Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb__ A Tour of Presidential Gravesites - Brian Lamb [50]
Wilson was a college professor and president of Princeton University before he entered the political arena. In his first attempt at public office, Wilson won the governorship of New Jersey in 1910. He had barely taken over the job when his name was thrown into the ring for the 1912 Democratic presidential nomination. A compelling speaker, he emerged from a fractious convention and went on to defeat William Howard Taft and Bull Moose candidate Theodore Roosevelt to win the White House. On a cold day in March 1913, Wilson took the oath of office with his wife Ellen at his side.
Woodrow Wilson was laid to rest in the nave of Washington National Cathedral
Ellen would serve just a short time as first lady. She died in 1914 as the “guns of August” signaled the start of World War I. The president was so distraught that his depression lifted only after he met and married Edith Bolling Galt the following year. His physical health had begun to decline, largely due to overwork. He was consumed with efforts to keep the United States out of the growing world war.
Wilson suffered his first small stroke in 1906, which left him blind in one eye. He was plagued by headaches and high blood pressure, occasionally employing a stomach pump to relieve chronic stomach ailments. In 1919 while traveling to build public support for the Treaty of Versailles, Wilson suffered a more serious stroke. This one left him paralyzed on one side and barely able to speak.
Eventually Wilson was able to walk with a cane, but his health was so precarious that Mrs. Wilson began running interference for her husband. By her own account, she reviewed papers and meeting requests to decide which ones were important enough to go the president. Thus Edith Wilson became known as the “Secret President” and the “first woman to run the government.”
When he retired in 1921 after serving two terms, Wilson rarely left his home on S Street in Washington. One of his last public appearances was at Warren Harding’s funeral in August 1923. In the last weeks of his life, Wilson was virtually blind, barely able to move or speak. Edith Wilson, still working at her husband’s side, knew the end was near.
On February 1, 1924, Wilson, lying on his large canopied bed, spoke his last sentences before losing consciousness: “The machinery is worn out. I am ready.” Reporters and curiosity seekers gathered outside the home, waiting for bulletins from the dying man’s doctors. Wilson regained consciousness just long enough to call out for his wife. On February 3, his heart stopped beating. His wife and daughter Margaret were at his side.
Five days later, thirty thousand people braved rain, snow, and bitter cold to line the funeral route. A small private service, attended by President and Mrs. Coolidge, was held in the music room of the house on S Street. Ministers read the 23rd Psalm while a grief stricken Edith Wilson watched the proceedings from the top of the stairs.
Atop the closed black casket lay a spray of orchids from the dead man’s widow. Wilson’s body was borne across the city by a military escort to the unfinished Washington National Cathedral for an Episcopal funeral service that was broadcast on the radio. The organist, who had also served as Wilson’s confidential stenographer for thirteen years, played some of his favorite hymns.
After all of the guests departed, Wilson’s casket was lowered into a crypt; it was later moved to the nave. Edith Wilson remained at their home on S Street until her death in 1961. She is buried next to her husband at the National Cathedral.
Touring Woodrow Wilson’s Tomb at Washington National Cathedral
Washington National Cathedral is located at the intersection of Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues in Washington, D.C. Free parking is available but limited on the north and south sides of the Cathedral grounds. The Cathedral is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturday from