The Woman's Hour

“For Carrie Catt, woman suffrage was not simply a political goal; it was nothing less than the next logical step in the moral evolution of humankind.” 

Catt sees her work as a divine calling. She assumes that after gaining the vote, women will somehow uplift the entire political arena and end global warfare. The reality of women voting as individuals, not en bloc, will eventually contradict her pacifist convictions. 

“To her mind it was a stupid argument: the Memphis ladies didn’t like the Nashville and Chattanooga ladies; their noses were out of joint because Memphis hadn’t been chosen for the 1914 NAWSA convention. It wasn’t about tactics or ideology or anything significant; it was a catfight, plain and simple.” 

Catt assesses the suffrage movement in Tennessee just prior to the ratification battle. Although factionalism has also plagued the national organizations of NAWSA and NWP, the parochial interests of the three state regions may do even more harm to suffrage because of their tendency to get bogged down in trivialities. 

“That was the way of the world, learned men liked to say, claiming God had bestowed upon them such authority: one half of humanity held dominion over the other half, by right of a certain shape of genitalia.” 

The Anti supporters are fond of claiming that they are chivalrously protecting fragile femininity from rough-and-tumble public life. However, beneath the high-flown rhetoric of male clergymen and politicians lies the fundamental premise that by virtue of their biology, men should dominate women. When stated in these terms, the notion that men should be in charge is laughable. 

“There’s always a tricky trade-off between the benefits of gaining attention from dramatic action and the risk of alienating the public and jeopardizing popular support.” 

This quote calls attention to the reason for the schism between NAWSA and NWP. Carrie Catt was a proponent of gentle persuasion. Alice Paul took a more radical approach. Paul was impatient to force immediate change. In doing so, Paul not only alienated a certain segment of the public, but women’s suffrage proponents in NAWSA. 

“He was a distinguished-looking man, still considered very handsome. He had a fine aquiline nose, large expressive eyes, smooth skin, and perfectly clipped gray hair. He was a very attractive candidate, his advisers agreed; he looked presidential.” 

Image mattered to an inordinate degree to both Candidate Harding and his party. He looked presidential without having any of the inner qualities that would make him a good leader. Harding’s superficial charm failed to win the trust of the Suffs. 

“The Antis themselves were an odd coalition held together by the centripetal force of fear: fear of the political, economic, and social disruptions that equal suffrage might bring, not just at the polls and in the halls of government, but in the factory, the kitchen, and the bedroom.” 

Unlike the Suffs, who could be defined by two organizations (NAWSA and NWP), the Antis consisted of many different special interest groups with different agendas. Fear was the common unifier that brought them together in Nashville: If women stepped out of their assigned cultural role, the Antis reasoned, more changes would follow, and change was never good. 

“Everything the Cause had accomplished—every state won, every piece of legislation, every change of heart and shift in policy—was once considered utterly impossible. Until it wasn’t.”

Catt is an optimist. Even though she questions the likelihood of a Suff victory in Tennessee, experience has taught her that stranger things have happened. Her very ability to lobby for passage of the Nineteenth Amendment is proof that the impossible can become probable. 

“She was a celebrity. After so many years of ridicule and rebuke, she enjoyed it mightily. And the ideas of woman suffrage seemed to have emerged from the realm of freakish and frightening into popular conversation.” 

Susan B. Anthony endured years of abuse as a suffrage activist. Only late in her life did public opinion change enough to view her efforts in a positive light. Fortunately, she was able to enjoy a certain measure of respect before she died, even though she didn’t live long enough to see the amendment ratified.

“Legislators certainly did not mind being caught in this middle, cajoled by cute representatives of both sides, and the Hermitage lobby was a smoky paradise for the uncommitted lawmaker.” 

This quote suggests how susceptible legislators were to female charms. Both the Suffs and the Antis sent their most attractive adherents to cajole politicians into voting a certain way. Clearly, justice and integrity took a backseat in the decision-making process. 

“We have long since recovered from our previous faith in the action of men based upon a love of justice […] That is an animal that doesn’t exist.” 

Catt makes this caustic comment to the Tennessee Suffs on the state of politics in Nashville shortly after her arrival. She is pragmatic enough to recognize that an appeal to justice won’t work. She must appeal to the naked self-interest of local politicians if she hopes to reach her goal. 

“So while the Suffs could competently connect the dots, they couldn’t really follow the money. Their claims could be denied. Even with the Jack Daniel’s Suite in full swing.” 

The Suffs have long suspected that external forces were manipulating Tennessee politicians, though they haven’t been able to pinpoint the business interests that are pulling the strings quite yet. The Antis are an obvious threat to ratification, but the greatest danger comes from the insidious foes that remain unseen. 

“While Walker was giving fair warning to the governor […] and celebrating the purity of his own conscience […] he especially avoided any reference to whispers that a lucrative railroad position had been dangled before him as reward for his opposition to ratification.” 

Walker’s ties to the L&R Railroad compromise his integrity throughout the ratification battle. He reverses his previous pro-suffrage stance and does everything in his power to block the amendment. The Suffs only belatedly learn of Walker’s previous work as a railroad attorney.

“The nation had just fought to protect Europe, and itself, from the despotism of the Hun, but now the gravest threat to the American Republic was coming from within, from this federal amendment and its grave ramifications—racial, social, and political. It fell to the Antis, standing firm in Nashville, to safeguard the South’s democracy.” 

The Anti overreaction to ratification is partially due to bitter memories of Reconstruction-era abuses by the federal government. Equally significant, however, are the rapid social changes precipitated by the First World War. Southerners feel their conservative, white supremacist way of life is particularly vulnerable, and ratification becomes emblematic of everything the region dreads about the brave new world of the future. 

“‘The More a Politician Allows Himself to be Henpecked, The More Henpecking We Will Have in Politics. A Vote for Federal Suffrage is a Vote for Organized Female Nagging Forever.’ The Antis knew how to tap into the anger and confusion of southern white American men at this nervous moment in 1920.” 

This quote is remarkable because it was written by a female Anti willing to capitalize on a negative stereotype leveled at her own gender. Both Anti men and women who were incensed at those of their own sex who dared to step out of line exhibited a high degree of misogyny. Tradition mattered more than gender solidarity in the minds of women who opposed the amendment. 

“We have been hoping that Cox would go [to Tennessee] but Baker wires this morning that Roberts still insists that ratification is safe and tells Cox it is not necessary for him to come. It is needless for me to say how stupid they all are, or how perfidious.” 

Alice Paul’s secretary wrote this as she observed the debacle in Tennessee from a distance. NWP members seemingly shared Catt’s assessment that male legislators couldn’t be trusted to do the right thing. This comment suggests that the reason has less to do with political ambition than complete idiocy. 

“Once again, Catt distanced herself from the ideal of true equality in pursuit of the franchise. She’d taken a similar position earlier in the year, during the South Carolina ratification campaign, when she’d refuted rumors circulating in the state capital that she’d ‘been entertained in negro homes and entertained negroes in my home.’” 

Catt’s personal feelings on the subject of the Black vote always took a back seat to her official stance. To her, the amendment was all that mattered. She was willing to allow her conscience to sleep if it meant that she could gain the vote for white women, deferring considerations of race until another time. 

“On Monday morning, the mood in Nashville was volatile, even violent. This was the suffrage Armageddon, as both sides considered the impending clash as a defining battle between good and evil, a struggle for the soul of Tennessee and the heart of the nation.” 

By the momentous day when the assembly first considers the ratification question, in the minds of Southerners, the issue has achieved cosmic theological and cultural significance. Their greatest fear is that women’s liberty will destabilize their civilization—a civilization built on the idea of white supremacy. 

“With the reconvening of the legislature, the Hotel Hermitage lobby became a petal-strewn battlefield, with men and women shooting suspicious glances at one another, flinging insults and insinuations, hurling accusations of deceit and skullduggery.” 

The author chooses to describe the scene of the hotel lobby in both heroic and comic terms. While the putative reason for the battle is the grand democratic ideal, the combatants aren’t above engaging in ridiculous tactics to win the war. Lobbyists chase skittish legislators attempting to pin roses on their lapels, while insults are hurled and more than a few fistfights break out. 

“Whether or not Mrs. Catt and her comrades prayed for divine intervention during the night, they surely did not sleep and arose facing a day when they would be more dependent upon the whims of men than the grace of God.” 

This arch observation underscores the tenuous advantage that the Suffs hold. Reason and justice have nothing to do with the passage of the amendment. Its ratification rests on male vagaries and whims. 

“‘No matter how well the women may work, or how effective their results may be, ratification in Tennessee will go through the work and action of men,’ she’d warned, ‘and the great motive that will finally put it through will be political and nothing else.’ Not justice, not fairness. Politics—Tennessee politics, presidential politics—might put ratification through, or it would kill it.” 

This statement echoes the preceding one in pointing out the small role ideals play in getting the amendment passed. Catt points out to her Suff allies that the Suff must find ways to align the selfish interests of the men in power with more altruistic interests if ratification is to succeed. 

“She stood, tall and smiling […] her right arm raised high, saluting the crowd. She seemed at once the victorious general and the beloved queen. This homecoming, she would later say, was the happiest moment of her life.” 

Catt is honored by a victory parade in New York after she returns to her home state. The words “queen” and “general” are both apt descriptions of this master strategist and fearless leader. Given the enormity of her achievement, Catt has every right to perceive this as a peak life experience. 

“The vote is a power, a weapon of offense and defense, a prayer. Use it intelligently, conscientiously, prayerfully. Progress is calling to you to make no pause. Act!” 

Catt writes these words as a call to arms and a caution after the vote to ratify. She exhorts women not to become complacent in the knowledge that they could vote if they wish to do so. She recognizes the power placed into women’s hands for the first time and wants all American women to recognize it too. 

“With rare exceptions, white suffragists, satisfied that they finally possessed the vote, ignored the plight of their black sisters for almost the next half century.” 

Sadly, winning the franchise did nothing to immediately improve the lot of Black women in the South. The suffragists conveniently viewed race as a separate issue for which they were not responsible. Fortunately, that view has since changed.