Edith Wilson was President Woodrow Wilson’s second wife. His first wife, Ellen Wilson, had died early in his first term. Just over one year and four months after her death and still in his first term as president he was remarried. Since the courtship happened so quickly there were rumors of an affair and theories the couple had murdered Wilson’s first wife.
Edith Wilson was Edith Bolling Galt before she became first lady. In 1904 she became the first woman licensed to drive in Washington D.C. The vehicle she was licensed to drive cost $1600 (in 1904) and ran on electricity. We now think of electric cars as being the future but in the early 1900’s this was modern technology. In her future as First Lady she would drive around the city and police officers would stop traffic to wave her through.
