diff --git a/wxPython/src/helpers.cpp b/wxPython/src/helpers.cpp
index b5ad3f8f6b..e7898642b9 100644
--- a/wxPython/src/helpers.cpp
+++ b/wxPython/src/helpers.cpp
@@ -439,6 +439,8 @@ void wxPyApp::_BootstrapApp()
         setlocale(LC_NUMERIC, "C");
 #endif
 
+        wxSystemOptions::SetOptionInt(wxT("mac.textcontrol-use-mlte"), 1);
+        
         // The stock objects were all NULL when they were loaded into
         // SWIG generated proxies, so re-init those now...
         wxPy_ReinitStockObjects(3);