For Medicinal Purposes
At his inaugural luncheon at the White House, the new President Woodrow Wilson had occasion to meet naval physician Dr. Cary Grayson, and invited him to become his personal physician. A few days later, when Grayson gave the POTUS a thorough examination (with medical history), he was amazed to discover the 56-year-old man Woodrow Wilson was in startling poor health.
While some of the President’s conditions were not able to be cured, his hardening of the arteries for one, and his high-strung nature for another. But certain “lifestyle changes” could alleviate problems, at least partially. Like a bland diet for his sensitive digestive system. Or fresh air and exercise. Or making time for relaxation.
Grayson had prescribed “golf” as a suitable activity for the intellectual scholar and sedentary man, and Wilson actually began to feel better. And, to make sure that his most important patient was abiding to the treatment, Dr. Grayson became his regular golf buddy. They became fast friends.
Wilson the Golfer
Woodrow Wilson had always been what one might call a “sports enthusiast.” He managed the baseball team at college, and attended football games regularly. He was a fan. A cheerleader. But seldom an active player. Occasional horseback outings, or long walks or bicycle rides was the extent of his athletic participation.
Neither Wilson nor Grayson were good golfers and never improved despite regular golf games. According to Col. Edmund Starling, the White House Secret Service agent assigned to accompany them, they were pretty evenly matched “four-putters,” and seldom played a round in less than 200 strokes. In a word: duffers.
But they enjoyed it. And WW, with immense powers of focus and concentration, was able to focus that concentration on the golf course, and actually reduced the growing stresses of his office.
The Devastation
Only eighteen months after Wilson’s inauguration, First Lady Ellen Wilson died. She had an un- or misdiagnosed Bright’s Disease for years, then always fatal. Wilson’s 30-year marriage had been a very happy one, and unusually close. Nobody knew him better than Ellen. Her loss devastated the President, and his emotional health, always fragile, was coming apart.
He lost weight (and he was never heavy), he couldn’t sleep. Or focus or concentrate. On top of that, Ellen’s death came just as the opening shots were fired of what would be The Great War (WWI).
Cary Grayson’s rounds of golf with his patient were now essential to the President’s health.
Coincidences
After Ellen’s death, the President had asked his unmarried 38-year-old cousin Helen Bones to come live at the White House and assume the “First Lady” social responsibilities. She was happy to do so, but was a stranger to Washington. Dr. Grayson sensed her loneliness, and introduced her Edith Galt, a 42-year-old widow.
Grayson had known Edith for several years, and believed the two women would have many things in common. Coincidentally, the doctor was courting a young woman who had become close to Edith when her parents died, and hoped that the Widow Galt might encourage his romantic attentions.
As it was, Helen Bones and Edith Galt became good friends. They shopped and took long walks. Went to lunch. It was pleasant company. So much so, that one afternoon, when the two women were caught in a sudden downpour close to the White House, Helen invited her companion to come in for tea.
Coincidentally, at the elevator, they met the President and Dr. Grayson, who had been caught in the same downpour on the golf course. Wilson and the Doctor invited themselves to the tea party, and the rest became history.
As “Cousin Helen’s friend,” Edith now received invitations to lunch or dinner at the White House, He phoned her daily on a newly-installed private line, and invited her to join them on a carriage ride, or a theater performance… It did not take very long for Edith Galt to realize she was being courted.
Less than 18 months after Ellen Wilson’s death, the President remarried. It had been Ellen’s dying wish that Dr. Grayson “take care of Woodrow,” and knew her husband’s visceral need for a woman’s nurturing love.
The Bride and The Diagnosis
Cary Grayson had known Mrs. Galt a long time, and as the new Mrs. Wilson, he took her into his confidence regarding her new husband’s health – which was not very good. He entrusted her to make sure he adhered to his “healthy” diet, and see to it that he has plenty of rest and relaxation. He stressed that it was essential.
She took Grayson’s charge very seriously, especially since the War was wreaking havoc throughout Europe and beyond.
Grayson suggested that the new bride might want to join them on the golf course, and asked if she played? Actually she did on occasion, enjoyed the outings, was happy to go along and confessed that she played reasonably well – for a woman.
In the memoirs she wrote twenty years afterwards, she recalled that the newlyweds rose early – by 6 AM, had coffee in their rooms, and then went out to play nine holes of golf before returning for a nourishing breakfast. She admitted that neither of them were particularly good golfers, but the fresh air and exercise was good for them. They had fun and laughed a lot. Sometimes Dr. Grayson joined them.
But it was Col. Starling, their unheralded escort, who provided the final analysis. Edith Wilson, while not a particularly good golfer – was a lot better than either of her companions!
Sources:
Heckscher, Augustus – Woodrow Wilson: A Biography – Scribner’s – 1991
Weinstein, Edwin A. – Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography – Princeton University Press, 1981
Starling, Col. Edmund (as told to Thomas Sugrue) – Simon & Schuster, 1946
Wilson, Edith Bolling – My Memoir – Bobbs Merrill, 1938
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020201698.html?noredirect=on
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