03/23/2022

Taking a New Look at Edith Wilson

Wednesday, March 30 at 7:00 PM Eastern Time

"Taking a New Look at Edith Wilson"

This panel will explore the influence and legacy of Edith Wilson, first lady from 1915-1921. While she is popularly known for her role in protecting her husband’s position in the White House after his stroke in 1919, an effort steeped in controversy owing to claims of her outsize influence, our panelists will re-evaluate Edith’s historical reputation, noting her longtime role as her husband’s de facto chief of staff, the many times she confidently took on new roles well before 1919, and her relationship with the press which has shaped her legacy to this day. This panel will be introduced by FLARE Vice President Nancy Kegan Smith and moderated by Dr. Katherine Sibley, and include panelists Dr. Mary Stockwell, journalist Rebecca Roberts, and Dr. Stacy Cordery.

Live Stream: https://youtu.be/Q2QbWsAYtYc

Rebecca Boggs Roberts is an award-winning educator, author, and speaker, whose books include The Suffragist Playbook: Your guide to changing the world; Suffragists in Washington, DC: The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote; and Historic Congressional Cemetery. The International Literacy Association named The Suffragist Playbook the best young adult non-fiction title for 2021.

Through her career, Rebecca has served many roles, including a journalist, producer, tour guide, forensic anthropologist, event planner, political consultant, jazz singer, and radio talk show host. Currently she is the curator of programming at Planet Word, a new museum that celebrates the joy and wonder of words and language.

Rebecca received her BA in Politics from Princeton University and her MA in Anthropology from George Washington University. An active volunteer in her native Washington, Rebecca serves of the board of the National Archives Foundation, on the Women’s Leadership Committee of the Trust for the National Mall, and on the Editorial Advisory Committee of the White House Historical Association.

She lives in Washington, DC, with her husband, three sons, and a long-eared hound dog. Rebecca’s next book is a biography of Edith Wilson, published by Viking in 2023.

Historian Stacy A. Cordery is the author of four books, including New York Times bestselling biography Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker. The recipient of several teaching awards, she is serving this academic year as the Dennis & Vaune Johnson Endowed Chair in Theodore Roosevelt Studies and the Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Honors Leadership Program at Dickinson State University in North Dakota. In August, she returns to her position as professor in the Iowa State University History Department where she teaches courses on First Ladies, the Gilded Age, and modern America. Cordery’s public appearances include NPR’s Weekend Edition, the History Channel, CNN, Smithsonian TV, the Diane Rehm Show, and C-Span. Cordery has also penned the authoritative biography of Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low and two books about Theodore Roosevelt. She is completing a biography of cosmetics entrepreneur Elizabeth Arden for Viking Penguin.

Katherine A. S. Sibley is Professor of History and director of American Studies at Saint Joseph’s University. Along with first ladies, her research and teaching interests include women’s history and the history of Soviet espionage in the United States. In January, she and her students were on CSPAN’s American History TV discussing African-American women in arts and literature.  Last year she edited two books: Southern First Ladies: Culture and Place in White House History, which featured a large number of FLARE authors, and Post-Cold War Revelations and the American Communist Party: Citizens, Revolutionaries, Spies.  She is the author and editor of six other books, including First Lady Florence Harding: Behind the Tragedy and Controversy (2009) and Red Spies in America: Stolen Secrets and the Dawn of the Cold War (2004) as well as A Companion to First Ladies (2016), and is currently writing a book on Michelle Obama’s role as first lady. She serves on the boards of the First Ladies Association for Research and Education, established in 2021, and the American Communist History journal, and from 2005-2017 served on the Historical Advisory Committee to the U.S. State Department.

Mary Stockwell received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Toledo and was formerly a professor of history and department chair at Lourdes University. She has also been a research fellow at the New York Public Library and the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan. Since her retirement from her teaching and administrative career, she has become a full-time writer. She is the author of Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America; Interrupted Odyssey: Ulysses S. Grant and the American Indians; The Other Trail of Tears: The Removal of the Ohio Indians; Woodrow Wilson: The Last Romantic; and history books for students including The Ohio Adventure; A Journey through Maine; the prize-winning, Massachusetts: Our Home; and The American Story: Perspectives and Encounters to 1865.