Edith Wilson

Born in 1872, Edith was raised in a bougie Virginia lifestyle. While never formally educated (her penmanship was, gasp, nearly illegible), her grandmother taught her to think critically, swiftly, and to hold fast to strong opinions. Spoiler: she used that skill.

After her first husband died, she met President Woodrow Wilson — and he caught major feels for her, fast. They married months later. Then the President suffered a paralyzing stroke and was left bedridden. Edith and the president's physician kept the severity hush hush and allowed no one else to see him.

What does that mean? It meant Edith decoded intelligence and served as his proxy for all matters national and international. She controlled what information the president received for 18 months. Historians believe she insisted she didn't make decisions completely on her own — she just decided what he got to know about.