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
process to which Alice Paul subjected him, she put him in untenable
position after untenable position. He moved from each one of them by
some new concession. In the end, he himself procured the last vote
necessary to pass the Amendment in the Senate.
Alice Paul admires Woodrow Wilson profoundly. She admires his powers of
leadership; his ideals; his persistence; his steadfastness; his
resolution. “He is a man,” she says, “who considers one thing at a time.
Suffrage was not in his thought at all until we, ourselves, injected it
there. And it was not in the center of his thought until the picketing
was well along.” She believed always that, when the President was made
to think that he must act in regard to Suffrage, he would put it
through.
Immediately after his inauguration, President Wilson announced that a
special session of Congress would be called on April 7. At once the
Congressional Committee decided to bring to his attention the fact that
there was no subject which more urgently demanded treatment in this
session than Woman Suffrage. Three deputations were therefore organized
to ask him to recommend the Federal Amendment in the message by which he
should convene this special session. These deputations—and all
subsequent ones—were organized by Alice Paul.
The first deputation waited on President Wilson on March 17. This
deputation consisting of four women was led by Alice Paul herself.
Although individual Suffragists had interviewed previous presidents,
this was the first deputation which had ever appeared with a request for
action before a President of the United States. President Wilson’s reply
to their remarks was that the subject would receive his most careful
attention.
The episode was one of the most amusing of the early history of the
Congressional Committee. The President received the deputation in the
White House offices. When they entered, they found four chairs arranged
in a row with one in front of them, like a class about to be addressed
by a teacher. The atmosphere was so tense that all the women felt it and
were frightened. Alice Paul spoke first and said that women wanted
Suffrage considered by Congress at once, as the most important issue
before the country. All spoke in turn. One woman was so terrified that
she petrified when her turn came. “Don’t be nervous,” the President
reassured her and she finally proceeded. To this first group the
President made the statement that so astounded Suffragists all over the
country—that Suffrage had never been brought to his attention, that the
matter was entirely new. He added that he did not know his position and
would like all information possible on the subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account