| File:EdithKeeler.jpg | |
| Name: | Edith Keeler |
| Species: | Human |
| Gender: | Female |
| Died: | 1930 |
| Actress: | Joan Collins |
| |
| Edith Keeler with her "young man", Jim Kirk. | |
Sister Edith Keeler ran the Twenty-First Street Mission on planet Earth in 1930. Known for her compassion and forward thinking, she sought to bring peace to the entire planet.
She was a strong and vocal pacifist. Her ideas on space travel, new energy sources and a peaceful society brought ridicule from those at the shelter.
These radical concepts also brought her the respect and love of James T. Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise, who was brought to her time from 2267 via the Guardian of Forever. His presence during this point in time resulted from the need to repair altered history, modified by his chief medical officer, Leonard McCoy.
Upon returning to the 20th century, Kirk had to allow the death of Edith Keeler, who was killed in an auto accident in the street outside the very soup kitchen she ran. This unfortunate event restored space-time and returned Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to their appropriate time. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")
Alternate Timeline
In the alternate history, McCoy saved Keeler from the traffic accident, which allowed her to continue striving for her goals and to eventually found one of the largest peace movements in the United States. Her actions finally attracted the attention of President Roosevelt, with whom she met on February 23, 1936, to confer on her plan of action for assisting the needy.
By the late 1930s, the growing pacifism caused by actions she set into motion would delay the United States' involvement in World War II, allowing Germany to complete its heavy water experiments and allowing them to be first in developing of the atomic bomb. This, together with the V-2 rocket, enabled Germany to capture the world, ultimately erasing the Federation.
- "She was right. Peace was the way."
- "She was right. But at the wrong time."
- - Kirk and Spock, discussing Edith Keeler's future
- Edith Keeler was played by actress Joan Collins.