An inaugural 100 years ago
President Obama takes the oath of office (for a second time) during tomorrow's inauguration.
So let's look back 100 years: Woodrow Wilson, the governor of New Jersey, was elected President of the United States in November 1912. He took the oath of office on March 4, 1913.
Wilson, who had extreme high blood pressure and suffered a series of strokes during his lifetime, collapsed aboard his private train shortly after delivering a speech on Sept. 25, 1919, in Pueblo, Colorado. It was a "premonitory event" -- a pre-stroke. He had weakness on his left side, he couldn't see for several hours out of his left eye, his speech was slurred, he had trouble breathing, and he passed in and out of consciousness. Admiral Cary Grayson, his doctor, knew it was probably a stroke. Sped back to D.C., Wilson was well enough to walk from the train to his car four days later. But on Oct. 2 he collapsed from a massive stroke in his White House bathroom. He was near death for 3 days, completely paralyzed on his left side, and blind in his left eye. He could not speak for many days. Then, suddely, he'd be able to, and then lapse into days of speechlessness again. He had almost no memory, and no concentration.
After six weeks, Wilson was still so weak he could not sit upright. Mrs. Wilson refused to let only a few doctors see him, and ruled out hospitalization. She believed her husband needed something to live for, and that Wilson would die if he knew he'd been stripped of his presidential powers. She only permitted a physical therapist to see Wilson in January 1920, after two months of argument. Woodroow Wilson improved significantly with therapy, and by mid-January could stand and even take a few steps. Still, he could barely write, his reading comprehension was nil, and his mind drifted after only a minute or two.
By the end of May 1920, Wilson could walk with a cane and cross the hall from his bedroom to his office. His whole personality changed after the stroke: He suffered from severe bouts of depression, had raging temper tantrums, and was excessively stubborn. And still his entire left side remained immobile and his left eye blind.
Wilson's rehabilitation progressed only a little bit by year's end. He never regained his ability to concentrate, and could not compose full sentences. He had little emotional self-control: He openly discussed his deep depression tactlessly with even strangers, would break into sobs and tears without provocation, and heaped bitter, scalding hatred on anyone perceived to have given him the slightest insult.
On Inauguration Day, March 4, 1921, Woodrow Wilson met the incoming president, Republican Senator Warren G. Harding, in the Blue Room of the White House. They exchanged pleasantries, and then Wilson walked ahead of Harding out the door to the presidential limousine. Wilson's gait was so precarious that a Secret Service man, a valet, and an usher all had to stand by lest he fall. Police stood on the street, making sure no reporters or members of the public took photographs of the frail President.
Wilson and Harding rode together to the Capitol. Wilson didn't speak, and his face was frozen by the stroke (which some interpreted as hatred of Harding).
Tradition dictated that when Wilson and Harding reached the Capitol, they get out together and walk up the Capitol steps together. The President-Elect would go on to the Inauguration Platform (at that time, on the East Front of the Capitol), while the outgoing President would retire to the President's Room -- a luxurious second-floor room in the Capitol where he would conduct final business. But Wilson could not climb steps. Instead, Harding got out alone and walked up the steps. Wilson was helped out of the car, got into a wheelchair, and was taken through a freight entrance on the Senate side. He rode a private elevator to the second floor. He was wheeled to the President's Room, where he rose and walked into the office. It was full of Senators, dignitaries, and guests. Wilson sat at the desk, signed documents, and (per tradition) accepted some final obesiance from Senators and ambassadors. The room was cleared, and Wilson got back into his wheelchair. He was wheeled to the Inaugural Platform, then rose and walked down the aisle to his seat. He stayed only until Harding was sworn in. Then he rose and limped off before Calvin Coolidge's inauguration as Vice President -- too exhausted to remain. Edith Wilson held him upright. Two Secret Service men, Dr. Grayson, and chief of staff Joseph Tumulty walked with them -- ready to catch Wilson if he fell.
Woodrow Wilson died at 11:15 AM on Sunday, February 3, 1924, at his home in Washington, D.C., having never improved physically or mentally beyond those gains made by May 1920.
The first treatment for high blood pressure was hydrochlorothiazide, in 1948. It came 25 years too late for Woodrow Wilson, and five years too late to save Franklin D. Roosevelt.