Transcripts For CSPAN3 Suffrage - Womens Long Battle For The Vote 20240712

The ratification of the 19th amendment in the World Affairs 1920. Council of dallasfort worth hosted this online event. Jim hi, everyone. I am jim falk. Thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. Joining us this afternoon is dr. Ellen carol dubois. She is the author of suffrage womens long battle for the vote. I am so pleased the conversation be with lee column a very dear , and special friend and supporter of the World Affairs council. Let me remind you, you can purchase a copy by going to dallas independent bookstore. Please be sure to type in the code dfw world and you will get , 10 off not just on suffrage but any book in your shopping cart. I why give special thanks to our director maisie high ken for , being a sponsor of todays program. And so much thanks the league of women voters of dallas, for being our promotional partner. There were could not be more important. To keep up with our part our programs go to dfw world. Org or if you missed a program go to our Youtube Channel and will not surprise you that the way to find our channel is to type in dfw world. Lee is a special friend of the world can Affairs Council and she is the host about terrific program on kcra called ceo, where she interviews Global Business leaders and you can catch that if you missed one of her programs live, you can also go to the kcra website to see some of her past programs. Lee is the a senior fellow at the tower center here in dallas at Southern Methodist university and she also has served four years as an active member on the board of directors of the council on foreign relations. To sit back this afternoon and listen to your wonderful conversation with alan. So take it away, ladies. Thank you again. Much, jim. You so ellen, it is wonderful to have you here today. Ellen has written a readable and highly informative book on suffrage, suffrage womens long battle for the vote. And she has written other books. She is a specialist in women and womens history. She wrote, feminism and suffrage, the emergence of an independent Womens Movement in america, 18481869. She has also edited, unequal sisters, which we will talk about later and also coauthored the textbook on womens history. All this Research Began when two his at wellesley. I dont know if you agree with me but my observation has been that there are no more faithful and fanatical alumni than the wellesley women, including hillary clinton. And she did the same thing in dallas. Northwesternhd at and for the past several years has been at ucla. No sooner had she retired then she married for the first time, which i think is a terrific thing to do. Arnold schwartz, a lucky man. Ellen to turn right to your , book, we all imagined that this Womens Movement began at seneca falls but in fact it has been brewing as part of the abolitionist movement. Is that not the case . Ellen yes, that was the case. The first generation of suffrage of suffragists were almost, to a woman supporters of the , Abolition Movement and actually had learned their skills and their beliefs about human rights and the relative , they would have said the race,ificance of sex or as opposed to the common vanity of all people. They learned that as they said, in the schools of antislavery. They learned how to do things that women of their generation did not do very much. Speak in public, right. Write. Organize meetings, petition legislature and begin to draw up a whole set of demands for equality to women and they learned this in the abolitionist movement. This is the first generation. This connection between antislavery and black rights on the one hand and women rights on the other, peaked in the postcivil war years in the early 1870s what you call the reconstruction. In connection with the two of the three reconstruction amendments, the 14th amendment, which gives all persons the United States citizenship and in the 15th amendment, which is not quite right to say gives black men the right to vote. It prohibits states from disenfranchising anyone on the basis of race and it was the decision of the ruling republican of lincoln not to , include prohibitions on sex as well as race. That leads to the breakup of this historic coalition. Lee going back to the early suffragist who are abolitionists , lets talk about a lezz that cady stanton. She was living in boston, she married henry. She had to move to seneca falls with him and the three boys was which was not a happy thing to do. Ellen this is an old Elizabeth Cady stanton. That is not what she looks like. Lee we would imagine she looked very different from that. Henry on their honeymoon went to a world conference on abolition where women couldnt even appear on the floor. What did she do with herself . Ellen at this point she is on, as he said, her honeymoon. And she is sitting in the balcony and surrounded by women both british and american. Much more active in the Abolition Movement than she is. She is a newbie in this area. She becomes friends with the most experienced and philosophically and politically important abolitionist woman in the entire states, a women about 20 years older than her, Lucretia Mott, a quaker from philadelphia. Really, they connect on the issue of womens rights. And from then on she basically begins to school her in the history of womens rights. Eight years after this crucial meeting, it is said who knows, its a legend, in london they decide they are going to hold a Public Meeting for womens rights. They end up doing that, 8 years later in 1848. By this time, stanton is now living in seneca falls, a sort of bustling Industrial Town between rochester and syracuse. She is restless. Although there are plenty of people in that part of new york who were very experienced activists and reformers. That year is a crucial year. Its the year that is usually known for revolutions throughout europe to begin to lay the basis for democracy in places like france and germany. And seneca falls, the United States despite the fact that many black people and all women were prohibited from the right to vote, it is still the case that the american electorate is more expensive than any other electorate in the world. And so seneca falls, lets call the revolution of 1848. Its the american version of the Political Revolution in europe. The other thing that is happening in these years, the United States has just come out of a war with mexico in which it has taken over the lands that include my own state of california and the entry of this a normal swath of territory enormous swath of territory open a discussion on slavery and the american congress. The fact that that the Seneca Falls Convention raises political franchise for women, is connected to the fact that american politics is beginning to grapple with this allimportant issue, which these women are determined to be part of. On as, as todd went time went on, as time went on these women were very interested in their own rights, but it was Elizabeth Stanton who understood they had to have the right to vote or they wouldnt get anything else. Nobody else agreed except for frederick douglass. How did he get involved with this group of women . Frederick douglass had met stanton in boston, as a young mother and he was getting to , work with the boston abolitionists. They were immediately drawn to each other despite the tremendous differences, they were both deep believers in american liberalism as a philosophy. I have thought a lot about their relationship. Im going to write a biography of her after this is all over. And they both suffered terribly from the contempt that was visited on them by people who they believed rightly were much their inferiors. Here is. Again here he is. Again, this is a little older. He is a fellow with white hair and this is probably in the early 1870s. He had just moved the year before stanton moved to seneca falls. He moved 50 miles west to rochester and was there starting a newspaper, his lifes desire. And the person funding a newspaper was her cousin, jared smith. So they had many, many links and their friendship lasted a halfcentury. Lee it would be a wonderful book. And then there is this wonderful woman on the cover of the new york or a couple of weeks ago, Sojourner Truth. She got involved. And with a name like Sojourner Truth, who wouldnt want to vote for her . And with a name like Sojourner Truth, who wouldnt want to vote for her . Ellen her name was actually isabella bounfry. She was born a slave in the hudson river valley. There were slaves in new york. The dutch part of new york was actually the area where stanton grew up. She was finally freed with other adult slaves in the 1820s in new york and she went to new york became bornagain. She took a new name and became an itinerant preacher. Sojourner truth. And in her preaching, she began to preach both about antislavery and also to talk about womens rights. She is very interesting because there are a significant number of black women who appear on women rights platforms in these early decades. But Sojourner Truth is the one who most consistently supports the equality of men and women. Even though, of course, she remains a complete devotee for the abolition of slavery and the equality of races. But as she says, when things get going, lets keep the pot stirring. When things get going like the abolition of slavery and the black male enfranchisement of black men. She understood what Elizabeth Stanton understood, which is that this time of abolition was an opportunity that would not come again for a while, for the equality of women. Lee back to boston for a moment. There was a moment known as Margaret Fuller. She was the intellectual american at the time and part of emersons circle. She was a journalist the first , american war correspondent in europe, working for harz greeleys newspaper. She was quite a character. She became a suffragist too, dingy . Didnt she . Ellen im not sure if she was a suffragist. We cannot tell. First of all, not until after the civil war is the demand for the right to vote coming part of the womens rights platform. Until then, there are other demands. The quality of education is very important for the ability of women to have professional standing. Economic equality was also very important to her. There is some circumstantial stanton might have been part of a salon she ran for women but we dont have any concrete evidence. Lee there is also victoria woodhall. She makes Margaret Fuller seem positively mainstream and rather quiet and sedate. She was a faith healer. And she was definitely a suffragist. Ellen she was. Now we are jumping ahead to about 1870 and victoria woodhall , its amazing there hasnt been a movie about her. I remember one that was allegedly purchased by nicole kidman. But somehow, these never got made. She was the daughter of its not even fair to say workingclass. Her family were carnies. She was taught how to trick people and she seems to have had, hardpressed to say this now, but in her years it was believed she had psychic abilities. She and her sister rose in the civil war years through the patronage of some powerful men. Unclear how they got the patronage. Lee one was cornelius vanderbilt, wasnt it . Ellen one of them was. Vanderbilt she had powerful she had powerful and also ben butler. Supporters and had her own newspaper. She had the ear of important politicians. And in 1870 she is able to come before a Congressional Commission and make the argument that suffragists have been making for a while. Very important argument. The argument was that the 14th amendment properly understood, it made all Americans National citizens and gave them equal rights. And who could but disagree that the right to vote was a right of citizenship. She made that argument in front of a congressional committee. It was the basis of that argument and that contention , that constitutional argument, that susan b. Anthony goes to her polling place in 1872 and is able to convince the polling officers to let her vote for president. And she actually cast her vote. She is then a few days later arrested under a federal statute , making it a crime to vote knowingly illegally. Criminal voting. It is this, by the way, which President Trump has unknowingly pardoned susan b. Anthony. I dont think he understood that she was found guilty of voting but voting on the grounds at all that all american citizens have the equal right to vote. I do not think he understands that. Anyhow, susan b. Anthony and victoria woodhall were both arrested within weeks of each other. Woodhall was thrown in jail in new york city. Anthony would have liked to have been thrown in jail. She wished very much to be a martyr to the cause. But the man running the trial who was actually a supreme justice knew he was not going to give her the benefit of throwing her in jail and refused to allow her to do that. Lee we can add that victoria woodhall had lots of marriages, lots of lovers could commune , with the dead and made lots of money on wall street. She was something else. But this 14th amendment was very interesting. There was a case in illinois. Myra bradwell, was not earning . Ellen there are two important cases that come before the Supreme Court in the 1870s. They are both amendment cases. 14thmyra bradwell was a lawyer in chicago and she was being kept from a membership in the illinois bar. She argued that the 14th amendment properly understood protected her right, equal professional rights. That her rights to practice her so profession should be protected equally as men. The court, in a summary judgment, rules against her about 1872. Then there is a case, and any of you who went to law school and were lucky enough to have any training in womens rights will know about these two cases. The other case comes before the court in 1874 and the woman who brings that case before the court is a st. Louis woman named virginia minor. Like anthony, she tried to vote in 1872. Unlike anthony, she was not allowed to cast her vote. Unlike anthony, she was able to take her case to the Supreme Court. In 1874, the court heard her case. She made exactly the same argument that anthony had. I am a person and therefore a citizen. I am a citizen. Therefore i have equal rights and privileges protected by the federal government with all other citizens. The right to vote is one of those rights and privileges. The Supreme Court said yes, you are person, a citizen yes you have equal rights but the right to vote is not a right of national citizenship. And today, if that court ruling had gone differently and been followed, the world we live in the a very, very different world. Because it is still the case , that there are not federal protections for the right to vote. The right to vote is under the control of the state. And the federal government, especially with the Voting Rights act taken apart has , almost no ability, should there be a federal government interested in protecting Voting Rights, has no ability to overrule states and insist upon equal rights. For the vote. The vote still remains as it was decided in that case. In 1875. It is a privilege, not a right controlled by the states. Lee well suffragists became , discouraged, understandably. And decided to go state by state by state, trying to get state legislatures to mend their constitutions to allow women the right to vote. Some western states had already granted women the right to vote, including wyoming. Why did that happen . It was much earlier. They had very practical reasons. Ellen let us be clear. The other side of this insistence that the right to vote is controlled at the state level, is that the suffragists, once it seemed that they would be unable to get the constitutional amendment passed, and as Elizabeth Stanton said, the constitutional door had been slammed shut, where it remained until 1910. They turned to the states and they started to go to those states which they thought were most likely to enfranchise women and these were western states. Sometimes it is said because western women did not work when andens crinolines, with her husband helpmate. I think it is a more practical reason. You know what, i have to get a kleenex. Not because im doing anything with any illegal substances but im sneezing if you could wait one moment. Lee obsolete. I have one at hand. I have allergies myself. Texas is as bad as california. But what she is about to say and im sure she will elaborate is that wyoming needed women. Ave a lot of men, preponderance of men. Couldey they felt they attract women to come and live in wyoming if they gave them the vote. In colorado and others. I may be wrong but i said women, wanted to attract they had lots of men and no women. White they had lots of men and lots of white women because native americans were not included in any disenfranchisement. I personally there is another reason. In these western states, the parties, democrats and republicans, were not as established. They were weaker. And in the 1890s when each state began to enfranchise women there was an insurgent political movement, a new party, thirdparty, called the peoples party. There called sometimes the populace, the peoples party. Party, unlike the democrats and republicans, that are not afraid of the womens vote. That wanted to bring new voters into the electorate. It is they who for the brief periods of time in which they have some power in their state, they sponsor womens suffrage. That is the within another 20 1890s. Years, the Second Third Party is called the Progressive Party and the same is true of them. They want to bring women and they are interested in issues they believe women support and it is those states, washington and california, which then enfranchise women in the for 1910s. That, and this is very very crucial. You might think that because vote,have the right to and they gained it in their states, they only have the right to vote for state offices. This is not true. They had full Voting Rights. Women of colorado for president starting in women 1896. Of california voted for president and Congress People starting in 1912. So these women had full national Voting Rights and by the middle of the 19 teens, there were perhaps 4 million such women who are active voters in the western states. Their vote began to put pressure and leverage on the existing parties and were a crucial factor in the ultimate passage of the 19th amendment, which was important because there were a lot of states that would never enfranchise. In this way. Lee gail collins wrote in a column in the New York Times that the liquor lobby really opposed womens voting in the states. They were afraid they would turn to the temperance movement, they were already involved in the temperance movement, and make it more successful. Is that the case . Ellen gail collins article . It was at a very good article, i dont think. You have to remember that the 18th amendment was ratified much more recently. By the time suffrage came before congress, prohibition was done. And it is certainly the case that in the late 19th century through an Organization Called Womens Christian Temperance Union, which may be some of your listeners, grandmothers or greatgrandmothers belonged to. The Womens Christian Temperance Union brings, it is the first that common women, not radicals like Susan B Anthony or victoria woodhall, become attracted to suffrage. They become attracted because they think of suffrage not as a matter of justice but because they have goals they want to achieve. And the goal they want to achieve is to control liquor. The wctu is based on the premise that it is men who abuse liquor, and when they do so, they drink up their families wages and they are violent to their families. So that Womens Christian Temperance Union is influential in bringing lots of western, and smalltown and relatively conventional women into the Suffrage Movement. The other problem is, it is not that attractive to men who dont want to think of womens votes as keeping them from going into the bar and throwing down a couple before they go home. To the old ball and chain. Early 20th century, there is that sort of link between suffrage and temperance. Has to be weekend a little bit. In california, there is a suffragist whose name was younger, and she had a tremendous impact on the movement in my state. She was part of the waitresses union. And these were women who worked in bars and restaurants, and served liquor. When they went before their union and argued for the right to vote, the Brewers Union as it was called, gave up its opposition to women suffrage. Lee then the Progressive Movement got underway. The action moved back to washington. The National Front looks promising. Tell us about alice paul. She led a big demonstration in front of the white house the day before Woodrow Wilsons inauguration. First ellen now we are 1913. This is about the Third Generation of women involved in suffrage and these are younger women. They are modern women. Their skirts are shorter. Their hair is shorter. They go to college. And they are not uncomfortable with marching and doing other things in public. Speaking. Marching, etc. She draws them in to a wing and eventually a separate organization. She starts her leadership by organizing one of the first massive political parades in washington, dc. Political parades, not for a party. She organizes this parade on the eve of the first inauguration of Woodrow Wilson. It is meant to show to him the power and discipline of the Suffrage Movement. In the end, alice paul and Woodrow Wilson became the worst sort of enemies. They despised each other. Wilson was a southern democrat. You have got great images here. Youre making my job so much easier. He opposed a National Constitutional amendment. His party was still under the control of southern democrats. There were still smarting from they amendment and they had done their best and they had succeeded in removing the right to vote from southern black man. From southern black men. And the states, these Democratic Political leaders, were not going to allow lack women to ck were not going to allow bla women to come into the right to vote. So they really opposed a constitutional amendment and wilson is in their camp. That parade is in 1913. It is famous. Or rather infamous. Because this is a democratic administration, in other southern city, washington. And alice paul agrees to basically segregate black suffragists in the parade. In this act which reinforces the longbefore conflict between black suffrage and womens suffrage around the 15th amendment, reignite conflict with champions of black equality and womens equality. Maybe some of your listeners will want to ask more about that. 1913, whench of inaugurations used take place, in march. In 1960, alice paul reform lights her grip and calls it a party, the National Womens party. And she is going to her plan is , to take all of those voting women that we talked about and have them use their votes to deny wilson his reelection on the grounds that he wont support a constitutional amendment. Its possible she might have won but there was a Little Something thrown into the mix called the , world war and wilson declared he would keep his country out of the war, which he did not do. And became an issue and he was reelected. Including by womens votes. At that point, when he was about to be reinaugurated, in 1917, alice paul switches or tactics for the third time she begins the first protest at the white house gate. And it day after day, for months upon months, the members of the National Womens party stand silently in front of the white snow, through rain and not speaking, but carrying banners with their slogans. You can sit a are 10 feet tall, these banners, with their slogans. The newspapers sort of find this amusing. But then in april of 1917, the United States goes to war. These amusing women protesters now become traitors. They up their tactics. And they start accusing wilson of being a hypocrite for going to war to protect democracy when there is no democracy at home. They are thrown in jail. Some of them they are abused. , some of them declaring that they are Political Prisoners go on a hunger strike. Some of them are forcefed. Their protests play a role, not the only role, i think that is england. Those do not look like American Police those look like bobbies. In november of 1917, and by the way another big thing is about to happen, a pandemic is beginning to spread across the United States. In that election of november of 1917, the campaign to get votes for women passed the state amendment finally crosses in the state of new york with the largest and most powerful delegation changes its constitution. Two month after that the house of representatives begins. Lee you mentioned the tension between black and white women in the last days of that movement. Tell us about ida b wells barnett. She was a black journalist. Alice paul would not allow her to march with the group. Ellen yes. Ida b wells, a really wonderful person. She was born in memphis around her parents were certainly 1862 slaves. , she might have been born just before slavery was abolished, as was the case with so many of these families of former slaves. They were determined that their children would get education. She became a teacher and then a journalist. She took it upon herself to begin a campaign to expose the epidemic of violence and lynching going on all over the south. She was inspired to do this because both friends of hers werese friends of hers lynched in memphis. She begins to investigate this. She goes all over the south and finds out that the charges are the charges that leads to them being lynched is really a among whitesentment southerners for the fact that this generation of black people is beginning to leave behind and the burden of slavery they are beginning to make gains, especially economically. The friends of hers who were lynched were running a Grocery Store that white competitors didnt like. Now, we remember her for a particularly important part of this battle. Of the major charges against black men on the basis of which they were lynched is that they were sexual predators, that they were going after white women. Sometimes, they were only charged with waving to them. But in any case, ida b. Wells first of all proved it was often not the charges against them and secondly, and even more provocatively, she argued that this was not a case of black male predators and white female victims. But the fact that there was a lot more interracial relationships in the south than anybody wanted to admit. And by saying that, she was really driven out of memphis. Her press was burned down. She left and moved to chicago at the beginning of what began to be called the great migration and she became an important leader in the city of chicago where black men were. The prohibition against black men voting was a southern prohibition. In cities like new york and chicago, blackmuns votes were not significant to the local Republican Party. And she moved into that environment and began to organize black women. Rightse e. R. A. , equal amendment, passed earlier than i had ever realized. It did not pass, it was proposed. It got nowhere until the early 1970s. And then here comes Phyllis Schlafly who manages to defeat it. Would you say that she won the battle but lost war . Ellen the equal rights amendment . Lee it was introduced in Congress Earlier than i had imagined and finally passed in the 1970s passed congress. It once all the states and it was not ratified it was finally ratified by virginia yard to ago. What about that. Phyllis schlafly in virginia, one year or two ago. You write about that in your book. You say that possibly she won the battle but lost the war ellen thats what i thought you said. What war are we talking about . Lee the war for the vote in the battle tap equal pay. I dont think so. Ellen i dont think so. Let us member that the very same time as Phyllis Schlafly. Oh, i thought it was what her name who played her on , television. Lee cate blanchett. She was terrific. Ellen yes. She had the same hairdo. Lee work hard on that hairdo. Ellen let us never that in that very same year, no, this was not the war lost, it was about a lost. As phyllis time schlafly is not just organizing a Womens Movement to defeat the e. R. A. , but initiating what became a fundamental change in the Republican Party. It will probably surprise some of your listeners to know that until the early 1970s, it was the Republican Party who supported the e. R. A. Not the , Democratic Party. It was the oldfashioned Republican Party of dwight and eisenhower. And Phyllis Schlafly was an early supporter of Barry Goldwater was an important element in the shift of the Republican Party to the radical right wing direction which takes issues of racial and gender rights and turns them into hot button issues on which the party ran increasingly and now thats all they run on. At the same time that phyllis is organizing the campaign against the equal rights amendment, there is a young lawyer coming before the Supreme Court, named Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is using the 14th amendment. The very same 14th amendment that the Supreme Court had refused to use to defend womens rights in 1874. 100 years later she is often called the Thurgood Marshall of the womens rights movement. And she is the Thurgood Marshall also because she became a Supreme Court justice. As a result. And she convinces the court for , a series of decisions that locate womens rights in the 14th amendment. So, even though the e. R. A. Is defeated, there becomes decades of jurisprudence starting in these years which defend womens equal rights. It is very interesting. There are many people who say abortion, which is the constitutional issue that has become so important, abortion was decided on grounds of an argument that the right to privacy im not a constitutional lawyer. But that there is a constitutional right to privacy which includes things like sexual rights. It is a bit of a stretch, and many people think that the 14th amendment, which is arguing about the equal protection of rights and privileges, would have been a better and more solid basis for roe v. Wade to be argued and won. Anyhow, the point is that in the 1970s, despite the defeat of the e. R. A. , the court moved in a definitely liberal direction. Lee so lets turn to those who , are joining us today and ask some questions. Here is many prominent voices in one. The Womens Movement such as Betty Frieden and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were jewish. Please comment on the role of jewish women in the Suffrage Movement and political feminism. Ellen well, those are two different stories. The United States is an overwhelmingly protestant country until the late 19th century. There are extremely important jewish women. One extremely important jewish woman comes the United States in the 1830s. Her name is ernestine rose, and anglicized version of her name. She is a polish woman. She is a socialist. And she is a feminist. And she is an extremely important figure. Probably one of the influences along with Lucretia Mott on , Elizabeth Stanton. Now we have to wait until really late 19th and early 20th century with large numbers of jewish women. Eastern European Jewish women, coming in with massive waves of immigration. They transform this Suffrage Movement because they are, along with italian women, basic to the creation of a female Industrial Labor force. Particularly what are called needle traits, garment and clothing or the cloth and garment industry. They are, they link womens suffrage to questions of labor rights and social welfare. And they are the ones who fill the ranks of those giant suffrage parades in the 19teens. And then we get a whole bunch of really interesting jewish women. One i will mention she was a tiny little thing, maybe four feet 10 inches tall at the most on her tiptoes. Her name was Rose Schneiderman and she was a Union Activist and a suffragist. She becomes famous because after shirtwaist fire of 1911, it is she that gives a powerful eulogy for the workers for the 146 workers who died. She goes on to be a suffrage activist, to organize working women and, more important their , husbands and fathers. There she is. You got them all. There they are. Excellent. She goes on and is a socialist in these years but later she joins the Democratic Party and she becomes an associate of Eleanor Roosevelt and gains an , important position. She is part of what was called the womens cabinet around Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930s. Thats the first half of the question. Second half of the question is the the second wave of feminism. And here, jewish women are not only more important but very important. Many, many, many figures that we know about in the womens rights movement, in the second wave of womens liberation are jewish. Even gloria steinem, whose father was not jewish. No, wait. Honor fraternal side, her grandmother choline was jewish. Certainly bell labs out bella abzug was jewish. Certainly Betty Frieden was jewish. And im jewish. [laughter] there is Betty Frieden. Why so many jewish women why this is the case is just a interesting question. I dont know. Maybe its because there a kind of marginality that jewish women particularly of this generation experience, that they draw upon that underlies their feminism. Also, there are arguments that a period in which, after an immigrant jewish generation in which men and women, husbands and wives join together to bring their families into the american dream. Now we entry the 1950s and sort of the mad men period. Where the next generation of jewish men eager to assimilate to American Society are, how shall i say this, they are not as committed to, and linked to the mutuality of their relationship with jewish women. It is possible there is a kind of that jewish women of this , generation understand about this basis. Lee the question why do you , think the british suffragists were more prone to use violent methods their cause . For their cause . Also, with their connections between these movements before alice paul . Ellen good question. This question raises a little question which never got raised before which is are they suffragettes or suffragists . The term suffragette was developed in england and it was , a term used by the newspapers to trivialize suffragists. You know, we dont use words like stewardess or poetess anymore, and it is like they are not really fullfledged human beings. They are small, feminine version. So, all suffragettes are suffragists but not all suffragists are suffered just. That is not the question asked. The standard answer given is , that the parliamentary system is harder for women to break into. And also, and i think this is the answer i would give, but the federal system of United States already described, allows suffragists to move into the state level when their block to the federal level and move to the federal level when they were blocked at the state, there is no such equivalent in england. So the parliament and liberal party and conservative oratory party refused to allow full Voting Rights for women to come before parliament. They have very little options. They cannot use mobilization in the same kind of way. I would have to be more of an expert on the british political system to really explain. Let me say, that although sometimes the date given for british suffrage is 1918, it is really not till 1928 that all british women receive the right to vote. In 1918, there were limits place so the number of women who vote dont overwhelm the number of men. So many of whom were killed in the first world war. Yes there are links between the , two movements and they come through, of all people, Elizabeth Stanton. Elizabeth stantons daughter married and it was meant and lived outside of london. In the late 1880s, Elizabeth Stanton goes to take care of her grandchildren. She goes to england to take care of her grandchildren and to help her daughter who needs little bit of help so she can pursue her writing and reform concerns. In the four or five years Elizabeth Stanton is there she , makes connections with british suffragists, or she renews connections of the british suffragists that she had made in , 1840. , for instance,r that is how her daughter meets father wasst whose an important liberal politician. And so, it is that link through Elizabeth Stanton which lays the basis for the continuing link between british and american suffragists. Lee her daughter must be Harriet Stanton blatt. Ellen yes. Can you share your thoughts on heres a question. Can you share your thoughts on popular mainstream resistance in the early 20th century . Ellen resistance . Well there is no question that , there was a tremendous amount of sexism in the society. Political leaders in the Suffrage Movement experienced tremendous amounts of ridicule and supporting the right to vote. But i personally think the real obstacles were not cultural. They really came from leaders of the political party. From political leaders, leaders and the political parties. We have talked about the republicans in the 1870s and the democrats in the 1910s, who did not know how they were going to be able to control how women voted. Because they could not use women for partisan gain. And i believe that was the major obstacle in the end. The major obstacle for votes for women in the end. I would say i see jim come back. Does that mean we are running near the end . Lee it does. I one last thing to say. Remember former governor Anne Richards who says, we have to vote, and vote, and vote. Ellen right. People sometimes say to me what , difference did it make that this passed . Usual i shake my head and think why are they asking me this . Now it is obvious. The right to vote is under extreme attacks. Jim i couldnt think of to better people to lead a discussion on womens suffrage. Lee, thank you. Ellen, id like to learn about your research. American history tv. Coming up this weekend, sunday morning, American History tv is live, looking back to the 1952 first televised essential campaign at with that journalism chair at louisiana Journalism School of mask medications and the author of daisy petals and mushroom clouds, lbj and the ad that changed american politics. We will take your phone calls, facebook comment and tweets. A look into p. M. , Arlington National cemetery memorabilia box placed by resid wilson and 1915. And on the presidency, the life and legacy of theodore wiles tv thiserican history weekend on cspan three an cspan3. Kasey pipes, former adviser to president george w. Bush, recounted the postwhite house years of president richard nixon. He talks about how nixon counseled president s and set precedents for what postpresidency like good involved. Are pleaseding we to introduce an author on the postpresident ial years of richard nixon. , often very important overlooked part