 Mrs. Wilson even stage-managed very brief meetings with Wilson and senators to conceal the extent of his disability. And all of this was hidden from the American people. There were times, Johnson wrote, when the president could concentrate for only five or ten minutes at a time. Thus, at a crucial time in international affairs, when the post-war structure of power was emerging from the ashes of the First World War, a seriously disabled president was unable and unfit to discharge his duties.