DC -- Sheridan-Kalorama -- Woodrow Wilson House -- Exhibit: Gift of Love:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- LOVE_151218_007.JPG: Loving Cup Trophy:
The Virginia Congressional Delegation presented Edith with this loving cup on her wedding. They were proud to have a Virginian in the White House.
- LOVE_151218_013.JPG: Statue of Pocahontas:
Full length statue of Pocahontas standing with arms outstretched and one foot forward. This bronze replica was a wedding gift to Mrs. Wilson from the Virginia Historical Society. Mrs. Wilson was a direct descendant of Pocahontas.
- LOVE_151218_019.JPG: Engraved Silver Vase:
Initials EBW engraved on side. Vase was a gift from Mr. Henry Holland of Ogdenburg, New York.
- LOVE_151218_025.JPG: The Gift of Love
Exhibiting the Wedding Gifts of Woodrow and Edith Wilson
- LOVE_151218_034.JPG: Colonel Edmund Starling, head of the Secret Service for President Wilson, often walked the President to and from Mrs. Galt's residence during the couple's courtship. He recounts that on those walks home, the President would dance off the curbs, and when waiting to cross the street would sing to himself a popular song form the time and jig along with it.
"Oh, you beautiful doll! You great big beautiful doll! Let me put my arms around you, I can hardly live without you..."
- LOVE_151218_041.JPG: Loss:
Ellen Axson Wilson, President Wilson's first wife, died in the White House on August 6, 1914. That very week Germany invaded Belgium, an act that began the "Great War."
Like Woodrow Wilson, Ellen Axson was born into a family of Presbyterian clergy. The young couple met at her father's church when Woodrow Wilson was practicing law in Atlanta, Georgia and visited Ellen's hometown of Rome, Georgia on business.
The Wilsons were married for 29 years, and Ellen's death left a void in Woodrow's life. It has been said that Woodrow depended on Ellen more than on any other person. She supported and advised him on his career progress from a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University through professor appointments at Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan, and Princeton to become President of Princeton, and thereafter through his campaigns and election as Governor of New Jersey and President of the United States.
Ellen was an accomplished artist, painting landscapes in an American Impressionist style. As the First lady, she established the White House Rose Garden and undertook social causes. The couple had three daughters, two of whom celebrated White House weddings during the fifteen months that Ellen was First Lady.
Ellen Wilson's passing was a devastating personal loss for Woodrow Wilson. "My heart has somehow been stricken dumb," he confessed to his daughter Jessie.
While he managed one of the most successful domestic policy agendas of any presidency and steered the United States on a course of neutrality in the "Great War," he suffered emotionally. His work never filled the void in his life. President Wilson's friend and personal physician, Dr. Cary Grayson recounts: "I saw the summer merge into autumn and autumn succeeded by winter and spring and summer, and knew that however bravely he smiled upon the world he was lonely."
- LOVE_151218_045.JPG: An American Cinderella Story
In March of 1915, President Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt met by chance, and a whirlwind romance engulfed them both. They married eight months later on December 18, 1915. President Wilson described Edith's friendship and love as a "gift from heaven."
Edith Bolling was born in 1872 in Wytheville, Virginia. Her family traced its heritage to Virginia's Jamestown colonists. Edith's parents had been raised before the Civil War on Virginia plantations that relied on enslaved workers. The Bolling family lost most of its wealth and property in the Civil War. Her parents relocated to Wytheville, where her father was a lawyer and then a judge. The extended family lived on the second floor of a building on Main Street, the first floor rented out as a general store. Edith was the seventh of eleven children. She received little formal education, but was tutored by a grandmother, for whom Edith was a caregiver.
At the age of twenty-three in 1896, Edith married Norman Galt, a jeweler in Washington DC. Edith met Norman while visiting her sister in Washington who married Norman's cousin. Edith and Norman were married for twelve years and had no children. Norman Galt died in 1908, leaving Edith his business, Galt's Jewelry, the preeminent jewelry store in Washington. Edith engaged a manager to run the jewelry store day-to-day.
As a wealthy widow in Washington DC, Edith had independence and financial means available to few women in that society. She was socially active and knew Helen Bones, Woodrow Wilson's cousin. Through that connection she met the President by chance one day in the White House after his golf game was rained out. Thus began her Cinderella story.
- LOVE_151218_048.JPG: My beloved Sweetheart,
I shall turn to my duties today with a new zest, for I am renewed every time I am with you. There is not only a great deal to do but this is the time to do it when (and while) the country is back of me with enthusiasm and something like unanimity... for there's no telling how long it will last, and some of the things waiting to be done are very delicate and ticklish... But all these things have grown easy because I am
Your own,
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson to Edith Bolling Galt, June 18, 1915
- LOVE_151218_051.JPG: Courtship
To his family and to hers the marriage brought extreme gratification, for all who knew them both knew that an ordeal of loneliness had ended... With dynamic vitality and sheer joy of living she showed him how to take hold again of life and happiness.
The romance between Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt lifted a cloud that had shrouded the White House. After their nearly chance encounter, the couple began regular correspondence by letter and spending hours with each other. Their romance was intense but constrained by Victorian Era properties. This was one of the rare occasions in American history when the President was "dating."
The public was fascinated. Wilson's political advisors were wary. Accompanied by chaperones (and the Secret Service), the couple would take drives in Rock Creek Park, share dinner with friends, and read poetry to each other in the White House.
The couple's courtship relied heavily on love letters. They wrote each other regularly, sometimes more than once a day. The greetings in Woodrow's letters quickly evolved from "My Dear Mrs. Galt" to "Oh, my darling, my darling."
Woodrow's letters to Edith indicate that her presence in his life contributed to his clear mind and steady confidence as he dealt with the Great War, the sinking of the Lusitania, political strife in Latin America, and changes his Cabinet.
- LOVE_151218_055.JPG: Perfume Bottle:
Edith received several bottles of perfume, similar to this one. Edith documenting receiving a bottle of perfume from Elizabeth Arden, the famous cosmetician.
- LOVE_151218_060.JPG: Wedding Doll:
Bisque porcelain bride doll with a paper wedding gown, lace veil, and flowers in the right hand. Given to Edith on her wedding by Ethelwyn Moore Shepard of Salem, Massachusetts.
- LOVE_151218_065.JPG: The Front Row of History
Edith Bolling Wilson served as First Lady of the United States for over five years. After President Wilson's last term, she continued to live in Washington DC for over forty years. During this time she was an observer of and participant in world and American history. She sat in the House gallery of the Capitol on April 2, 1917, when President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war. She was to sit in the gallery again on December 8, 1941, when President Franklin Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war. President Wilson was the first US President to go to Europe of President.
Similarly, Edith Wilson was the first First Lady to go to Europe as First Lady. There she met the royal families of Great Britain, Belgium and Italy and first established the role and style of American First Ladies abroad. When the Nineteenth Amendment was adopted and women in the United States received the right ot vote, Edith Wilson was the first First Lady to vote in a presidential election in 1920.
Edith Wilson accompanied President Wilson on his cross-country train trip to promote the League of Nations in 1919. She is sometimes called America's "first woman President" because of the role she played following President Wilson's 1919 stroke. In her 1939 memoir, she described her role then as merely a "stewardship of the Presidency." No doubt she had earned President Wilson's respect and trust as well as his affection and devotion.
In the last year of her life, Edith Wilson attended President John Kennedy's inauguration in 1961 and hosted Jacqueline Kennedy for a luncheon between First Ladies. Edith Wilson died on December 28, 1961. She generously left this home and its contents to the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a monument to President Wilson. The President Woodrow Wilson House has been open to the public since 1963 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
- LOVE_151218_079.JPG: Wedding Cake:
According to the Tumulty family, this is a piece of plum cake from the Wilson's wedding. Ike Hoover, the White House Usher, notes that the caterer provided small boxes of wedding cake as souvenirs from the ceremony, a common practice at the time.
- LOVE_151218_092.JPG: Fairy Stone:
According to the oral history of the Tumulty family, Woodrow and Edith gave fairy stones to guests as wedding favors.
Fairy stones are naturally occurring stones, made of minerals that crystallize in twin form, creating a cross-shaped structure.
- LOVE_151218_105.JPG: Marriage Certificate:
Certificate recording the marriage of Edith Bolling Galt to Woodrow Wilson in a Presbyterian/Episocopalian ceremony on the eighteenth of December, 1915.
- LOVE_151218_114.JPG: Wedding Ceremony Book:
Small white ceremony book contains the hymns and order for the marriage ceremony between Woodrow Wilson and Edith Bolling Galt. Witnessing signatures included in the back of the book.
- LOVE_151218_122.JPG: Joseph Patrick Tumulty
1879-1954
Joseph Tumulty was President Woodrow Wilson's long-serving and most trusted aide. Their remarkable relationship began during Woodrow Wilson's campaign for Governor of New Jersey in 1910. Tumulty, then 31 years old, served in the New Jersey legislature, advised Wilson's campaign, and agreed to become Governor Wilson's "Secretary" (a role that we might call "Chief of Staff" today). Tumulty was to serve in that role for Wilson's two years as Governor and all eight years as President of the United States.
Joe Tumulty helped guide Woodrow Wilson's meteoric rise form political neophyte in 1910 to election as President a mere two years later. President Wilson was the first President to have regular press conferences, and Joe Tumulty was essentially the first presidential Press Secretary. In addition to managing the Oval Office, Tumulty was a keen political advisor, kept up with public opinion, and handled relations with Congress.
When Woodrow Wilson was in Europe for the better part of six months in 1919 to participate in the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I. Joe Tumulty stayed behind in Washington to manage the operations of the White House. After President Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke in October of 1919, Joe Tumulty was one of a handful of aides who enabled the White House to continue to function.
Over their long relationship, Woodrow Wilson and Joseph Tumulty had their ups and downs. A signal of their closeness is that, in their personal conversations, Joe Tumulty referred to Woodrow Wilson as "Governor," even after Wilson became President.
A special thanks to the Tumulty descendants for lending artifacts for this display.
- LOVE_151218_128.JPG: Navajo Saddle Blanket:
Gift from Thomas Riley Marshall, President Wilson's Vice President. Marshall was the first to institute a rule in the Senate that allowed a filibuster to end.
- LOVE_151218_133.JPG: Peacock Feather Fan:
Wedding gift from Mrs. Newman Hungerford of Washington DC.
- LOVE_151218_139.JPG: Tiffany Desk Set Bowl:
Secretary of State and Mrs. Robert Lansing gave a Tiffany Desk Set in honor of the Wilson wedding. This bowl is a piece of that set. The rest of the set is in the Library upstairs.
- LOVE_151218_152.JPG: Cloissonne Bud Vases:
These vases were a wedding gift from the daughters of the Post Master General, Albert Sidney Burleson.
- LOVE_151218_157.JPG: Rockwood Pottery Vase:
Secretary of Commerce William C. Redfield and his wife gave the Wilsons this Rockwood pottery vase. Secretary Redfield was the first secretary dedicated only to commerce.
- LOVE_151218_161.JPG: Painted Bowl:
This bowl was a wedding gift from Dr. and Mrs. Rudolf Teusler, Mrs. Wilson's cousin, who was the founder of St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo, Japan.
- LOVE_151218_166.JPG: Oil Painting:
Painting was given to Mrs. Wilson as a wedding gift from Mrs. George Pickett, widow of General George Pickett.
- LOVE_151218_177.JPG: It just broke my heart, my precious one, to hear you say how lonely and unaided you feel in this great work you are doing so splendidly... Oh, how I longed to put both arms 'round your neck, and beg you to let me take part of the weariness, part of the responsibility and try to make you forget everything else in the assurance of the love and loyalty that fills my heart.
Edith Bolling Galt to Woodrow Wilson, June 10 [1915?]
- LOVE_151218_179.JPG: To me personally [the resignation of Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan in connection with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania] is, of course, a matter of indifference, but it may mean serious things for the country, and the country I love with a deep passion. But with your hand in mine, your life linked with mine, my incomparable Darling, nothing will hurt me too deeply... You fill my heart. Your sweet love awakens in me everything that is sweet like life itself, and everything that is strong.... What can hurt me now, what dismay me or turn me aside? When I take you in my arms tonight nothing but sheer joy can come near me. I am safe and happy because I am your own,
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson to Edith Bolling Galt, June 8, 1915
- LOVE_151218_182.JPG: Your dear love fills me with a bliss untold.
Perfect, divine.
I did not know the human heart could hold
such joy as mine.
But it does more for me, it makes
the whole world new.
Dreams and desire within my soul
it wished more high and true.
Than ought I have ever known
FOr I do see, with sad surprise,
how far I am beneath your thought of me
For, lover wise, you've crowned me queen
of grace and truth and light
All pure and good.
In utter faith have set me on the height of womanhood
Since you exalt me thus, I must
not prove your wisdom vain.
Unto these mighty heights, oh help me
wondrous love I must attain!
Since love invests me with such
royal dower
The marvel sweet, shall in my
own life, by the same power
Be made -- complete.
This little poem I learned years ago -- little thinking how perfectly it would express what is in my heart tonight... Know that here on this white page I pledge you all that is best in me -- to help, to sustain, to comfort -- and that into the space that separates us I send my spirit to seek yours. Make it a welcome guest.
Edith Bolling Galt to Woodrow Wilson, May 4, 1915
- LOVE_151218_189.JPG: I venture to say, my Lady, my Queen, that never in your life have you looked so wonderfully beautiful as I have seen you look when the love tide was turning in your heart without check, since you came to understand yourself and me. I have seen a transfiguration, and it has filled me with as much awe as ecstasy! -- I can't think this morning -- I can only feel and only realize the exquisite thing that happened to me, the beautiful love. I have won, the ineffable charm of the sweet woman who has given it to me, the added value and joy that have come into life for her because of her, her spirit all about me, adding to the brightness and freshness and life-giving airs of the morning...
Woodrow Wilson to Edith Bolling Galt, May 27 [1915?]
- LOVE_151218_191.JPG: I love you, and your love for me has made the whole world new and when I am there with you there is no fear -- only happiness.
Edith
Edith Bolling Galt to Woodrow Wilson, May 28, 1915
- LOVE_151218_193.JPG: China Place Setting:
Pieces of a set of china given as a wedding gift to Woodrow and Edith Wilson. The full set is a copy of a gift from Andrea Everardus van Braam Houckgeest to Martha Washington.
Van Braam was a member of a Dutch trade company, and because he retained his US citizenship he became the first US citizen to meet the Emperor of China.
- LOVE_151218_198.JPG: Gold Tiffany Vase:
The vase was a wedding gift from Mr. and Mrs. Warren van Slyke. Van Slyke, a New York attorney, was one of Edith's most ardent suitors before she met President Wilson.
- LOVE_151218_206.JPG: Glazed Glass Vase:
Woodrow Wilson's daughter, Jessie, and her husband, Francis Sayre, presented a glazed glass vase to the newlywed Wilsons on the occasion of their wedding.
- LOVE_151218_215.JPG: Aquamarine Brooch:
Woodrow Wilson gave this brooch to Edith Wilson to commemorate their third wedding anniversary in 1918.
- LOVE_151218_222.JPG: Gold Pin:
Empire Mine, the oldest gold mine in California gave President Wilson a gold nugget on the occasion of his wedding to Edith Bolling Galt. The Wilson's used that nugget to fashion their wedding rings and several pins. Woodrow and Edith were buried wearing their wedding rings, but we still have this pin and two others made from the gold nugget.
- LOVE_151218_236.JPG: My heart aches because you are not here, but it rejoices and is full of joy and pride because you love me and have given me that supreme gift of love, your own dear, wonderful, delightful, adorable self, the noblest, most satisfying, most lovable woman in the world. I love you. I love you, and you love me.... I am full of strength and confidence because out lives are united and my Darling is happy, as I am, in their union.
Woodrow Wilson to Edith Bolling Galt, August 3, 1915
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