Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-03-18
SCANDAL RUMORS ABOUT
WOODROW WILSON PROVED
INVARIABLY TO BE BASELESS

money" said a Princeton professor
to the author in 1912. "If I would
write an article even limiting thai
Mr.. Wilson's personal conduct in
Princeton had been improper. You
know how bitterly I despise Wood
row Wilson, but told that news
paper representative [ not only
would not write anything for him
but that there was nothing to
write"
The pursuit OF something that
would be injurious did not end.
| Through some irresponsible source
the newspaper representative learn
ed that Mr.. Wilson had at one time
engaged in a correspondence with a
woman Of brilliant intellect. This
was promptly magnified entirely out
Of its proportion ana was Whispered
about the corridors Of the Democratic
| National convention at Baltimore.
But it failed to hurt Mr.. Wilson's
candidacy.
Inasmucn as Baltimore is only a
short distance from Washington and
there were Republicans in close
touch with the gossip of the Demo
cratic convention, certain Republi-
cans who heard the rumor began
talking about it and wondered if it
were worth investigating further.
The investigation was made and dis
closed nothing improper and the mat
ter was dropped.
One of the highest officials Of the
Republican administra ton then in
power subsequently told the author
that in 'sual conversation with
Dean And. " +. West, Mr.. Wilson S
arch-enemy In Princeton, the latter
had said in 1912 that the gossip at
Baltimore was absurd and was al
together news to the people who had
known Mr.. Wilson for twenty years
or more in Princeton.
Invited to White House
When Mr.. Wilson was elected
president, he took Mrs. Wilson and
his family to Bermuda for a rest.
They occupied the cottage of the
, woman who had been mentioned as
the recipient. of attention from Mr..
Wilson in earlier days. She was not
in Bermuda at the time. When the
president-elect and Mrs. Wilson re.
| turned to New York they motored
! from the dock to the hotel where
! their hostess of Bermuda was max
! ing her home. Mrs. Wilson on at
least two occasions later invited her
| to the White House for luncheon.
The correspondence which sprung
up was typical of Mr. Wilson's gen
eral attitude toward old friends. He
frequently discussed public matters
! in his letters and found a means Of
| self expression in these communica-
| tions. 1t was an inspiration to him
| to write. He made no especial secret
of his fondness for letter writing.
! These mental adventures took him
as completely out of his days bur
! dens and responsibilities as a good
| detective story or a game Of golf
| proves diverting to SO many men
/ nowadays.
/ From 1912 until the latter part
! of 1915 not word was heard about
/ this episode. But when announce
| ment was made of Mr.. Wilson 8
! prospective marriage to Mrs. Gait,
! there was a noticeable revival of the
/ old gossip. At one time the renewal
! OF this campaign was attributed to
| German SympathiZers who were par
/ ticularly bitter because of Mr.. Will
sons alleged @nneutrality. By the
time the 1916 presidential contest
was In full swing, the same rumors
which had been heard in 1912 had
| been so widely distributed that hard
! ly a part of the United States was
| immune from the whispering cam
| paign. The author in his canvass
| of political sentiment from coast to
coast in 1916 visited many states
and invariably was asked what ef.
feet the widespread discussion of
| Mr.. Wilson's personal life was hav-
/ ing in other states.
/ The Democratic national campaign
! committee was fully aware of the
| effort to damage Mr.. Wilson'S can
| didacy but was powerless to meet
| the accusations by any direct means
except to point to his exceptionally
| happy home life.
Death Broke Bond
| Nothing but the death of Mrs Ell
| len Arson Wilson in August 1914
broke the bond which had existed
between these two people since they
first became engaged in 1888. Mrs.
| Wilson gave her whole life and en-
ergy TO her husband, standing de-
votedly at his side through the
strain OF his many battles at Prince
ton and through the trying days
when his health broke for the pres
| sure on him was so great that he
twice suffered a serious breakdown
before he came to the White House.
Just what was the true source of
the effort to hurt Mr.. Wilson by a
campaign against his personal life
will probably never be known. That
it was malicious cannot he doubted.
For instance, about a year after the
death of Mrs. Wilson, on the night
4 before Thanks giving day, 1915, sew.
. eral OF the more important newSpa-
per bureaus in Washington were
called on the telephone and mys-
teriously given a tip TO the effect
that important court proceedings
had been filed involving Mr.. Wilson.
The newspaper men could not afford
to ignore the information and yet
they disbelieved it. Many of them
spent the better part of a week in
vestigating the story and found il
( baseless
Dissatisfied with this, the rumoI
| mongers tried another tack and in
sisted that prominent lawyers knew
/ the circumstances Every lawyer
/ named was visited. but none knew
anything about it. The fact was. the
I story was made out Of whole cloth