The Story of the Woman's PartyGillmore, Inez Haynes
History
The Story of the Woman's Party
Gillmore, Inez Haynes
National Woman's Party; Paul, Alice, 1885-1977; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
I think no better description can be given of her than to quote the
exact phrases which her associates use in talking of her. Winifred
Mallon speaks of her “burning sincerity.” Helena Hill Weed imputes a
“prescience” to her. Anne Martin says, “She is the heart, brain, and
soul of the Woman’s Party,” and “Her mind moves with the precision of a
beautiful machine.” Nina Allender sums her up as “a Napoleon without
self-indulgence.” She said that when at the hearing in 1915, Congressmen
tried to tangle Alice Paul they found it an impossibility; everything in
Alice Paul’s mentality was so clear; there was nothing to tangle. She
added, “There are no two minds to Alice Paul.” “My mother describes
her,” she concluded, “as a flame undyingly burning.”
This is Maud Younger’s tribute:
She has in the first place a devotion to the cause which is
absolutely self-sacrificing. She has an indomitable will. She
recognizes no obstacles. She has a clear, penetrating, analytic mind
which cleaves straight to the heart of things. In examining a
situation, she always bares the main fact; she sees all the forces
which make for change in that situation. She is a genius for
organization, both in the mass and in detail. She understands
perfectly, in achieving the big object, the cumulative effect of
multitudes of small actions and small services. She makes use of all
material, whether human or otherwise, that comes along. Her work has
perpetual growth; it never stagnates; it is always branching out.
She is never hampered or cluttered. She is free of the past. Her
inventiveness and resourcefulness are endless. She believes
absolutely in open diplomacy. She believes that everything should be
told; our main argument with her was in regard to the necessity for
secrecy in special cases. She is almost without suspicion; and
sometimes with a too-great tendency towards kind judgment in the
case of the individual. It seems incredible that with all these
purely intellectual gifts, she should possess an acute appreciation
of beauty; a gift for pageantry; an amazing sense of humor.
Lucy Burns says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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