Howard Taft would have a been an easy win as Woodrow Wilson was an unknown quantity who had been President of Princeton and now the professorial Wilson was taking on a sitting President. Enter Roosevelt who decided he wanted to run again under his own party when he didn't get the nomination. The Bull Moose party Roosevelt formed was short lived and he handed the presidency to the Democrats.

So now he had to go to Wilson and plead to let him go commit suicide in France. World War I was vastly different than the war with Spain. Mustard gas, chlorine gas, tanks, flame throwers, machine guns. Millions of men died in a span of days. Roosevelt would not have gone five feet before he was cut down. But Teddy Roosevelt believed in action and he felt he could restore his political standing by winning the war for America. It was not to be. Woodrow Wilson said no. He did not want a dead president on his hands. Teddy Roosevelt never forgave him.

Forging A President

Never Listen to a CD of your own Book

The CD of my books usually come a couple of weeks after they are published. It is kind of cool to see a miniaturized cover of the book on the case and you put it on the mantle and there it sits. The other day on my way to a speech I grabbed it for a ride up to the North Shore. The woman who read the book was fairly famous and very good. Her voice was melodic and soothing and the first six chapters flew by. But I noticed I was growing tired. My book Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson has a lot going on and my brain was getting fatigued.  By the time I reached the venue I was intellectually exhausted.

So I arrive at the speech and set up the PowerPoint.  My speeches basically consist of me retelling the book but I had that women's symphonic voice still in my head and I wondered vaguely if I might mix her up with my recitation of the high points of the book. I was introduced and I went up and grabbed the microphone confidently and made a few wry comments about the book and I clicked up the first slide. It was a Bull Moose. 

Now when this happens you have a few seconds to find your footing. This slide should have been at the end and here it was at the beginning. So I clicked again. There was an old car. I still have that woman droning on somewhere in the early chapters of my book. I click again and see the sheep Edith Wilson bought for the Red Cross during World War I.  The PowerPoint had lost its mind and the lady was still reciting my book. 

I made my way back to the podium and put the microphone into the holder. Then I explained something about the PowerPoint not working and with the sheep still on the screen I started over and gave the presentation without the PowerPoint. By the time I reached the end people had forgotten about it and the speech was a success. But I didn't . I found out later that by importing the Powerpoint into the computer of the venue it had scrambled the slides. But I knew the real culprit.

When I reached my car I ripped the CD out of the player and put it back in the case. Never to be opened again.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Madam President Ruled in 1919

Whenever I do signings for any book I always sell a lot of Madam President The Secret  Presidency of Edith Wilson. I start by telling people we already had a woman president. Usually people laugh but then I tell them to go to .gov and read about first ladies because there in Edith's bio is the statement that she ran the executive for two years. She did. It was a great cover up of a sitting Presidents inability to govern and his wife taking over and running the United States for two years.

Hard to believe really. The next question is how come I don't know this. A lot of history is papered over with mythology. The facts get lost under agendas and historical bias. Historians are loathe to say that Edith Wilson was President. It does not fit in the Wilson historical context. It is also too fantastic to believe. How could this be pulled off? No radio for one thing. Newspapers were the primary source of news and people were not used to seeing the President.

A press that was complicit in the cover up. Or at least a press that didn't question. Yet there were papers that did speculate that Woodrow Wilson had a stroke and his wife was running the country. But it didn't get much traction. Then Edith herself made sure her tracks were covered in a 1939 memoir where she said she never made any decisions but was just a steward. None of this is true. The fact is Edith Wilson was the President in 1919 albeit unelected and ran the country until 1921. Believe it or not.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

The 25th Amendment Would Not Have Removed Woodrow Wilson When Edith Took Over

A lot of talk of using the 25th amendment against Trump but the truth is that will be difficult.  It wouldn't have worked against Woodrow Wilson either. It wasn't passed until after Kennedy was assassinated but Woodrow Wilson is the closest we have to a Trump situation. Wilson had a stroke, was paralyzed and could barely put five sentences together. His wife, doctor, and Chief of Staff came up with a plan to hide him away and let Edith Wilson run the government. They pulled it off all the way to the end of his term and basically it was the best kept secret until recently.

But there was a movement to have Wilson step down and it is reminiscent of what might happen if the cabinet tries to remove Trump. The 25th amendment says basically the cabinet along with the vice president can vote to have the president removed if the president is incapacitated or unable to fulfill the duties of the presidency. When Wilson collapsed Secretary of State Lansing made a move to have him removed. He called the cabinet together and then demanded Secretary Tumulty and Dr. Grayson come and assert the President was incapacitated.

Secretary Tumulty said  no. He said "not while the President is flat on his back." And then Lansing asked Grayson if he would certify that the President was too sick to carry on the duties of President. Grayson shook his head and said absolutely not. And then Tumulty issued a warning that he would let the President know who was trying to remove him. The cabinet meeting ended with the full cabinet wishing the President a speedy recovery.  Lansing would later be fired and in no small part because Edith and the President never forgave him for his treachery.

It is not so simple to remove a sitting President....even when they are paralyzed and bedridden and their wife is running the country.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Edith Wilson and the Twenty Fifth Amendment

The Twenty Fifth Amendment is in the news now. Many say Donald Trump cannot fulfill his duties as President because he might be crazy. See Mika and Joe. The Twenty Fifth Amendment passed in 1967 was created  in part because of what happened with the Woodrow Wilson Presidency and Edith Wilson's assumption of presidential power. Up to that point Clause 6 of Article 11 of the Constitution was vague. It said basically if the President can't fulfill his duties someone should take over. It did not even specify the Vice President.

When Woodrow Wilson had his stroke and Edith and Cary Grayson covered up his condition they were not really violating the Constitution. Few could say who would declare Wilson unfit and when Secretary Lansing asked Dr. Grayson if he he might do it Grayson refused and dared anyone to come forth and push the issue. No one did. So Edith ran the White House and essentially became our First Woman President.

But now  the 25th Amendment makes it clear. If the Vice President and his cabinet decide the President is unfit then the VP becomes President unless the President protests and then it goes to Congress for a vote. Edith Wilson would have been powerless if Vice President Marshall had taken the  inititative and had the cabinet vote on Wilson's ability to rule. Marshall would have become President and the Edith Wilson Presidency would have not happened.

So now we have Trump. Would Pence undertake such a vote? Not a chance. But at the least people know there is a vehicle now for Presidential succession should Trump become insane.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

What Woodrow Wilson's Stroke Can Tell Us About the Twenty Fifth Amendment

The New York Times has a piece on the 25th amendment and the possibility of removing

Donald Trump. The twenty fifth amendment was designed to stop what happened with Woodrow Wilson. He had a stroke and his wife, doctor, and Chief of Staff hid it from the world for two years. The twenty fifth amendment basically says that if the cabinet decides the president cannot do his job then they can vote to remove the President. This would have to be approved by the Senate but the process would start with the Presidents own cabinet. Here is where it gets interesting and might give us insight on Donald Trumps situation.

Secretary of State Lansing knew what was going on and demanded that President Wilson step down and asked Dr. Grayson and Secretary Tumulty to address the cabinet on his condition. Lansing produced the constitution and read aloud the amendment on constitutional succession. Tumulty snapped and said he didn't need the constitution read to him and that he was fully aware of the right of the Vice President to assume power. "But I will not be part of an effort to remove the President when he is flat on his back." Lansing then turned to Grayson and asked to know the Presidents condition. Dr. Grayson said the President was recovering but could fulfill his duties and then issued a warning. He said the President would be very interested to know who is plotting his removal. The cabinet members then sent on their good wishes and Lansing was left high and dry. 

Vice President Marshall never took over for Wilson because he didn't want to be President. He too said that in effect he didn't want to be accused of stealing the Presidency from Wilson. Edith Wilson ruled until Wilson's term ended. There is a lot of talk of the twenty fifth amendment now but removing a President can be tricky especially if the Vice President does not want the job and the cabinet is not unanimous. Brutus does not want to be caught in the open and so it is really who is willing to stick their neck out first. 

History does repeat itself. President Wilson fired Lansing within a year of  the meeting.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Why Do So Few People Know About Our First Woman President?

That's easy. History is written by the victors. And the victors were men. They wrote the history in 1921 the year the Edith Wilson Presidency ended. And for the next fifty years they held the Woodrow Wilson legacy together. Edith Wilson wrote a memoir in 1939 that claimed she was only a "steward" but never President. She too was committed to Woodrow Wilson's legacy to the point her relatives were never allowed to ask her about the President. That door was shut.

And so our First Woman President skirted the pages of history. It was always that lurking factoid. Something about a President who had a massive stroke and his wife stepped then stepped in. But it never got traction and the books that came out danced around the issue. A later history of Edith and Woodrow went so far as to claim Edith Wilson was power mad and grabbed power but never recognized her for running the White House from 1919 to 1921.

The government finally recognized what she did on a website that summarizes the first ladies. On .gov there is a reference to Edith that simply says she ran the Executive Branch for two years. It isn't much, but it is a beginning.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Those Tough as Nails Feminists

They were tough. When I was growing up in Baltimore the feminist movement was in full flower. My mother was on board as were many East Coast Kennedyesque women who were willing to march, lay down in the street and do whatever it took to advance women's right. I hung out with a kid named Matt. He was cool. His parents were real hippies. His brother was a hippy. His father had long hair and his mother...well she drove an VW Micro bus, wore her hair down to her waist, wore high boots, long coats, and did not take anything from anyone. 

She was the activist mom of  the early seventies and had signs in her garage from demonstrations. His mother scared the hell out of me. One time I didn't eat the crusts of my tuna fish sandwich. She turned her dark eyes on me with her peace sign hanging down. Do you know how many kids are starving in China Billy? I did not. Well there are many and they would kill for those crusts. From then on I ate the crusts. 

But I think about my mother and Matt's mom and how they took nothing from anyone. And I think about the women's movement today. They will have to get tough because power is not given up easily and they are facing probably the most hostile administration in history to women's rights. It will be a tough fight...but you know what, I still eat my crusts. 

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

The Secret Presidency of 1919 Could Happen Again

Whenever there is a vacuum of power someone moves in. When Woodrow Wilson fell ill in 1919 Edith Wilson took over and the ran the government for two years. No one knew and most people still don't. I am amazed at how many people know nothing about the Edith Wilson presidency. But lets take our current president. Donald Trump does not read. At all. He does not like complicated facts or data. His attention span is 140 characters. He exists in bytes and television  and delegates off everything except the bold command. That means there is a HUGE power vacuum because after the initial awe inspiring order there are the details. Like the immigration order Bannon worked up. It is just the beginning.

The point is the 25th amendment that calls for the vice president to take over if the president cannot fulfill his duties will never get invoked. Trump will continue to skate on the ice leaving Bannon and others down below to enact policy. It is in the details after all as we can see from this weekends fiasco. The Secret Presidency does not necessarily have to involve someone becoming enfeebled or ill. Someone could have no real interest in the job itself.

And that is Donald. After his game of RISK he grows bored. Make the bold statement. YOU'RE FIRED. A WALL. BAN THE MUSLIMS. Then go play golf or goof around in Trump Towers. Power lies with those who grab it. A short attention span and an addiction to drama is a perfect setup for a man who wants to smash the Means of Power.

 Don't you think so...comrade?   

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

                                                                                                                                                                                

The New Art of Selling Books

Selling books keeps morphing. Before it was the bookstore and then it became the Internet. Authors were the man sitting behind the desk who magically sold books at signings. This was the golden age. The public wanted the book and the author was there to give it to them. We have seen  lots of photos of the dapper author sitting behind a table with one arm up and a book under his pen. Then the Internet came along and knocked that author right on his duff. You now sold books on the net and hours logged on social media hopefully converted to book sales.

Then came the ebook. Game over  or so everyone thought. Surely the Ipod was a cautionary tale and books would soon be devalued as a quaint artifact of the printing press era. Certainly Kindles would rule the day. But then a strange thing happened...readers rebelled. They quit plugging in their Kindles and what do you know a song is different from a book. Something about an intellectual exercise and readers prefer something tangible versus bits and bytes. The ebooks revolution fizzled down into the black screen of an ereader on a bright sunny day.

So people went back to buying books. But there is a different way to sell now. The author cannot sit behind his table any longer. He must get out there and "hand sell" his book. This was the way books were originally sold before conglomeration and mass culture. The bookseller would introduce the customer to a new book and the customer would buy. What a concept. So we are now in a new era. Authors... get out from behind your tables.


Madam, President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

How One Woman Forced the United States to Give Women THE VOTE

We don’t’ hear about Alice Paul. When we think of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the United States we think of Susan B. Anthony or Carrie Catt. When I asked for books on Alice Paul I found only one and it was a little know history book long forgotten. She predated Martin Luther King by fifty years, but she was the first to use nonviolence in America as a means to augment social change.

   Alice Paul, because of her extreme tactics of confrontation  and the truths she revealed about our police, our penal system, and President Woodrow Wilson, was treated as a non-person after the nineteenth amendment passed giving women the right to vote in the United States. But the truth is Alice Paul forced President Woodrow Wilson and the United States government to pass the nineteenth amendment  giving women the right to vote through demonstrations, hunger strikes, imprisonment, burnings, threats, and an unrelenting  campaign that could only be termed as  modern terrorism against a recalcitrant government.

   Most people associate the suffragette movement with pictures of Victorian women marching in parades with banners across their shoulders. The reality is the government of the United States had no intention of giving women the right to vote when Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1912. The only way to make a world of men recognize the injustice of not giving women an equal say in a democracy was to put the issue of women’s suffrage front and center.

    It was through the radical tactics of one woman, Alice Paul, that President Wilson and the government had to finally capitulate and pass the nineteenth amendment in 1920 giving women the right to vote. But this came at a very high price and Alice Paul would be imprisoned, beaten, harassed, threatened, committed to an insane asylum, and force fed in a brutal manner after hunger strikes that left her unable to get out of her bed.

 She would lay siege to the White House for four years with daily demonstrations outside the gates, chaining’s, burning of Wilson in effigy, arrests, beatings, and finally the unrelenting imprisonment and hunger strike that forced Wilson to pardon her and then her refusal to leave prison where the dreaded force feedings began again. 

She understood that change only came through creating dis-ease in the powers that be. Something the  Womens March will attempt to do on Saturday. 

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Did We Have A Woman President in 1919? Woodrow Wilson House Presentation American History TV

Presentation on Madam President the Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson American History TV CSPAN
Presentation on The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Edith Wilsons Movie Theatre at the White House

Edith decided that movies might help the President. Since the ravages of the stroke Wilson rarely left his bed and Edith needed to give him something to do. Besides the President had liked silent movies before and this seemed a logical way to entertain him and give some routine to the day. So the rug was pulled back in the Red Room of the White House and a projectionist was brought in. Wilson liked Westerns but he didn't want the accompaniment of a piano which was standard in most theatres. For the Edith  Wilson movie house the clicking of the projector would be the only sound.

So they did it. Wilson's Coney Island wheel chair was wheeled down to the Red Room and the curtains pulled. A sheet from the Lincoln bed was pinned to the wall. The chandeliers sparkled with the movie light as silent riders crossed the screen for the old man wrapped in blankets with his head cocked to one side like an expectant bird. Edith sat with him as they watched the movies in the morning and sometimes she would end up talking with her secretary or one of Wilson's assistants. Wilson didn't like films that were too intense so they had to show "mellow Westerns. During one of these conversations the President fell out of his chair in the darkness.

The projectionists was horrified and was convinced he just saw Woodrow Wilson expire. The question was whether to continue the film or let Edith Wilson know her husband had just died. He decided the film must continue. Edith eventually aw Woodrow on the floor and picked him up with assistance and put his back in his wheelchair. The film played on to the man in the darkness who watched with his head leaning left while the rest of the world galloped away.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Edith and Woodrows Excellent Adventure

They were going on the presidential yacht. They did that. Just pick and go on a drive or take the ship out for a cruise. In this way they were very much like a modern couple. Little junkets of reciting  poetry around fires or going horseback riding together. But on this day they headed out and went for a cruise and came upon a small island. The President and Edith took a small launch to the island and were surprised to find it deserted. The small cottages were all buttoned up tight with the shutters drawn. So they left.

But at the dock Wilson turned and looked back. Lets go  back and see what's going on he said turning around. He and Edith returned and they saw people outside the cottages. When they saw the president and Edith they scurried back inside except for one man. He stared at Woodrow Wilson. Wouldn't you be the president? I have that honor Wilson returned. The man breathed in relief. We thought you was the Germans come to invade.

The Germans had been sinking American ships as World War I raged overseas. In  1919 there was no radio and newspapers were sporadic for many islanders. Rumors of invasion swept over the coutnry routinely. Woodrow and Edith then talked to the man and the other islanders who came out to greet them. After a lunch they returned to the launch and went back to the ship. Within a year the United States would be at war with Germany and in the hell of World War I.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson
William Hazelgrove

How Did the Government Cover Up the Edith Wilson Presidency in 1919?

If you think government cover ups are new just look at the Edith Wilson Presidency. President Woodrow Wilson was struck down by a stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to govern. What should have happened was theVice President takes over. But Edith Wilson along with Secretary Tumulty and Dr. Grayson the Presidents physician conspired to tell no one of the presidents condition and have Mrs. Wilson take over as president. So the conspiracy started with three people and then involved Wilson himself who knew enough that he should of given up the presidency.

Edith began governing by using three tactics. One she would return items and basically ignore the business of the White House. Or she would scrawl on documents instructions in her child like hand and either instruct the person to wait or to take action. Or she would delegate problems off to the heads of departments. On legislation she either let it go through or signed it herself. All the while Dr. Grayson, Edith, and Secretary Tumulty kept the front up that the President was just suffering from nervous exhaustion.

Meanwhile newspapers speculated the President had gone mad, had syphilis, or had died. Some guessed he had a stroke but this did  not change the conspirators who kept Wilson out of view for five months and then decided to drive him around in the presidential limousine, propped up with his hat on, his right side that was not paralyzed facing the world. Meanwhile Edith continued to appoint cabinet ministers, fire them, scrawling orders of state and signing bills. Even when it was all over the cover up held for seventy years with Edith adding to it in her  memoir which she wrote to specifically to deny she had any role at all.

But now we know. The greatest government cover up occurred in 1919 and it involved our First Woman President. If Hillary had made it she would have been the second Woman President. But for now...Edith Wilson alone holds that title.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Watching West Wing Now Is Like Watching Camelot

I didn't watch West Wing when it came out. I do that. I don't watch shows until they are ten years old. Something strange about cant watch popular shows when they are popular. But now I am hooked on the Bartlett Administration. The show is something out of Camelot now. The knights of the round table AJ and the rest pledge themselves to the Bartlett agenda lest they fall on their sword. Toby, Sam and the rest are errant knights running to the moral order set by the commander in chief who habitually draws a line in the sand and then crosses it but quickly confesses and then has penance. This is straight out of the Wizard of Oz  now.

Our current political climate is so different it has made the show a love letter to the early 2000s when the United States was clearly on one side of the moral card and the rest of the world was on the other. Or so we thought. Bathos and pathos rules the day on West Wing with our dedicated missionaries struggling to  find right in a tangled up recognizable Washington establishment. That world is so gone now it is hard to find where to place these characters. Especially Jeb Bartlett.

He is a brilliant man who has self knowledge and humility and takes the presidency very seriously but himself less so. The ultimate Commander in Chief  agonizing over the appointment of his secretary while ordering assassinations albeit unwillingly and then admitting to the fact. Even the opening sequence speaks of a world long ago with the flag flapping over the august black and white photos of the cast. Clearly this was designed for an American public willing to buy in that while our leaders are flawed they are basically good.

One cannot help but think or Richard Harris in the forest lamenting over the loss of Camelot. There once was a world....

Order Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Doing Live Television

The first question on any interview. Is it live? Yes. Ok. No problem. So you arrive early by about an hour and hang around the parking lot and try not to move to much. No sweating allowed. Six thirty is makeup and lighting. So you go in about six fifteen and go to the Green room to wait. The famed green room looks like a conference room with a long table and  a big screen to watch the show on. You sit and it is not so much you are nervous it is just you cant quite get straight in your head what you are going to talk about. You will have eight minutes for your segment.

The other guests arrive. A Bush transition team and some professors to talk about the Electoral College. You are the kicker. at the end. The fun interview. The Author. You kill time looking out a window overlooking the studio. It is still dark and looks like an industrial warehouse with alien cameras on the floor and lights hanging from the rafters. The set looks a bit cheesy but then the illusion is not in place. The girl calls you for makeup and you go downstairs where it is much cooler and quiet.

Lots of base. Lots of base. Skin is not flawless and high def requires pancake makeup. This ends and you go in for a light check.  The studio is lit and you stare into a camera while they adjust the lighting and then you are back upstairs. You watch on the monitor as the other people go down the stairs and magically appear on the show. Now you have a problem. You are beginning to sweat. Not Albert  Brooks sweating but glistening. The girl sees this and dabs more powder on your face. You are last and yes you are getting nervous.

Ok Its time. You go down the stairs and stand behind a wall. The door to the control room is open and you hear people counting down. Go Camera 1 Go Camera 2 Cut to one on one. You stand trying not to breathe because you are clearly sweating now. The other guests troop by. You envy them.  They are done. They didn't freak out. You hear the control room. Set up for the author. The girl takes you in to the set. To your right are men with computers and monitors just off the set. You see yourself. You don't do that again.

Just relax the the host says while the music plays. You unbutton your coat then button it then unbutton it. The host looks at the camera and starts talking and then the camera moves and flashes red. You talk for eight minutes and it goes by fast. You don't even remember it. The music comes up and then it is over. The lights in the studio come on and the host shouts out, Goodnight everybody. He i's gone. People are clearing out like mad.. It's eight o'clock at night. Time to get home. You are taken out by the girl and then you are back in the parking lot and it  is very quiet.

Your phone rings.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Vote Like Your Life Depends On It....

We are at one of those crossroads in history. Ernest Hemingway and the ex patriots in France whiffed it after the carnage of World War I. The world would never be the same. Modernism arrived with tanks and the awful mass death of the trenches. The mechanized world demanded a new way of interpreting the world and the artists responded in kind. The old Victorian world was dead and in a way literary poetry and ethereal language died under the hard bitten prose of Hemingway. The world was dry and hard and remained so right up to World War II.

And we emerged victorious and frightened because nuclear arms might obliterate the planet. We lived under that shadow a long time. And then it seemed to lessen and the world seemed to put it all behind us. But we now have this. The world has changed again. People are being marginalized by technology. The Internet has literally squeezed the profit out of everything and so nobody can afford to carry anyone. The old world of the blue collar job has gone to India and robots have sopped up the rest. Our first African American president gave us a ray of hope and then collapsed under the forces that will not rest.

And now we must vote like our lives depend on it. The very dark clouds hiding under uber nationalism are the same ones that gathered in 1939 and plunged the world into darkness. The same pointed fingers that exterminated six million people are now fingering others as the root of our problems. It is a canard but it doesn't matter. People need someone to blame and there are always others willing to show us who. So vote like your life depends on it.

It might.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson

Madam Presidents Odds Same as Kicker on 38 yard line

That's right. Think of Robby Gould going up to kick on the 38 yard line. You assume he will make it. You assume he wont hook or someone will break through the line and get a hand on it. But there is always that possibility. In Solider Field there is wind off Lake Michigan. It gets cold. Hands get slippery. The kicker might not place the ball correctly. The ball could come off the kickers foot at an angle. It could hit the goal posts. He might just shank it.

But nine times out of ten a thirty eight yard kick  is a walk in the park. No one really doubts it. When a kicker doesn't make a kick like this people shake their heads. Some see it as  just bad luck. Others say it was not meant to be. The Gods were not on their side. They were not meant to win. Or maybe the kicker has lost it. Maybe the kicker like Robby Gold should be traded away. Maybe he is in a rut.

Madam President should have this in the bag. After all thirty eight yards is nothing The ball should fly right through the goal posts and we should have our first woman president. But things do happen. Robby Gould was the Bears go to kicker for years and then he blew some keys kicks and just like that he was traded. He doesn't even play anymore.

Madam President should take nothing for granted.

Madam President The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson