Asking the Wrong Question

The question posed -- did Mrs. Wilson go too far in running things while the President was seriously disabled? -- is the wrong question. I prefer to ask: Did she do any worse than he would have done? And more, what if she had taken over years earlier?

Wilson's conduct of World War I, from the decision to enter to the deliberations in Paris, to the selling of the League to the American public, were all disasters. We entered a war for no good reason and we ratified a peace treaty in violation of our own 14 points. We set up a certain retaliation by Germany and the other losers and we made certain that a Hitler would appear sooner or later. We stirred up hopes that could not be fulfilled and we made sure all possibilities for progress in international relations would be stymied. Anyone could have done better -- even a wife, even a woman.

Wilson was so ill psychologically that mere physical disability made no difference. He was unfit to be president; I think he was unfit to be president of Princeton even. He should have managed a plantation in the South.