right to vote. we look back at how the suffrage movement evolved, but we start with kamala harris. how important is gender in your 2020 vote? you can join the conversation. atne lines are open (202)-748-8001 for republicans. four our-8002 democrats. .ur text line is (202)-748-8003 twittercan find us at and facebook. passing of thehe president's younger brother. trump was 71 years old. he tried to stop the publication of a tell all book by nice, mary. they had different personalities. donald trump once described his younger brother as quieter and more easy-going. the only guy whom i ever called, honey. the president said, "it is with a heavy heart i share my wonderful brother, robert, peacefully passed away tonight. he was not just my brother, he was my best friend. he will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. his memory will live on in my heart forever. robert, i love you. rest in peace." let us turn to the front page of about howngton post" senator harris evolved to woo the black activists. she will become the vp nominee this week. [video clip] >> as i said when you called me i am incredibly honored and i am ready to get to work. i am ready to get to work. after the most competitive primary in history the country received a resounding message that joe was the person to lead us forward. you so proud to stand with and i do so mindful of the heroics and ambitious women whose me who sacrifice -- sacrifice and determination makes this possible. this is a moment of real consequence for america. everything we care about -- our economy, our health, our children -- the kind of country we live in is all on the line. from the worst public health crisis in a century. the president's mismanagement of the pandemic has plunged us into the worst economic crisis since the great depression and we are experiencing a moral reckoning with racism and systemic injustice that has brought a new coalition of conscience to the streets of our country, demanding change. host: that was senator kamala harris on the eve of the democratic convention. susan has the story. out that no balloon drops, no platform brawls, no cheering partisans, so what is a political convention for when it falls in the midst of a pandemic? the democratic national convention is still the biggest opportunity they will have before election day to introduce themselves, bash the other side, and outline a governing agenda. live coverage of the convention this week and next week. live coverage of the republican convention as well. the question is how important is gender in your 2020 vote? in middletown, new jersey for independents. caller: good morning, steve. host: good morning. how are you? caller: all i can say about gender is that it has nothing to do with gender as far as i'm concerned. the most important thing is what the individual stands for. do they stand for we the people, or do they stand for me the people. that is important as far as the nominees are concerned. who do they stand for? what is their lifetime experience and what have they done for we the people? that is the most important thing. intend to do for we the people. , youl this coming election have got to vote for who you feel will be the best for we the people. host: thank you for the call. enjoyrs old and we always hearing from you once a month. stay healthy and stay well. we go to jerry in nevada. caller: good morning. host: will gender make a difference? caller: gender will make no difference. what will make a difference is what i perceive the integrity of the people. i am so tired of the hypocritical attitude so many of these politicians take. host: thank you. we go to charlene joining us from washington state on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. pick was a great pick. he is trying to bring the country together which he promised to do. what they are saying about kamala harris, it is not going to work this time. we saw what he did to obama. we saw what he did to hillary clinton saying she was old and not able -- he demonized her. i think people are wise to it now. go ahead and demonize joe. it will not get you as far as it did the first time. host: thank you for the call. just hours after the announcement was made the trump campaign had this ad. [video clip] ♪ >> kamala harris rushed to the radical left, calling for trillions in new taxes, attacking joe biden for racist policies, voters rejected harris. they smartly spotted a phony, but not joe biden. he is not that smart. he calls himself a transition candidate. he is handing over the reins to kamala harris. kamala. and phony wrong for america. host: charles is in ohio. will gender make a difference in your vote? caller: i like joe biden and harris. i think they will make a big difference that trump is not doing. i was just calling to let you know i would like to see joe biden and harris get it going on and wish them all the luck in the world. host: we go to al joining us from california on the line for independents. caller: no, gender should not matter. it is the experience of someone. it is what you can bring to the table. it should be what you know, what you have done. i am an independent, but i live in california. the lady has done nothing. she has put many people in jail for smoking pot. vet, and is old, a smoke pot for pain because i have ailments and i get it legally. she has done nothing. she has put middle-class people, middle-class whites and blacks and others in jail. create done nothing but a resume for herself with the big people and go after them. joe biden is in hiding. we all know that. republic that wants to see with the other person has to say? does a person have to hide? the president is out there every day being attacked and he still goes on interviews and we have and he was against the civil rights act. his best friend was a ku klux klan man. please, i have a lot of black brothers, asian brothers, i was in the military for a long time. i think it is a disgrace how they are not letting them speak. host: thank you for the call. he was good friends with senator robert byrd, but then senator biden did support the civil rights act. i want to make sure you are clear on that. caller: he did eventually, but he also supported a lot of things against blacks and as he said in a statement, i will not let my children grow up in a jungle and have blacks come into my community. that quote may not be exactly the same way, but that is more or less what he said. host: thank you for the call. this statement from debbie walsh, who will be joining us with rutgers university says, palin,ing to sarah putting a woman on the ticket is a bit of a hail mary. i do not get that this time around." we are focusing on the suffrage movement in the centennial of women earning the right to vote. we go to akron, ohio. caller: i feel gender has absolutely nothing to do with it. the stimulus for me to vote for a candidate's honesty -- candidate is honesty and we do not have that with donald trump. it has been a horrible experience with him as president. i will vote for honor today. host: thank you. , ifblicans (202)-748-8001 you are listening on the radio, we are asking how important is gender in your vote? we also welcome listeners on serious xm and channel 124. 2016 her defeat in democratic candidate hillary clinton had these remarks. [video clip] >> to all the women, and especially the young women, who put their faith in this campaign and in me i want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion. [cheering] i know, i know we have not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right now. [applause] to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams. [applause] 2016 onat was back in the glass ceiling that had not been broken. this from the fox news opinion blakeman whyley kamala harris' choice does more harm than good. "the person selected to run for vice president should do no harm, but harris is a weak candidate that will harm biden's chances of being elected and successfully governing. harris is not able to be president of the united states. she barely got to the u.s. senate in 2017. general andattorney before that san francisco da. she has zero foreign policy experience and no economic gravitas. some are questioning the cognitive abilities of joe biden. the choice of his running mate is especially important to voters. he will be 70 years old in november making him the oldest to take office if he is elected. pass thees not qualifications test for vice president. this is a losing ticket that the make america come out loser team." aaron in new york. caller: i will vote for president donald trump. i am also religious. thank you and have a nice day. host: cassondra is joining us from maryland. will gender make a difference? caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i do not think gender will make a difference. i just pray to the lord, jesus christ we have biden and harris be picked for the white house. i do not think age makes a difference either. these people calling in and putting these two people down, talking about their past, everybody has skeletons in the closet and that goes for the republicans too. i do not think gender will make a difference and i hope they both get in because this president has failed the country . host: we will move on to belfast, new york. caller: good morning. gender has nothing to do with it. important the person we choose will represent not justr values and being picked because you happen to be a man or a woman. since 1932 and thepe experienced occupation by nazi forces. what i see now is the same thing is that weed now only have propaganda. people whothose think president trump is doing a lousy job are listening to the wrong channels. host: thank you for the call. we go to joseph from dalton, georgia on the republican line. caller: how are you? host: we are good. how are you? caller: i am old and i have an opinion. [laughter] host: and your opinion is what, joe? caller: we have had a lot of politicians that have created for themselves a resume for themselves, not for the people. they have not really worked for the people. host: thank you for the call. nbc's kelly o'donnell had this question for the president on whether or not senator kamala harris is qualified to be president based on an op-ed published by an attorney. [video clip] >> would you say kamala harris is eligible to run, or be, vice president or president? >> i have nothing to do with that. i read something about it and he is a brilliant lawyer. i know nothing about it, but it is not something that bothers me. >> when you do that it creates -- >> i just do not know about it. it is not something we will be pursuing. --but you know >> do not tell me what i know. [laughter] to me, it does not bother me at all. i read one quick article. the lawyer happens to be a brilliant lawyer, as you probably know. he wrote an article that it could be a problem. it is not something i'm going to be pursuing. >> is she eligible? >> i just told you, if she has got a problem, you thought she would have been vetted by sleepy joe. host: that is from yesterday and the headline this morning is based on an op-ed which later said it apologized for putting that on the website. "don't tell me what i know." theter issin senator epicenter of the dnc. this is what it looks like on the sunday morning, but a different feel that what milwaukee initially expected. expecting upwards of 50,000 people and now only a few hundred in attendance. the speech will be vice biden and senator harris. is our us from florida next caller. caller: good morning. i have two comments. when trump rented 2016 he ran in 2016 he ran against hillary clinton. and you get up at 4:00 a.m. go to work you are working earlier than any democrat. she passed out one day from a cold. whoever heard of that? give use polls information about who is going to win, who is ahead, who cares? you know when that matters? trumper 3rd when donald wins. host: thank you for the call. we go to wendell joining us from indiana. will gender be a factor in your vote? caller: in a way yes and no. i feel like it is time for a woman. also, i feel joe biden and kamala harris would make a good match. as far as joe biden is concerned i first heard him when he came and he clarence thomas spoke up for him. i saw him throughout the years, but he is a solid family man and i think he would bring a different attitude to the country where he is more laid-back. president trump is difficult. you cannot really tie him down to anything. he is quick on his feet, but i -- as farwhoever wins as a woman it worked for the united kingdom and other places. host: what about the current vice president from your home state of indiana? caller: i really do not know him well. he seems to be a good man. host: thank you for the call. we go to barney from florida. caller: good morning. i think gender should have a little bit to do with it. the men seem to do a terrible job. lies, america dies. host: we go to chris from florida. caller: i would like to see a female in leadership. we have never had that so it is welcome. say,ld also like to concerning the backgrounds and the criticism they are getting, at least they both have public service backgrounds to refer to and critique. youel that with the views, have two sides of the coin. persons into the two there now where it is just one person and the other just follows along. i also want to encourage everyone to look at the youtube videos from the 2016 debate. it was really not a debate. trump is a showman and it is a lot of name-calling and putdowns and not a lot of value came out of it. we never got to see the tax returns. public got wrapped up in the performance. everyone is just looking for a show. biden does not have the wit or sharpness to actually have a decent debate and i would be happy if it never took place. i am happy to see kamala harris as vice president. host: is asking for a fourth campaign to take place. campaign has committed to three. the organization of enlightened women deals with conservative principles and she issued this statement. womanmmitting to select a at a debate in march before he had even figured out who would make the best running mate biden signaled he would not be picking his vp based on merit or what the country needed as the election approached. instead, he restricted his pool of candidates exclusively to , not to virtual signal do what is best for the country." the biden campaign had this new spot. [video clip] hi, hi. sorry to keep you. >> that is all right. are you ready to go to work? >> i am so ready to go to work. ♪ i was raised to take action. my mother knew she was raising two black daughters who would be treated differently because of how they looked. growing up whenever i got upset my mother would look me in the eye and ask, what are you going to do about it? that is why, when i saw a broken justice system, i became a lawyer to try and fix it. crisis ie foreclosure took on the big banks and the california attorney general. that is why i have fought to represent people like my mother. people who politicians often overlook or do not take seriously. right now, america needs action. in the middle of a pandemic the president is trying to rip away health care well small businesses close, he has given breaks to wealthy donors, and when the people cried for support he tear gas to them. and i knowin crisis joe biden will lead us out of this. he is a man of faith, decency, and character. he raised his family that way. i saw at first hand with my good friend. we are in a battle for the soul of this nation, but together it is a battle we can win. we just have to take action. >> is the answer yes? >> the answer is absolutely yes. [laughter] i am ready to do this with you. i am deeply honored and i am very excited. host: that is from the biden campaign this past week. the convention getting underway and the headline at politico.com "harris electrifies west indian voters and gives biden an edge in florida. calls flooded the biden campaign from south florida and a jolt of excitement shot through the midst of the growing jamaican community. for a campaign that has been enthusiasm,ckluster the electricity sparked by the harris ticket has produced tangible results. the campaign raised a record $38 million -- $48 million and 48 hours. pollsters log an uptick of support for biden." florida.calling from caller: i would vote not because they are a woman. i will vote for them who is doing the best job. i want to say to the black voters, what biden said about blacks the other day, that we have different attitudes, this is what i have been trying to tell blacks for years. we have been used for our vote because they think we are stupid. because we do stupid things. out just on his way like kamala harris with 2% vote. they went to a predominantly black area and got blacks to vote for biden. as an i have said many times the democrat party has used us for years. what biden said, this is the mantra in the democrat party that we, as blacks, are waiting for our 40 acres and a mule, but all they have to do is promise us the mule. people in the democrat party who wanted to come into the black community and tell the black ministers what was going on in the democratic party because they will not allow any republican to come into the black church, but they will allow the democrats in. i have said many times before we are prostitutes. we are being screwed and we are paying. we are paying for rundown neighborhoods, dysfunctional schools, and we are still going democratlls and voting and they got kamala harris to run. joe biden can hide under her dress because he is a racist. her, but she for told the truth when she said he was a racist. stupid wee are so will run to the polls and we will still vote democrat. blacks areay underserved. who underserved us? all these places that are burned down were run by black democrats. let them calle to us stupid and vote for them. blacks, you can turn this ship around. you can go to the polls and show them i'm not going to be a full anymore. host: we will leave it there. is ther o'malley dillon woman who transformed joe biden's campaign serving as campaign manager and working out of her home. her son is also working on the biden campaign. larry is joining us from cleveland, ohio on the democrat line. caller: good morning. i think it really does not matter if it is a man or a woman, but it is about time for a woman. women wholl these want to work for the country and the people. i watched fiona hill at the impeachment trial and she was brilliant. harris,h warren, kamala it is about time. i think it is a great thing. doing had noten been working for us. host: thank you. just so we all know how to pronounce her name it is koo-malal.t caller: i think it is the mindset. fieldll have the cotton negros that only vote black. we voted for white men for how many years? black people were not running. this man in office now we have over 4 million people infected dead,er 170,000 americans 48 million unemployed, and what is he doing? he is talking about the birthright. i want to see his papers. his wife came over on a visa and we all know. wife said it in a book but the media will not talk about that. host: vivian, we thank you for the call. in 1984, this was the headline at time magazine. ferraro oferaldine , timerk and the story reported the democratic presidential candidate picked a woman to liven up the ticket. she was also the first italian american residential was practical. women as well as ethnic and urban voters. the choice transformed a dull campaign by adding flair. it energized the woman's movement disappointed in the last deadline to ratify the amendment. in the end they have reelected ronald reagan. conclude that in erraro hurt mondale at the polls more than helped him. 1996, we set down with geraldine ferraro and she recounted her selection. [video clip] >> it sounds like it was a quick decision, but it was a long process. the country had started talking about a woman on the ticket in 1983. by the time i was platform chair going around the country was hearing, you should be the vice presidential candidate. where fritz met with women around the country and invited out a whole bunch of us to talk about what our views were on the vice presidency. when all of that was going on i never thought it was going to happen. i thought it was a nice thought we would open doors for women, but i never thought it would happen. meit did, it was going to be i never thought that. performtting ready to the platform to the convention francisconia in san and i was giving a speech. said, can john riley i stop by? he was the person fritz was closest to on the vice presidential selection. i said sure and so he came to the hotel room and he said -- we went through a discussion of the vice presidency and he said, he would have to give up your congressional seat. would you be willing to do that? i said yes and it was then i realized it was between me and diane. was heded up happening the next day, i got a call from fritz and i would like to for you to be my running mate. i was terribly honored and said yes. i went to my staff in the office and i said guess what? we are making history. [laughter] back in 1996. 1984 and party in of the host committee was nancy pelosi before she was elected to the house of representatives and she commented on the selection of geraldine ferraro. [video clip] >> i will be brief. we are absolutely delighted there is a woman candidate for vice president. we are proud of the presentation our own mayor, dianne feinstein, made and she made us proud to be san franciscans. tion ofk they considera possibilitysed the of a woman vice president. the three women who were considered were women who were put into the national spotlight, or whose visibility in the national spotlight, was increased by our chairman and their role as chairman of the .latform committee for the city this is a tribute to the leadership of our chairman and his recognition of women in the leadership of the democratic party. host: that was from nancy pelosi who was part of the host committee in san francisco, her home city, hosting the democratic nomination. story of kamala harris being chosen comes on the eve of the 19th amendment. we go back to the lines. this is from pittsburgh. caller: my name is doris and from pittsburgh. i am so happy to have joe biden and kamala harris on the ticket. it is nice to be able to have somebody talk normal. you can just hear when certain people talk who they are for. before hewhen he ran talked about everybody on the stage. they could not even talk. i could see why someone would go for him, but who would want to keep hearing somebody carry on like that? they talk about joe biden so bad. sure he is older, but even if he -- how do you go up against somebody that just yells, lies, talks about everybody? how can you go up against somebody like that? you would look bad and i would not care what people thought. i would not do it. host: thank you. sarah longwell has been doing focus groups looking at those who no longer support the president and had this to say about the selection of kamala harris. "there was a gender gap with hillary clinton, but now there is a gender chasm. trunk created an environment where women are not interested in the republican party and where the republican party does not seem like a place for women." fromis rhonda joining us massachusetts on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to send my condolences to president trump for the loss of his brother. if you are matter female or male. chicago, you in are next. caller: good morning. how are you? host: good, how are you? caller: i am good. gender does not play a role in me selecting who i'm going to pick for 2020. harrisid i think kamala is a brilliant woman who is qualified to be the vice president nominee. with respect to the woman from , to me, i disagree with what she had to say. i feel she is supporting donald trump which i am a fun old. uddled. people have died and the economy is in shambles. that is what we should look at. i do have a query to ask you. host: sure. have a could c-span discussion about the 15th amendment? harrisscussion of kamala being eligible or being qualified to be the vice president is absurd. the 15th amendment illustrates who, and who is not, an american citizen. host: you are right. caller: this goes back to the idea of civics in school. no one talked about this when ted cruz was running for the presidency. correct me if i am wrong. that is all i have to say. host: we appreciate the call. money -- thishis morning "kamala harris can throw apples and does not worry about being nice. casting her as an angry woman will not succeed. women should be angry. ckless response has asked parents to play russian roulette with their children." [video clip] >> our nation is hurting. more americans have died in the last three months, and the worst economy since the last depression. it is time to come together and remember who we are. joe biden is the president for this moment. a man attested by tragedy, proven in a crisis, a leader who has the compassion and strength. standing with him is kamala harris. a strong voice for a better america. a daughter of immigrants, a passion for justice, and a happy warrior in the sulfur america. for america. compassion and kindness are strengths, not weaknesses. this is the best of america. strong, compassionate, determined. on november 3, a better beginning. it is time. that was from the lincoln project. --roseext from chicago is next from chicago. caller: glad to get you again, steve. host: we are glad to hear from you. caller: as far as the birthrights, donald trump's mother immigrated to america from scotland and she came to work as a housemaid not in the suburbs. mother came from southeast asia, not africa, and i wish that c-span -- because the three days after the announcement you had segments on focusing on the african-americans, nothing on andsoutheast asian women that would be nice. if susan swain could do a little background on the southeast asian woman, i know you are acknowledging the 19th amendment, but white women earned the right to vote. the black women did not have the right to vote 100 years ago. host: all good points. i will pull up a picture inside a section of the washington post. you can see the demonstrations that took place here in washington, d.c. and elsewhere around the country. women commemorating the 100th anniversary of the right to vote. and, thank you for the call thank you for the suggestions. fromis isabella joining us massachusetts on the democrat line. caller: good morning. as a woman and lifelong feminist, the integrity is more important than gender. i will be voting for biden and harris, but i want to see them address the mass incarceration issue to which they very much contributed. think they should really be talking about president biden granting amnesty, pardon, releasing hundreds of thousands of americans from prisons. what this policy has done to our country is not only horribly racist, it is so damaging on every level to people's lives, their families. it is so unjust. druglk about nonviolent offenses resulting in long sentences in these post-release hassles, they never get their lives back. this is a horrible wound inflicted on our country by hypocritical politicians which to fess up to the fact she was smoking pot w hile putting people in jail. this has been perpetrated by politicians on the american people and i challenge joe biden and kamala harris to undo the damage they have done. host: isabella from western massachusetts. geraldine ferraro, the first woman to be on a major , now the second mccain kamal john asking sarah palin to join him on the ticket. [video clip] >> my mom and dad worked at the elementary school in our small town and i/o them a simple lesson i learned. this is america and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity. [cheering] my parents are here tonight. proud to be there heir daughter. [applause] ago, a young farmer from missouri followed an unlikely presidency ande a writer observed we grow good people in our good town with honesty and sincerity and dignity. i know the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised harry truman. i grew up with those people. they are the ones who do the hardest work in america. who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars. they love their country in good times and bad and they are always proud of america. [applause] i had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. upas a hockey mom who signed for the pda. [cheering] pta. [cheering] i love those hockey moms. they said the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick. that was from 2008. the issue of gender is important in the 2020 vote. we go to nikki in michigan. caller: good morning. how are you? host: we are good. how are you? caller: very well, thank you. i am definitely going to vote for vice president harris and biden. all the lies and deception we have been through the last four years, america, it is time for a clean start. one thing you are going to get with senator harris's honesty and transparency. we have not had that in a long time. god bless them. host: this is from amanda hunter with the barbara lee foundation. her view on the selection of senator harris. "women are judged more harshly if it seems they are learning on the job. they have to be super prepared to learn while men can figure it out as they go." joe in fayetteville, north carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. gender does not matter unless you are conservative. trash. case you are if you are a liberal glenn liberal democrat you are, glorified. i cannot believe she agreed to be on his ticket after she called him a racist. host: that moment you are talking about from the debate that took place in june of last year was part of a conversation that airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern. we went back to the c-span library at her first appearance in 2006 when she was the san francisco da. if you are onght the east coast. professor melanie price who this on theexas has selection of kamala harris. "the selection of kamala harris is bigger than the individual choice. it is about this one black woman and her success. this is a black win for politicians, black operatives who want more of a say, in black women voters who want to see themselves, the candidates." robert in maryland, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? host: good. how are you? caller: i am a vietnam veteran v.a. where ithe saw four of my friends in a ptsd program. this is had a tremendous impact on me when i see veterans being abused or mistreated. i's campaign i saw many veterans being abused at the hospital. host: thank you for the call and we wish you the best. we will spend the next three hours looking back at the women's right to vote from 100 years ago. this week marking a significant week in that development. on next two hours "washington journal." 1920 tennessee became the final state to pass the 19th amendment which allowed women the right to vote. coming up, we talked to colleen shogan with the white house historical association and the vice chair of the women's suffrage centennial commission. first, we want to share with you from the early 20th century a newsreel. here are the images of the parade and a short interview with one of the leaders of the movement. [video clip] ♪ >> a convention to consider the rights of women was helpin held. the committee found grievances against the government of men to be the same number that american men have had against king george. yearsk george washington to rectify grievances by war, but 72 years to establish women's rights by law. amassmeantsss mean were needed. women's suffrage is a long story of hard work crowned by victory. host: colleen shogan is the vice chair of the women's suffrage centennial women's suffrage centennial commission. she is also the vice chair of the white house historical association, joining us here in washington and. thank you so much for being with us. guest: thank you, and good morning. host: let's talk about the significance of this week, august 16, 1920, and the key role it played in the 19th amendment. guest: yes, in august of 1920, 30 five states had ratified the 19th but the 36th state was elusive. there were 48 states in the united states at that time, and according to the constitution, ofre was required 3/4 number states to ratify to make the night he could mimic part of because addition, and really the last battle came down to tennessee. state thatot another could ratify the 19th amendment, and if women were going to have the 1920t to vote in election, it all came down to tennessee. host: tennessee and also one key vote. this is the headline from "the washington post," "a mother's that are, a sign's choice, and the incredible moment women won the right to vote." their letter was written by the mother of henry t. burn. guest: harry byrne was a in theator tennessee state house that represented east tennessee. his district was not particularly supportive of the 19th amendment, and the governor session toa special consider the 19th amendment, so urn returned to nashville for that session. the vote counters, who were really good vote counters, really believe he did not have the votes to pass the 19th amendment in the tennessee state house. against them for all of the other procedural votes -- they were shocked when harry burn, who had been voting against them and all other procedural votes, voted an vote, which really push them over the top to they did not know is he received a letter from his mother, delivered to him on the tennessee state house goes, that asked harry to vote for women's suffrage and to be a good boy and listen to misses catt, who was the leader of the suffragist movement therein nashville. harry burn decided to listen to his mother. he was, himself, supportive of women's suffrage, but was born, because once again, his not.ituents were he decided, as he said later on, that he would listen to his mother and vote for women's suffrage, which is really what with the vote over the top and gave the suffragists the win. host: two is carrie chapman catt, what is her background, and what is she play such a huge role in this movement? guest: carrie chapman catt is one of the most important figures in american women's suffrage history. as the story goes, carrie catt was growing up in iowa, rural iowa. she was the daughter of farmers, and the 1872 presidential election, her mother and father were both, she thought, politically engaged, and the day of the election came, her father got ready to go into town to vote, along with some of the farm workers who worked on the and she their father, did not understand why her mother was not getting ready to go into town to vote. and she asked, "aren't you going into town with dad to vote?" and everybody laughter and said, "don't be silly, carrie, women don't vote." and that is probably the moment in time, when she was 13 years old, that carrie chapman catt became a suffragist. she started her suffrage career in iowa, worked at the state level. eventually, she was married and moved it to the northeast and became involved with the national american women's suffrage association. she became the protége of susan b anthony. susan b anthony new, at a certain period of time, that she probably would not live to see women voting all across the united states, so at that point in time, susan b anthony knew that she needed to recruit women who would take her place, and carrie chapman catt was the woman susan b anthony recruited to take her place. she played a pivotal role several times in the women's suffrage movement, certainly in as aast several years a strategist and certainly a natural, tennessee in the final fight. host: those dimmest rations came to washington, d.c. we have pictures and outside the white house. what role did president woodrow wilson play in all of this? did he have a view? guest:, he absolutely had a view. woodrow wilson, when he came to the white house, was not a supporter of women's suffrage. he come in fact, try to avoid the issue as much as possible. as time went on, he did grow and change his position when he realized that actually would hurt him, it would hurt the democratic party for a long time in the future if he did not change his opinion. but the suffragists, led by alice paul, were the first united states in the sense ever to protest in front of the white house, and they started in 1917. at first, woodrow wilson was lukewarm at their presence. he might tip his hat were exitely nod when he would the white house, but things changed when united states entered world war i, and the suffragist were still outside protesting, and woodrow wilson became very angry. he ordered that they be removed, so the d.c. police started arresting women outside of the white house. approximately, 168 women were arrested outside the white house for the two years in which they protested and served prison time, either in the d.c. jail or in the workhouse, 22 miles south of washington, d.c. host: prison for what? what was the charge? guest: it was obstructing traffic, and of course they were not obstructing traffic, they were standing on the whit sidewalk of the white house. they were acting on the orders to remove the women from the area outside the white house. they were not breaking any laws. they were exercising free speech. just because they could not vote at the time did not mean they were not citizens and did not have the right to free speech. host: and i'm curious, as we look at this movement that really began in earnest, in early 1910, 1912, demonstrations in 1915 a fever pitch in new york city, pictures of that as well. what was the argument against giving women the right to vote? guest: there were numerous arguments, opposition for many men come as you might imagine, but there were also a number of anti-suffrage women's organizations as well. really what it was was that a lot of men and women viewed women's ro as being head being involved in private civic organizations. they did not view women as having a role in the public sphere. and many women who were opposed to suffrage thought that women had a right to vote and would move into politics and into voting, that they would lose their power and authority within the private sphere, in the those womenthough simply did not want to give up that status. it is hard to imagine that at that time period, 100 years ago, that there was a conception that women could not play in both spheres, that women could have powerful positions within government but also play a role within the family and the private sphere. that was not really viewed as being an alternative for the women in the anti-suffrage movement. they thought of it as either-or. serves aseen shogan the vice chair of the women's suffrage centennial commission. our phone lines are open, and we are dividing the lines regionally. here on c-span's "washington journal" and those watching on c-span3's american history tv, (202) 748-8000, for those of you in the eastern half of the country, and out west, mountain and specific time zones, (202) 748-8001. suffragists vs. suffragettes. there's a difference. guest: that is a great question, and it is one of the first things you learn when you study the women's suffrage movement. suffragette is a british term, and the reason he came into being was in the early 1900s, a british journalist for the u.k. mail wrote a very negative article about the british women who were advocating for the right to vote, and he came up with the term "suffragette," adding that -ette to the end of it to make them sound small and diminutive, really a way in which to say the efforts are to be minimized, these particular individuals. advocatingthe women for the right to vote in britain did as they expounds that term, they made their own powerful term. alice paul, who was an american living in great britain at the time, and became part of the british women's suffrage movement, really did not like the term "suffragette." she thought that it did make women seem to be unitive and not as powerful as they should be, so when alice paul left great britain and returned to the united states and became a leader in the women's suffrage movement in the united states, she said it would only be suffragist, and never suffragette. she created her own publication for the national woman's party. it was called the suffragist. so when we talk about american women who advocated for the right to vote, we use the term suffragist. when we talk about british women who advocated for the right to vote, the correct term a suffragette. host: tennessee becomes the 36 the state to the constitution 100 years ago this week. what happens next? guest: women voted in the next election. .omewhere between 33 and 36% of course women's turnout increased over time, and by 1980, the proportion of women voting in the united states surpassed the proportion of men voting in the united states. host: 100 years ago, one of the editorial cartoons with the astion "sky's the limit," women look at the right to vote, what that means for them politically, and now of course in 2020, an african-american woman on a major party ticket, the third time a woman has been ticket like maybe for. your reaction? of manyn the shoulders women before suffragists, but who advocateden for the right to vote, fought for the right to vote come up until 1920, all women who had in congress, and have ran for president as well. host: let's get to the phone calls. carol is first up in oregon. good morning here welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning. enjoying the conversation. i am a daughter of the revolution, and we talk about this in our meetings. one of the things you just mentioned was the african-american women, and one of the things i would like to get you to point out, and that was the fact that when african american women wanted to join the other women's group, they actually said well, you might hurt us a little bit, and they still went on, and like you said, still got the right to vote. if we could hear a little bit more of that, that would be really great. thank you very much for bringing this up. i just love all of this. is just great. . thank you host: carol, thank you for the call. guest: yes, so african-american women were often kept out of leadership positions in the two major women's suffrage organizations in the united states, that is the national woman's party run by alice paul in the national american women's suffrage foundation, run by carrie chapman catt. they could be involved. they spoke. they were members. but they were not powerful within these organizations and institutions. however, that is not mean they stop advocating for the right of all women to vote. in fact, they formed their own clubs, their own organizations, and were heavily involved. some african american women even ticketed and protested in front of the white house, as well, and alice paul would call upon them to do so. host: let's go to patrick next, joining from louisville, kentucky. good morning. caller: i just wanted to reveal a story to you. back in 1992 or 90 many three, i lucy stevens.med she was a suffragist, if i'm saying it right. i apologize for that. but anyways, i found myself homeless back then, and i was about 51, 50 is old, and i used her on the street every morning, walking to the neighborhood grocery store, and she would carry her groceries. i would say, hello, miss lucy, how are you this morning? and she would be so spry, and she would talk just the way you are talking on tv right now. she was very alert, very intelligent, and she was a caucasian lady. she was just a little lady come about 5'5", about 100, maybe 105, 110 pounds. and she was just a sweetheart. and i just wanted to relate that to you. she would talk about her times whenshe was a young woman, she was in that movement. i was blessed to know her. she was is a wonderful, sanguine person. i wanted to reveal that the. host: patrick, thank you. colleen shogan, your reaction or comments? guest: i think this is part of the reason we have a centennial celebration, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th of them it is really to recall the story of these women. of a may be a bit mythology, i think, with the women's suffrage movement, if it is taught it all in american history or civics classes, it might be something like women advocated for the right to vote. they politely held their signs. they donned their parasols and pantaloons, and before you know it, they were granted the right to vote, and that is not really the accurate history we are women'so tell at the suffrage centennial commission or at the white house historical commission. these women had to fight hard for the right to vote. women fought for 72 years, from 1848 in 1920. there were a lot of bumps along the way. there were a lot of men in power who told them no, and they figured out a way. they would go back, re-strategize, and figure out a way to come back at it again, so i think it is a tremendous point in american history that we can all learn from. host: but why did it reach that crescendo, from, say, 1912, 1913 until the summer of 1920? guest: well, there's a number of reasons. other countries were starting to grant women the right to vote, so there was a worldwide pressure that this was coming, and then also, in that particular era, world war i ended up actually helping women in the united states, because women participated in the war effort as nurses and then also taking over jobs from men who were deployed over in europe. it was very hard for woodrow wilson and for others to advocate for democracy abroad and then realized they were disenfranchising over 20 million americans at home. the health policy of that rhetoric became very apparent. and in fact, woodrow wilson had to admit there is no way that we can't acknowledge that women should have the full rights as citizens, given the civic participation and how they had participated as leaders in this war effort. host: and woodrow wilson had three daughters were his first wife. did they put pressure on him to support the 19th amendment? guest: there is not too much evidence of that, although one of woodrow wilson's daughters was very supportive of women's suffrage movement and did appear at several women's suffrage conventions. there is not much of a record whether she petitioned woodrow wilson or ask her father to support the women's suffrage movement, however, one woman that was not supportive of women's suffrage was woodrow wilson.econd wife, eden she was actually an anti-suffragist she was not supportive of the 19th amendment, so she would definitely have not been a force in favor for woodrow wilson. host: and of course the other factor is the president at the time was in poor health, having suffered a stroke. guest: that is correct. he was. at that period of time, harry taft, who actually had a relationship with him, actually had to go with him to enlist woodrow wilson's help with other democratic governors around the united states, so that they would call the legislatures into session, so ratification could move forward across the united states, and she had to go and work through edith wilson to do that. in favor of the 19th amendment, so edith wilson did not stand in the way. host: let's go to connie joining us from florida. good morning. . welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a question about the breakwomen to ground as far as being elected to congress and governor. in 1916, before the 19th amendment was ratified. so are you saying that all men voted for her? and also the same thing for the first woman governor, who i believe was in wyoming. your comments? host: jeannette rankin was elected before women had the right to vote. guest: yes, she was, and she only served one term in the house at that point in time, and then she came back to the united states congress, after she had lost a bid to become a senator. did servette rankin an important role, however, for women's suffrage when she was in the house. they made her the chair of the committee that would consider the 19th amendment, even though she was only a freshman member of congress at the time. so she did throw her support behind the amendment, so that women all across the united states would have the right to vote. host: from dover plains, new york, jan, you are next. welcome to c-span's "washington journal" in american history tv on c-span3. hi, jan. caller: i have a story to tell about my grandmother, who was born in 1869. when thes 50 years old and amendment was ratified, she my mother was talking to her, and she was from north carolina, as was my grandfather. he was quaker. she was baptist. he was a publican. she was democrat. and my mother asked her out right on electio when election , "why are you going out to vote? you are only canceling each other out?" and she said, "because i waited too long to get the right to vote, and i am going to exercise it." word from my grandmother. host:jan, thanks for sharing the story with us. colleen shogan? guest: that is a terrific story, and i think this is a great share those stories, from mothers, grandmothers, if they have them. grandmother's birthday, i learned about the 19th amendment in school, and i realize she was born before the right to vote. even as a little girl, that really kind of the funneled me. what would it be like to be born into a society that we would not have the right to vote? host: arlene is next from lexington park, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question as to the native american women at that time, their involvement with the 19th amendment? was there any? guest: yes, there was. i am not an expert in that particular history, but there was native american involvement manye right to vote, and historians who have started to write more about native american women's involvement in the right to vote. historically, native american women did have the right to vote within their communities, so they are some of the earliest examples, actually, of women being politically active and being engaged within their communities and having a say with what their communities decide to do and how they operate. host: you talked about carrie chapman catt, but what about shelton and the role she played, particularly in tennessee? tennessee?shelton in are you talking about sue white? host: sue shelton white, i am sorry. guest: it is interesting, for the final battle, alice paul of course was the head of the national women's party, but alice paul did not come down to tennessee for that final battle, and there were two reasons for it. first, the national women's party was struggling a little donations at and the time, so alice paul actually stayed back in washington, d.c. and wanted to raise money and get more donations so she could support the efforts in tennessee, so she felt like she could play the role as the fundraiser, and the other reason was that sue white had been born in tennessee and had roots in tennessee, and what alice paul, correctly, concluded was it would be better to have tennessee women advocating and interfacing with legislators down in tennessee rather than outsiders. who carrie chapman catt, was very involved in national, state in her hotel room at the hotel hermitage. she did not interface directly with legislators who were deciding how to vote on the 19th amendment. she had her supporters from the national american women's suffrage association doing that for her. host: we talk about elizabeth cady stanton and susan b anthony, who were pioneers in all of this. how old were they at the time, and what role did they play? guest: unfortunately, both susan b anthony and elizabeth cady stanton, early supporters of the women's suffrage movement, were not alive when this happened. they had died earlier, in the 20th century. so the women's suffrage movement really is an example of three generations of the movement. the movement of susan b anthony , elizabetha mott cady stanton, sojourner truth, those women, and in the next generation, which of course would be the carrie chapman catt and other supporters at that time, and the third generation is the lucy burns and alice paul generation, ida b wells, who are a little bit younger. so three generations really of activism and women to get the 19th amendment over the hump and over the hurdle to make part of the constitution. photo of lucya burns in the workhouse in fairfax county, and she was house they are, again, for basically disrupting society, correct? guest: that is correct. she was actually the american suffragist, lucy burns, who spent the most time incarcerated, the most time in prison, than any other american suffragist. she was jailed on six separate occasions, put her sentences were quite long, so she spent more time in prison than anyone else, and that is a great photograph of lucy burns that you have at the cockl occoquan workhouse. it was likely staged. these women were smart, they would have somebodies that pathetic to their position take their picture whether the d.c. jail or the workhouse in virginia, and they would have that photograph taken to the outside and of course published in newspapers all across the united states, to draw more support and more simply for their cause. ofy were really masters political spectacle, of imagery, and they knew that that was an effective way to garner more public support all across the united states. calls.ack to your phone in silver spring, maryland, dale, thank you for waiting. you are on with. caller: colleen shogancaller: -- with: shogun. caller: hi. good morning. about you were talking women marching, even though they were possibly bringing harm to the demonstration, but i wonder if you are familiar about a book with martha jones, a presidential professor at johns hopkins university called , birthright citizens, and in that speech, she speaks the role that african americans played in the suffrage i have notnd also, heard you talk about holly brown. she wrote a book called "homespun heroes" in 1926, and also, are african-american women going to be represented in the celebration? thank you. guest: yes, great question. martha jones book, "vanguard," i cannot recommend it enough. martha is the expert on african american women in the suffragist movement and in the policies in general. i cannot recommend that book enough, and everything that she writes. one of the things for the were first when we organizing and talking and planning for the centennial celebration, one of the things we wanted to do was to tell the full story of the women's suffrage movement, and that is an inclusive history, which would include the stories of african-american women, native women, chinese women, other women who were involved in the movement, who typically, and maybe previous anniversaries or previous commemorations, were not really fully given their due, and the truth of the matter cannot really understand the history of the women's suffrage movement, because it is an american story. you really can't understand it without understanding the important role that race plays at various times in the movement. it is just impossible. if you are not taking the role of race seriously and you are not including that in the analysis or the history, then you are not telling the full story of the american women's suffrage movement. so, absolutely, that is part of our initiative, and i would say that if you go to our website, ote100.org, we have a terrific blog series, and you will see all kind of information and profiles of various women who played roles in the women's suffrage movement, including the role of black women. host: this week marks the start of two weeks, back to back, of political conventions. let's go back to 1920, because the republican convention, held in chicago come nominated warren g. harding and calvin coolidge. the democrats meeting in july of 1920 in san francisco. they nominated james cox and franklin g roosevelt in 1920. did this play out in either party convention back then? guest: yes, actually, it did cure it at the republican convention, there are a lot of of photographs and images of the national women's party, including alice paul herself, actually going to the convention and protesting outside the convention. you might ask, well, why were they protesting at the republican convention? because of publicans, historically, were more supportive of women's suffrage earlier than the democratic party. well, the reason was that they were marching towards trying to tod this elusive 36th state ratify, and there were two states that were potential ratification possibilities, but they were both headed by republican governors, and that was vermont and connecticut. and so what they did was go to the republican convention and protest outside, tried to get warren harding to strong-arm or force or convince those two republican governors to take up women's suffrage in the state legislature and call a special session, because they thought, correctly, that if a special session was actually called, that the state legislators would actually vote for the amendment. and they also wanted to make sure that suffrage was included in the party platform. they were successful in having suffrage included in the party platform. they were not successful in convincing warren harding to put the pressure on those two governors to have them take up the suffrage debate in state legislatures. they also went to the democratic convention, as you mentioned, in san francisco, and the main goal there was to make sure that the 19th amendment and support for women's was included in the platform, and they were successful there. host: this is a what if question. had tennessee not ratify the 19th to mimic, what would have happened next? what was the next state in line? guest: those two states in line next were those northeastern states, that is probably where it would have gone, but it would have never happened with enough time to have women vote in the 1920 election. so most likely, that would not have happened until 1921. and it might have been favorable, you know, you would think that it would be favorable after tennessee actually voted to become the 36th state. both of those other states did fall in line and ratify, subsequently, but would have never happened for women to have the vote for the 1920 election. host: of course all of this happened 100 years ago this week, august 18 to 1920. alicia is on the phone, columbia, maryland. good morning. caller: good morning, steve and colleen. good morning, america. with all due respect, colleen, american indians did not become recognized as citizens, their own country, in 1924, so the women could not have been in the suffrage marching. women werehe native held as well as the man, and they could do their job. is only when we became under the -- i'mvernment were we sorry, i have got some senior moments. we lost our freedom. women and own native d and are still being rape killed, in the u.s. government cannot cover up. we have been asking for this. how about that? thank you. host: thank you. guest: the caller is correct about 1924, so that is right. and that is an important larger point about the 19th amendment. the 19th amendment, we often use the verbiage that it, you know, gave women the right to vote or enfranchise women. did not give women the right to vote. what if did is prevent the united states or prevent the orte from creating laws barriers that related to gender or sex, that would prevent citizens from voting, right? so gender was no longer a reason why the vote could be denied. but there were other reasons for why the vote could be denied, as the caller outlined, so that is why the 19th amendment, unfortunately, did not resolve in all women having the right to vote in 1920. host: i want to go back to your earlier point. this is a photograph from france, as the french movement was well underway. how did the u.s. compare with other countries in europe or elsewhere? guest: right, so, the first countries to give women the right to vote is new zealand. australia follows soon after that. the first european country to women is finland, and it is followed by a couple of other countries, norway, the netherlands. great britain gives women the right to vote in 1918, but only in a limited sense. so it is not until 1928 that all women are able to vote in great britain. germany and russia enfranchise women before the united states, canada. and then subsequently, france in the 1940's, italy in the 1940's, south africa. so the united states, when you look at the list of all the countries and the dates in which they enfranchise women, the united states is about the middle of the pack. they were not the leader, but they certainly were not the last country to enfranchise women. host: next in california, ron, thank you for waiting. good morning. caller: good morning, steve. thanks so much, colleen, for what you are doing. oddly enough, i have a little story of my great-grandmother, minnie hayes wilson, who happened to be a socialite from kansas city, missouri, and one of the things you might mention is what happened to people that were upper-class that were involved in this women's suffrage thing, because what happened is my great grandma, she married an alcoholic. as a result, she joined the women's temperance -- women's christian temperance union, and that was part of the slow back from world war i, where all the guys can one command they were all drunkards. combination -- that is what got the women inspired to go forward with their suffrage process, and a got people outraged. one of the things my great grandmother did later in her life was to write cowboy novels. the reason why as we were cousins were a guy named jc williams james -- jesse williams james. mom, who was in her 70's, that was the 1870's i am talking about, and they were robbed jesse james on the train, and when jason james came there, he said, wait a minute, are you my cousin, he said my great-grandmother's mom, and she said yes i am, and he said oh, and he gave the money back to her. so there were really a lot of things going on in the society at that time, and i think the impacts of suffrage was a combination of ingredients that came about where women had been disenfranchised over a long period of time. even the salem witch trials were nothing more than urban renewal, where they found women at risk because their husbands died and left them with a lot of money, and people wanted to take that money from them. host: ron, you have got to write a book! talk about some connections. caller: well, it is even worse than that, because i have not mentioned it, but we are related to whether bird free hayes -- rutherford b hayes, and also to woodrow wilson. as i mentioned to you, the wholeuous part of this process is there were a lot of socialites involved. my great-grandmother came from kansas city, missouri. that is where it all started for her. host: where great story. six degrees of separation. thank you. caller: weight, speed, one more inng i might mention, leader her years, she was writing cowboy novels, when she first started writing cowboy novels about her life, she would send it in with her name on it, and no one would publish a woman author. so she changed her name to her wilson,me, robert hayes in order to get the publisher to publish these cowboy novels. host: ok, now you have got to feature the book, ronald. we will feature it on book tv. [laughter] guest: i think there is a lot there. the first point the caller makes is about class, and interesting part about the women's suffrage movement is there were women who were working-class, industrial workers, teachers who became part of the movement, and then there were also, as caller we said, wealthy women who became funders. capital was named after belmont, who was a major funder for the national women's party. but some of the women did not just write checks, they went to jail, they stood outside, they were picketers, they were protesters, and in fact, this is what draws a lot of woodrow wilson's attention, when some of these women who are being arrested who are, perhaps, more irominent in society, and the husbands or friends with woodrow wilson, and they come to the white house and complained to wilson, saying "what are you doing? why is my wife in jail or prison, 22 miles south of washington, d.c. in a workhouse?" so that starts to get wilson's attention, because of the spouses that are coming to complain to wilson about the treatment. but there were also working-class women, like i said, with and who worked in factories, women who worked in education, that would travel across the united states to come, or particularly for alice paul, participate in the pickets. theother question was about antecedents to the women's suffrage movement, and the caller is absolutely correct that. there are at least two movements that are antecedents to the women's suffrage movement. first earlier was the abolition movement. many of the early suffragists g ained their organizational, political skills, how to give a speech, how to write a speech, how to write an article for a newspaper, all through the abolition movement, and then temperances also the to princ movement and the temperance union, which was the major organization. now, that too has of the major organizations, carrie catt and alice powell, they were sympathetic to the temperance movement, but they tried to keep it separate from the women's suffrage movement, because they did not want to offend others who maybe were not supportive of temperance, they wanted to have the widest net and widest tent possible. this is from 1913, as women from foreign countries marching here in washington, d.c., pushing for women's right to vote. how often were these parades or demonstrations? and, based on your research, what was the reaction by the general public? guest: sure. that is the famous pre-that took place march 3, 1913. march of itsst kind, the first march on the capital that takes place. parade, actually, alice paul, who was the organizer, along with lucy burns, they did not really know how many people would show up. historians disagree about the number of people who were in the crowd, but it was probably somewhere between 150,000 and people. and what happened was, the crowd got rowdy year and rowdy or as the day went on. there are actually a lot of bars and saloons that lined the parade route down this then you have the time, and the men would go in and out of the saloons and get a drink and come back to the d, most of at the en the men, unfortunately, were intoxicated. they went out to the parade route. there was a lot of physical abuse upon the women. the d.c. police, unfortunately, were not helpful to the suffragists who were marching, and the secretary of war, henry stinson at the time, was watching the parade. he literally had to call out the cavalry by nearby fort myers to come in and break up the mob that existed, so that the women could continue down pennsylvania avenue and finish at the treasury department, which was the end of the parade. so these took place, you know, in major cities. you might say -- why was alice paul so interested in having a parade, especially when something like this happened in 1913, which seemed like a little bit almost a disaster? welcome of the reason was it brought great attention to the cause command alice paul's whole strategy is the more i can create a strategy, the more i can be in the media, the more i could be in the news about women's suffrage, the more people will learn about the fact that women do not have the vote all across the united states, and the more people that will become sympathetic to the cause. a master at expanding the scope of the conflict. host: there was also an organization called the men's league for women's suffrage. who was behind that? what was the mission? guest: it is also a myth to say that this is men versus women in this movement. there were many men along the way who were very supportive of women's suffrage, who organized, along with the women. we do not see them in a lot of the photographs, because that was on purpose. alice paul wanted to have the actual suffragists, the actual members of her party photograph in front of the white house, f ilm them in various situations in which they were advocating for the right to vote. but there were certainly very many along the way, elizabeth cady stanton, her husband extorted merrily supported. husband,apman catt's who was quite wealthy, essentially bankrolled the movement, because he was able to support her and support all of her travels related to women's suffrage. host: michael is next in new york. good morning. caller: hey. good morning. soleen shogan commedia fitting the topic you guys are talking about today, women's rights and rights to vote, and with everything that is going on in the world. as we reflect that, we talk about the abolitionist movement, as you speak, and how is terminal women more than. the next moveinto may come of the suffrage movement, where harriet tubman wasn't abolitionist who helped free slaves, and now, we have to look at women as being very instrumental in this whole process, from getting the rights to vote, and it is so fitting, today, you have this on, and the way things are going on with the post office and rights to vote, it is so important to exercise our right, and the women saw that back in the day. and i just love c-span, i love to see this stuff. it reminds us of where we came from. so as i looked past here locally , the birthplace of the women's suffrage movement, a historical feature come every time i drive through the town, it is great to see. especially the museum up there and everything i do not know if you have been there, colleen, have you? guest: that is a good question for di was scheduled to go to seneca because this summer. we had a celebration planned for seneca falls, as part of their convention day celebration every july. but unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we were unable to make that trip. however, the commission has decided, in lieu of what we had planned in july, we have been working with a sculptor, and we are going to be adding a series falls,ments at seneca commemorating diverse women in the movement, and those plans are underway, and we hope to have the statue erected next year. host: you mentioned edith wilson, who, of course, was the second wife of woodrow wilson after the death of his first wife, opposed to the women's right to vote. was there an organized effort either by her or other women who did not want to see women have the right to vote? guest: absolutely. edith wilson was not involved in the anti-suffrage movement, she was just personally anti-suffrage and made her opinion very known to woodrow wilson and others in the white house. but there were anti-suffrage organizations or clubs, just like there were women's suffrage organizations to promote the 19th amendment, there were organizations that were -- that had been constructed really to stop the 19th amendment. and you see this very clearly in tennessee, in nashville, at this final fight in august of 1920, because all of the organizations descend upon nashville. the, of course, pro-suffrage organizations and the anti-suffrage organizations, and also, we have not talked about this yet, but there were corporate influencers. there were special interest groups that were opposed to women's suffrage. , theanufacturing industry railroad industry, and of course the liquor industry, and they played a very important role at that last fight in nashville. they descended upon the hermitage hotel, set up shop, and essentially engaged in aggressive lobbying of all the tennessee state legislators. host: in case you are interested, in today's "new york times," available at nytimes. com, this editorial, "the milestone and the myth called 19th amendment." luanne is next in annapolis, maryland. caller: good morning. at the woodrowor wilson house museum at the celebration of the 75th anniversary. i led a team of three of our other guides and some volunteers, and i would like to mention a couple of things come a few will indulge me. gigantic,re is a rich wealth of artifacts, archives, documents across the country for all 50 states for researchers that are researching this, or with the boon in ancestry, looking up what your family might have done. among the things we borrowed were lena allender cartoons through, what was then, the belmont house, the washington national women's party. there were songs, a wonderful song based on a 1920 song called "oh dear, what can the matter be?" and it went, "oh dear, what can the matter be? women are wanting the vote." and they used sticks by the brandywine battlefield, sent by pennsylvania, to recognize what liberty was. the women who would pick it wilson would use his own words against him, as they burnti his kettles and cauldrons outside the fence at washington, at lafayette park. and then i would also like to juston that there's also clothing that still exists. when you see the pictures of women handing out the various newspapers. and then i would just like to encourage every woman of age to vote this year, because when you do study this history, women were jailed, they were given little jail door pins if they had gone to jail, and we have those in the exhibit, but they were force-fed, and some of those women could never eat well again for the rest of their life, alice paul included, because of the scars and the damage from that. so it is very much a hard-won battle in this country, one that i hope and i hold close to my heart and vote every year and encourage everyone to do so. again, an actt, of right and justice, because when wilson did turn the tide, that was part of his speech to congress. but i have to tell you, we getting big laugh, because when we started this and started going to archives and identified where we were, we would have women from archives or women experts turned to us, and they would almost kind of whisper go, do know he was the bad guy, don't you?" [laughter] and we would get a kick out of that, because we wanted to show the record that he did turn the tide, and it was his speech and congress that turned the effort. host: it is on display, that speech, and we have a photograph and washington, d.c., where he lived after he left the presidency, correct? guest: yes. host: luanne, thank you for the call, from annapolis, maryland. colleen shogan. guest: yes, i agree with everything that was centered we have a terrific archives related to the women's suffrage movement. my former employer, the library of congress, probably have the most robust collection of women's suffrage manuscripts, photographs, that is because the librarian of the time was friendsagists with all of the suffragists, and he convinced them to donate their items. the smithsonian museum also did a lovely exhibit using portraiture to document many, many women suffragists. and all of those materials are online at their respective websites, so even though we cannot visit those museums and archives, you can visit them digitally. host: and your website, this is what it looks like, womensvote100.org, which also includes a plethora of photographs, video, historical information about what happened in august of 1920. the centennial of women earning the right to vote. john is next from kingsville, texas. good morning. caller: good morning. een, i was hoping you could speak a little bit about n, it is hard to understand the position of the anti-women's suffrage movement. can you explain the reasoning impositions? host: thank you, john. guest: the women who were opposed to the right to vote, there were a couple of reasons. first, they were afraid of giving up their stature within the family in the private sphere. they viewed the men in their lives, their husbands, their fathers, their brothers, they thought that, they could represent them adequately at the that politics was a dirty business. , as were viewed as pure sanctified, that if women entered the public sphere of politics, they would become down and dirty, just like the man. enjoyed of those women that elevated status of purities i really was promoted at that time. aen teddy roosevelt, who was 1912, heve, until did come out for women voting, but previously, he was hesitant, because he said well, yes, it makes sense for women to vote, but why would they want to enter this sphere of politics, which would damage their reputation? women's role really are as mothers, mothers to their children and mothers to the entire nation, this notion of republican motherhood, and they really should not be advocating for the public sphere and the right to vote. now, in the last battle in tennessee, i will say quickly that a lot of the women who were opposed to suffrage in tennessee were opposed to women voting because they did not want black women to have the right to vote, and they thought that the 19th amendment would be a march towards the enfranchisement of more african-american women voting in tennessee and also voting elsewhere in the south, because of course the 19th amendment would apply nationwide, it would not apply simply tennessee. so there was great concern about the role of race host: host: in that battle. we go to john next impounding mill, virginia. good morning. caller: good morning. i was a little curious them after the civil war, black men would all have the right to vote, supposedly, even though the democrats did the best to keep them from voting, but when women got the right to vote, how did they separate the black women? why would they not have the right to vote the same as all women, since the black men already had the right to vote? host: john, thank you. interesting point. guest: they were subject to the same state laws or local laws that black men were subject to, so the common message in which they would prevent voting on the either arace with eas was literacy test or poll taxes applied throughout the south, and at least in the northeast, with a literacy test, but the other method that was used, particularly in the south, you have to remember that there was the rise, at this point in time, of the ku klux klan, and segregationists and white supremacists would use the extralegal method of intimidation to prevent those black men and black women from voting. host: so put this anniversary into perspective. what was the significance of women getting the right to vote in 1920, and where are we today in 2020? guest: the significance of women voting all across the united states in 1920 was really astronomical. like i said, the turnout was probably somewhere between 33% and 36%, but even that, when you think about it, is extraordinary, how many more millions of americans, at that point in time, were voting in 1920, than had voted in the previous elections. the 19th amendment did represent the largest single enfranchisement of american citizens in our nation's history. theas we look to 2020, women now outvote the men, numbersonally, both in in the aggregate, and then also as a percentage wise. and i think there is an interesting statistic as well, from what we have seen in the past couple of elections, actually, african-american women vote in higher percentages and inportions than white men this country. when you think about the double disadvantage that african-american have had, both because of their gender or sex, and it also because of their race, i think that is a really it's ordinary statistic to reflect and think about. host: based on your research, windows women cast their ballot in 1920, did they face any pressure at the ballot box? guest: well, women largely voted republican in 1920, but the 1920 election was a landslide for harding, so that was really no surprise. there is a lot of writing that said women simply voted the same way as their husbands or the same way as their fathers. unfortunately, since there was no exit polling in 1920, there is no way for us to actually know whether or not that was the case. host: the story of women earning the right to vote, 100 years ago, colleen shogan. she is the vice chair of the women's suffrage centennial commission. she also serves as the senior vice president of the white house historical association. we thank you for being with us here on c-span's "washington journal" and on american history tv. guest: thank you very much. host: and again, you can get more information on the website, also go to the white house historical association. if you missed this interview with colleen shogan, it will agree are tonight on host: up next, we are going to continue our discussion on women and the role they played in terms of american politics. our guest is deborah walsh from records university. you are washington and -- you are watching and listening to "washington journal." we are back in a moment. >> live coverage of the democratic national convention, all this week on c-span. join us every night before the convention for memorable speeches from past conventions. watch democratic senators speaking at republican conventions, first ladies addressing the delegates. only on c-span. your unfiltered view of politics. >> "the president's," available in hardcover and e-book. presents biographies of every president, inspired by conversations with noted historians about the leadership skills that for a successful presidency. as americans decide who should lead our country, this collection offers perspectives into the lives and events that forged president's leadership style. visit c-span.org/ thepresidents. available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book wherever books are sold. >> former first lady michelle obama and senator bernie sanders address the democratic national convention on monday. live coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. live streaming at c-span.org/dnc . or listen with the free c-span radio app. c-span. your unfiltered view of politics. >> "washington journal" continues. host: deborah walsh is joining us. she is with the center for american women and politics. good sunday morning. thank for being with us. guest: thanks for having me. host: in looking at this election for geraldine ferraro and sarah palin, you say the selection of senator kamala harris does not feel like a hail mary pass, unlike those selections. can you explain? guest: sure. when walter mondale picked geraldine ferraro as his running mate, it was a moment where he was running against one of the most popular incumbent presidents we have seen in a very long time. he was far down in the polls and he was looking for something that would be different and that might garner him some attention. ronald reagan one, that was the election where we, for the very first time, saw what we called the gender gap. the difference in the way men and women vote. the first time we saw at difference was women more likely to support your credit candidates. the assumption was that by putting a woman on the ticket realit might engender a enthusiasm on the part of women and amplify that gender gap and have it be enough to make a difference in the outcome of the election. at the end of the day the usually vice presidential candidates only have an impact around the edges. mondale was in a very uphill battle and at the end of the day was really trounced in that election. it did not make a difference that you can see i having a woman on the ticket. we don't know, of course, whether he would have done worse. it's hard to imagine, if he had not had a woman on the ticket, but in that sense it was a real, let's try something completely out-of-the-box. when john mccain was running, again, he was behind in the polls and he wanted to -- he knew that he was going to be running against a history-making candidate, barack obama. he was looking for something that would also set his candidacy apart. what happened in that race, i think, was a fundamental misunderstanding of the gender gap. he chose a woman as his running mate thinking in some ways that he could bring along some of the disgruntled hillary clinton supporters who were disappointed with her not receiving the nomination that year. course, thisas, of is not a -- as much about the gender of the candidate, it is really about the party. and moderate to liberal democratic women were not going to support john mccain and a very conservative sarah palin just because she was a woman. at the end of the day what we saw, again, was, he picked sarah palin. there was a little bit of a bump right after the convention, but there was quite a gender gap in that election as well, and it benefited barack obama, the democratic candidate. host: this is the cover story of time magazine in 1984. 12 years later in 1996 we sat down with her and she recounted the experience she went through in being selected. let's watch a portion of that interview. [video clip] >> that sounds like it was a quick decision, it was a long process. the country had started talking about the possibility of a woman on the ticket in december 1983. by the time i was platform chair and was going around the country, i was hearing, you're going to be the vice presidential candidate. time in a period of which he met representatives from around the country. he also invited out a bunch of us to talk about what our views were on the vice presidency. now that was going on and never really thought that was going to happen. i thought it was a nice thought that we would talk about opening doors of opportunity for women, but i never thought it would happen and i certainly didn't get -- if it did it was going to be me. i went off to san francisco because i was getting ready to resent the platform to the convention. this was my opportunity. i went out to california, san francisco, venice beach, owing to give a speech. and that night john riley called and said, and i stop by? he was the person who was fritz's closest one on the vice presidential selection. i said, sure. he came to the hotel room and said -- we went through a whole discussion and he said, do you realize you would have to give up your congressional seat? i said, of course. he said, would you be willing to do that? i said, yes. i realized it was between me and diana that point. what in an up happening was, he said, be in the hotel room at about 4:00 the next day. i got a call from fritz and fritz said, i would like for you to be my running mate. i said to him, i'm terribly honored. of course, i said yes. after i hung up i was in a state of shock. one of my staff, i open the door and said, yes what? we're making history. that is fascinating. host: that is from 1996. debbie walsh, you have one of those aurora posters behind you. what stands out? guest: i remember that whole period. transparent process, in a funny way. we were watching the evening news. different political women going up to minnesota to meet with walter mondale. , sort ofreally public interview process. there was tremendous pressure, i think, on walter mondale from the women's political organizations, particularly the national organization for women, who were saying this is your chance. see if that gender gap can really work in your favor. was history-making. at that moment when she stepped up at the convention in san , at that moment all of the delegates on the floor were women. the male delegates had given up their seats for the women who were alternates, so that all of the delegates on the floor that night were women. it was a very exciting and thrilling moment. and a truly history-making. host: what has changed since 1984? since a lot has changed 1984. i used to be able to, in 1984i can tell you the names of all the women who were serving in congress and i could do that pretty quickly. now i can't. there are a lot of them. many,going to say too there are not too many, because women only make up 24% of the members of congress. we have since 2016 seen an acceleration of women's political leadership. first with the nomination of hillary as the first woman nominated by a major party for president, then in 2018, in reaction to the election of 2016, we saw women running for office, but also running differently. we have been seeing record numbers of women of caller running for office. running forcolor office. they have been running very authentically, everything about them out there, making them far more accessible to voters. our question in 2018 was, after the election and we saw the 36 new women elected to congress, the largest incoming house membership we have ever seen, we started to think, will this just be a one-time deal or will this be the new normal? even now in 2020, have again seen record numbers of women running for the house, record numbers of women nominated, record numbers of women of caller -- women of color. of course, now this historic moment of kamala harris who will be the nominee of the democratic party for vice president this week. host: we will go through those numbers in a moment, but some other numbers, our phone lines. (202) 748-8000 hour line for republicans. (202) 748-8000 if you are a democrat. independents, (202) 748-8002. you've been putting together the statistics. , comprising about 23% of the house. representing 34 states. there are 88 democrats and 13 republicans. 583 filed to run for the u.s. house, that is up from 2018. like the senate, 57 women have served in the senate. 26 right now. 17 or democrats, nine public ends. 60 have i'll to run for the u.s. senate this year. that is up from 53 in 2018. to those numbers tell you? guest: it tells me that we are seeing great progress in these election cycles, these most recent cycles, but that we are still not where we need to be and we are also seeing a tremendous partisan disparity. , as i was women saying, there were 36 newly elected women to the house. 35 of them were democrats. fact, republican women lost their net loss of 10 in the house in the last cycle. this year we are seeing record numbers of public and women running, we did not see in 2018. it was driven in 2018 by democrats. many of those republican women running this time our running in tough races. that partisan disparity will prevent there from ever being real gender parity in congress or in state legislatures. we are seeing those same kind of numbers across the state. much more work needs to be done on the republican side to bring more women into elective office. host: let's get to your phone calls. d is joining us, charlotte, north carolina. caller: good morning. i wanted to mention the league of women voters and the role the league of women voters has played throughout the history of women's suffrage in this country, as well as women voters in the first two have the presidential debate and the role of the woman voters around the country in advocating for government involvement of all citizens. i wanted to mention that to you guys and have someone comment about the role of the league of women voters. host: thank you, dee. guest: the league of women voters has played an important role. taking and making sure that women came participants as voters. that itthat it is not was an overnight switch where women did not have the right to vote and suddenly they are voting the way they are now. men now.-vote about 10 million more women voted in the 2016 presidential election dan did man. did man.n guest: -- the league of women voters has been a part of that. host: debbie walsh is joining us. she is from rutgers university. i want to get your reaction to what the president was asked about yesterday. he is spending the week in minster, new jersey. the issue of whether or not senator harris is qualified to serve as vice president. let's watch. that,ld you say now kamala harris is eligible to be vice president? trump: i have nothing to do with that. i will say he is a brilliant lawyer, i guess he wrote an article about it. it's not something that bothers me. >> when you do that it creates -- trump: why do you say that? don't tell me what i know. let me put it differently. to me, it doesn't bother me at all. i don't know about it. i read one quick article. the lawyer happens to be a brilliant lawyer, as you probably know. he wrote an article saying it could be a problem. it's not something i'm going to be pursuing. >> is she eligible, sir? pres. trump: if she's got a problem he would have thought she would have been vetted by sleepy joe. host: your reaction to what the president said yesterday? enormouslys frustrating and upsetting, because it is completely false. oakland, california, where she was born, is most certainly part of the united states. she is a citizen of the united states. it is a trope that he has used -- he used it against barack obama. he is now trying to raise this up against kamala harris. both racist and sexist. it is about who is an outsider .nd preserving power you know, i think we are going to see a lot of this kind of thing for the next three months. a lot going to come under of erroneous attacks. -- allave been all sport sorts of conspiracy theories already up on the web and on twitter and social media in general. it is unfortunate and i think what we are seeing this time around is that there are ,rganized groups of particularly among women, democratic activists where they are trying to have her back. to try tohashtag defend against some of the really egregious statements that are being made and they are coming across social media and, sadly, from the president himself. host: senator kamala harris is in wilmington, delaware. we have a camera outside in case she has any remarks. rudy is up next from sun city, california. democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning, steve. good morning, miss walsh. i was disappointed this year because there was not a woman to be presidential candidate that made it. out,ld just like to find do you think feminism may have had a disruptive part in women gaining a little bit more in the country? believe me, i don't mean that derogatory because my mama is listening and i don't need any trouble. i would just like to find out and see if what you thought about that. thank you very much. host: rudy, thank you. you are a smart son. go ahead with your comment, debbie walsh. guest: we saw on the democratic side the most diverse set of candidates that we have ever seen. we would watch those debates and people of caller -- of color, six women who ran. it was extraordinary, and at the end of the day the nominee is an older white man. and i think one of the things we saw was this fear on the part of democrats of losing. this idea of not taking any kind of a risk. and i think that anything outside of this very traditional image of who can be president was seen as risky. and you started to hear these murmurings that became kind of a roar about electability. i think that even though we saw women, many of the women who were candidates and people of color who were doing quite well in the polls, this question of hurting them.as this seems to be a year where on the democratic side, no matter what, the democrats feel they must, must win. bidenk that by joe selecting kamala harris, he is signaling in many ways that he acknowledges and understands that as a white male in his late 70's he is not the future of the democratic party. and by selecting kamala harris, i think he is saying that she in fact is the face of the future of the party. and that maybe we will not come up against this kind of question of the non-electability of women and people of color in the future. i hope that is true. host: for the second time in four years, with a woman on the ticket. senator kamala harris the vice presidential nominee. in 2016 it was hillary clinton the nomination. he was what she told the convention. [video clip] >> tonight we have reached a milestone in our nation's march toward a more perfect union. the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president. [applause] my mother'se as daughter and my daughter's mother, i'm so happy this day has come. i'm happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between. i'm happy for boys and men, because when any barrier falls in america, it clears the way for everyone. [applause] after all, when there are no ceilings, the sky is the limit. so, let's keep going. let's keep going until every one of the 161 million women and girls across america has the opportunity she deserves to have. that from secretary of state hillary clinton in 2016, accepting her party's nomination. she made a reference to sky's the limit, which is a political cartoon. although hillary clinton did not win. is,big difference in 2020 will not see those huge gatherings at the conventions this week or next week. debbie walsh, your thoughts? guest: when i hear her speaking 2016, there was such optimism. i think this image of role models and making sure that girls and women across the country see women in these positions of leadership are so important. marion aleman, the founder of the children's defense fund has said, you can't be what you can't see. and that is so true. getting to see women in leadership is important. there was a quote that kamala harris said when she was running for president when she was in iowa. she said, i have faith in the american people to know that we will never be burdened by assumptions of who can do what based on who historically has done it. i think that is really important. this idea of breaking through these stereotypes of who can do what jobs, who can lead and the significance of the american public, but particularly for black women and young black women and black girls, to see a black woman selected for this elected, to bef leading at the highest level will break down barriers and will show them the world of possibilities. and black women have been the backbone of the democratic party for decades. they are the most reliable vote for the democratic party. and it is about time that they were recognized for that .eadership in serious ways and this is one of them. it is really an historic breakthrough. host: debbie walsh is the director of the center for american women and politics. roger is next from town, ohio. thank you for waiting. good morning. caller: good morning. my thoughts today are that we have so many brilliant women in this country and they keep getting people who are deeply opinionated that don't know what they're talking about. hillary clinton disgraced the democratic party when she ran. this lady, if we have a time of war, is this lady going to have the knowledge? there are so many brilliant women in our country and the world. have people that they are trying to -- they think nominatedady who is is going to get the women boats votes. the democratic party is no longer a democratic party. pelosi said, i am a winner and i will do anything to where. well, she has lied about the president so many times. today we have a president who cares about the world, but there is a lady on television who is known -- has known mr. trump since he was 17 years old. that -- a situation people have the first amendment protecting them and the first amendment says have a right of free speech, but it doesn't say you have a right to tell lies. until we get the lies out of this country and get people who really know the truth, we are going to have this problem. host: roger, we will leave it there and get a response. guest: i think roger is correct that there are lots and lots of incredibly qualified and gifted women at every level of office. i think kamala harris is one of them. , i think, be able to govern on day one. and i think that sends a strong message about the opening up and rotting and inclusivity of the party. i think that is part of what john mccain tried to do with sarah palin, say that the republican party was inclusive and that women were a part of that big tent. certainly with kamala harris we have a woman with a long history and record of a blick service, that is a strict attorney in san francisco, the attorney general of california, and now in the united states senate. i think there will be people who disagree with her. -- rogerogers disagrees with her, but that does not make her unqualified. that doesn't make her a liar. it just makes for someone who has a different opinion about different issues than roger does. host: she announced in january 2019 she is out of race before christmas. she didn't get a single delegate. why did she fail as a presidential candidate? guest: i think part of it is exactly what you were talking about. this question of electability. i think she came up against that. i also think there were questions about how well-organized campaign itself was. what i think the bigger issue was, she was having a lot of trouble grasping and getting ters.ion with vo she had a couple of moments where she was searching. she certainly had one of the strongest openings of any candidates who ran. but she never was able to capture that and keep that going. i do think a big piece of that was this notion of electability. if you watch the first two debates. the first debate elizabeth warren was in one of the debates and kamala harris was in the other. i think you would have to watch away from watching both of those taking that those two women one those debates, each individual round of those debates. they could not translate that into victory and i think a big part of that was this ongoing question of, will these women at the end of the day be able to beat donald trump? the fear was, if we take a risk with someone who doesn't look like a joe biden, that won't be possible. host: in sun city, florida. john, you are next. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. forplaud all of the women all of the services they have done and i think that all women who want to go into politics should know it from one and to the other and should use a lot of common sense and membrane one thing that is very important. once you say something, people are going to remember it. now, you take all of the democrats candidates and everything, what they say one minute, and what they say the next minute. they change their minds. we need women to use a lot of common sense and speak respect fully -- respectfully. aoc and the gang there, they are not showing any positive responses from people. they are going to get the negative because the way they speak. host: john, thank you. we will get a response. guest: i think that one of the things we know from research is that women are among the most effective members of congress, ringing home more resources for the districts making a real difference for their constituents. i think we have seen some of the best leadership, ticker literally at the state level, coming from women, whether they are elected or appointed officials during this pandemic. i think when it comes to respect, i think that that is a two-way street. i hear what you are saying about alexandria ocasio-cortez, you have to remember the kind of abuse that she has faced. most recently from one of her colleagues, republican male , and hers in the house incredibly eloquent speech on the floor of the house just a couple of weeks ago in spots -- in response, in a respectful but powerful way. i think women can speak up that speak their minds and it is respectful, but it is also powerful and pointed. and that is one of the values that these women bring to the table and bring to congress and bring to all of the institutions in which they serve. here monique is joining us in washington, d.c.. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i believe the women of this world are the backbone of the world. -- there is an woman behind anyone -- behind fix men who are there to the issues when they make mistakes. and when it comes to hillary theton, i believe she has skin, but they just would not showher an opportunity to her experience. is,what i don't understand --n it comes to men saying, saying why women are not experienced, then they can love a donald trump, a man that can say anything he pleases. b can call people a sign of a he can lie even when it doesn't make sense. but a woman, she has to be respectful. she has to be really, really careful about what she says. she can't do this, and she can't do that. on.an, like, come that shows you how discriminatory it is when women come in any type of position in this world. i'm going to say this and ended. women rock. we are the backbone of this world. host: monique, can you stay on for a minute? i have a question for you. i want to go back to your earlier point do you think the fact that hillary clinton was a woman was a factor in her defeat? caller: i think that was the number one factor in her defeat and also the negativity that came along with it. lies and everything else. thanks for the call. debbie walsh? guest: that is a lot. it raises up all kinds of questions about the double standards and stereotypes about women in leadership. we know from research that women be assumedlikely to to be qualified in the way men are in the run for office. men don't have to prove their qualifications in the same way, but women do. also -- women also come up against an issue of likability where they are seen as not as likable and they have to prove that likability, which becomes a really complicated issue because once you are trying to prove your qualified and show your bona fides around policy, you may be seen as a policy wonk and not as likable. so that becomes a real issue. thatw exit polling in 2016 there were many people who voted for donald trump who also said they didn't think that he was qualified and they didn't think that he had the temperament to be president, yet they still voted for him. i don't think that would happen for a woman candidate. ofre is also a whole set stereotypes about women and a scrutiny of women, women candidates, that men do not face. their physical appearance, what they are wearing, how their hair looks, the tone and tenor of their voice come under fire. afterwas the famous tweet one of the debates where hillary theton did very well and tweet from a media person was, you know, hilary, smile more. no one ever told bernie sanders to smile and he was not known for being someone who sat around grinning. they would talk about the fact that she was screaming and pointing her finger. this is the kind of behavior that bernie sanders was doing to the time it did not seem rise up as something that needed to be pointed out and talked about. womann think that if a were to present herself with messy hair, a rumpled suit, pointing fingers, and yelling loudly she would get nowhere. but that seemed to work for a male candidate. these double standards do exist out there, and they do make it more difficult. then you see -- and we have just seen it the past days since kamala harris was announced as the vice presidential candidate. all kinds of sexist and racist tropes that you -- they get used against women. this is about women disrupting power and the status quo of leads. so, the oldest trope in the book about lack women and their anger. we are seeing play out. you see donald trump once again calling a woman who is powerful for seeking a high-level office, calling her nasty. sexualization,f which is also a racist and sexist trope used against black women. all of this will continue to come out during this campaign. again, i think women and women's organizations and political parties and -- are much more prepared for at this time -- prepared for this time and the effort to have her respond in a quick way when things are being said that her sexist, racist, or just lies. 5 we are top -- host: we are talking with debbie walsh. directorerves as the for american women and politics. part of the eagleton institute. i want to go back to a statement from hillary clinton in which she said the following. "i do think there is a reaction to the success of women and roles of women right now. i think social media has let that up in a toxic way. people may have thought a lot of things in the past, now it is amplified and it is viral." tracy is next, las vegas. good morning. caller: hello there. i wanted to circle back to what you said about this racism over where she was born. it has nothing to do with racism. first of all, trump knighted. i noticed you ignored that. he did the same thing with ted cruz. it is about an enemy to trump. an adversary. it has nothing to do with skin caller or race. the fact that you guys so knee-jerk go to racism, it is embarrassing. i am an independent -- i voted democrat in the past across the board. in 2007 i voted all democrat. i hated bush. i wanted the war to end, i wanted the patriot act when -- to end. i'm still waiting. the democrats are full of crab. you are nominating someone who said poor kids are just as talented white kids. he said so many racist things but i have not heard you mention those. not one. i'm not going to be voting for democrats as long as they are so quick to call anyone who disagrees with their terrible ideas -- what you have plenty of them -- she call them racist immediately or a misogynist. it doesn't matter if she was a white woman or a white man, they still would disagree with terrible ideas from democrats because there are terrible ideas. -- they are terrible ideas. quick knee jerking and going to racism. you are so embarrassing. i am in nevada, is a string -- a swing state. you guys have got to drop the racism card. host: debbie walsh, your reaction to that comment? guest: first of all, at the center we are nonpartisan. we are observers of the political scene and what is happening for women. i think that one of the things that we point out is the need to run forut women who office not based on their characteristics but on issues. i think this issue of notzenship is -- we are talking about whether she was born in jamaica. she was born in oakland, california. there is just no, there is nothing about that that makes her a citizen and not qualified to be a candidate for vice president of the united states. it is reaching and it is trying to gin up a kind of support that is based on a lie. and i think that what, the clip you played earlier from hillary clinton is part of the challenge for women who run for office on both sides of the aisle is that they are likely to end up victims of harassment that is online. know, know that, you there are things that people are willing to say from the security and safety of their basement in anonymity that they would never say in public. it is not to say that those awful comments were not being thought, they certainly weren't out there and they certainly were not being amplified and broadcast around the country. and building on these kind of conspiracy theories that are just so damaging to our democracy. host: the highest ranking woman in the house of representatives, the daughter of the former vice president, liz cheney. she serves as the conference chair. does she also paste that type of scrutiny you outlined earlier? guest: she recently came under attack within her own party and was being called out as not loyal enough to the president. i think that women on both sides of the aisle are held to a certain kind of a standard and are still seen as outsiders in disrupting thes male power structure. so there is resistance to that and it shows up in different forms. help think can't there is a problem on the republican side with all 13 .omen in the u.s. house on the democratic side, women may well make up half of the democratic caucus in the house in a couple of election cycles. on the republican side we are still seeing only about 9%, 10% of the caucus being female. real work needs to be done and the doors need to be opened and more women need to be brought in and the party needs to encourage and support republican women running and winning, running in districts that are winnable for republican candidates. host: let's go to alice. caller: good morning. how are you? host: we are good, how are you? caller: happy sunday. doing ok thank you. i'm curious, though. mention geraldine and sarah palin, hillary allton, and kamala harris in one sentence. i think she stated that geraldine ferraro was the first , i guess to appear on the presidential ticket or something? although she was running for vice president at the time. surely --hy she left chisolm out? shirleyhe difference is not nominated. we were talking about women who were nominated and on the ticket. in 1982.an the first woman to run for president of the united -- at the first woman to run for the president of the united eights, there have been many, but who ran through the primary process. and it really was in many ways -- she would talk about this knew she wasn't going to be elected president of the united states, but she ran in order to raise up issues that concerned the black community and women and poor people and folks from urban areas that were simply not going to get addressed by the mainstream candidates. andran a serious campaign did get, and fact, some delegates at the convention. but ended up not winning. that is why we are not talking about her in the same way. her candidacy was quite significant and paved a path and open up doors, particularly for black women across this country who then were thinking about running for office. because they saw -- again, it gets back to this idea that you can't be what you can't see -- chisolm opens up doors and lets women see the possibility for themselves. her candidacy was a honestly significant -- was enormously significant. but she never was a nominee of the party. host: we go to friendship, wisconsin. good morning. caller: good morning. i love your show. i have a comment and it has to do more with all of the cortez, and on ms. ms. harris. i'm constantly hearing both sleepy joe and pocahontas. it is a two-way street. mark twain said this best. he said that politicians are like diapers. they should be changed often and for the same reason. what do you think? host: thank you, paul. [laughter] guest: that's good for a sunday morning, right? well, look. i think that one of the things we have seen in the last number of years the political discourse really sink to a pretty low level. and it is damaging to our democracy and to our institutions. agree withink we can each other on policy issues and have artful conversations and debates about those issues, but noting each other names is useful. it is not useful to voters who are making choices. some of these are, some of the name-calling is racist, as is the pocahontas name tag. i think it would benefit our democracy enormously if we could steer away from that and get back to discussing policy and the issues that matter to the lives of people with so much is at stake right now. we are facing some of the most daunting crises of our lifetime, of a century. particularly this pandemic, then you think about race relations in this country. we need to have serious conversations and debates about those issues, not calling each other names. host: to that point. so often we hear about women's issues. can you put that in a category today? guest: it is interesting, when you ask men and women it the most important issue when they go in to vote, both women and men have the same answers -- economic issues. those economic issues for women are in many ways very much kitchen table economic issues. how are they going to make ends meet? how are they going to make that paycheck go from week to week? how are they going to make sure that their families have health coverage? many women are single heads of households and how are they going to deal with issues like work and childcare? issues, i think it is easy to fall into a trap and thank, of, women's issues, were talking about abortion or the equal rights amendment. for most women the issues that matter to them on a day-to-day basis are, how are they going to take care of their families and how are they going to support themselves and their families? we know women make less money than men. there are -- employment is less secure, they have less money for retirement. they are worried about that social safety net that made need to be there for them at some point in their life. security, is social medicare, medicaid, family medical leave. all of those support systems government provides. host: evelyn, thank you for waiting from fort worth, texas. you are next. caller: thanks for this opportunity. my question is, why is it that , women here in the united states, why did they have a hard time reaching the top of the most prestigious position in this country? anywhere from local elections to representatives, senators, then of course presidential elections? other countries, for centuries there women have been leaders. anywhere from market -- margaret --tcher -- margaret thatcher there are so many of them. raffle because in this country people look to us, your leaders of democracy, yet we do not have respect for women in all forms and fashions. can you explain that? host: thank you. one point about market that you're purely was 45 years ago she was selected as head of the conservative party. she then ultimately became prime minister. the conservatives choosing her to lead the party. guest: that is such a great question. it is one that we are asked often. it is a complex set of issues. in many countries, you are looking at countries that have quotas. of parties run slate candidates, it is not quite the same way we have primary candidates here in this country. and there are quotas. parties have to have a number requirement of a certain percentage of women on their ticket. that is something that, there are people in this country who advocate for that and changing the party system a bit so that that would be included. it is very hard to imagine that happening given the system that we have and given the aversion to quotas, affirmative action. we are a country that historically has believed -- it's not necessarily true -- that we live in a meritocracy so the best candidate will rise to the top. and if the best candidate is a woman, she will rise to the top. we don't think that is actually true, that is what is behind our inability to have something like a quota at this point. it has been a deep frustration to watch the rest of the world do so much better. number one country in the world right now for women's representation in their national parliament is rwanda. there are many countries ahead of us. we are somewhere like 91st, 92nd in the world for women's representation in our national legislature. that changes as others move up and move down or the other way around. we are certainly not at the top of the list. in large part i think it does have to do with not being a parliamentary system, not having quotas, but also a deep resistance on some level to the disruption of power. but i joinw process, you in your frustration. host: bill from hightstown, new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for having this great show. thank you, miss walsh for being here. i love the topic. more women inere congress. this katie porter in california who was just awesome and there are so many awesome women politicians in congress. on the other, you know, republicans, you know, you have joni ernst. there is a wide range of political views and i think they do a better job at politics. the thinnest book in the world would be the corrupt united states women allocations. -- politicians. i don't think you could write a book about it. anthe men's side you have encyclopedia with corruption. i think it is time. i wish we had more women in congress. wanted to thank you for letting me share my comment. host: bill, thank you very much. let's move on to mike in laguna hills, california. caller: good morning. on the qualitynt of the debate so far with respect to kamala harris. she actually has a record. there is more to talk about than her gender. she has a record here in california as attorney general and so on. warrior,'s style drug defender of dirty prosecutors, and a political opportunist who has made life more interest for sex workers. can i have your comment about why her public policy record here in california has not been a part of the political conversation? host: thank you, mike. debbie walsh? guest: i think that her record and the issues are what should be debated and should be discussed. i think what has been unfortunate -- and i'm assuming that or substantive conversations will be had about her and her record -- but i think what has been unfortunate is in the first few days we have a lot of focus on questions like, is she in fact a citizen? that she has a nasty woman. to crazy conspiracy theories, including pizzagate and some of the other q-anon conspiracy theories. i think we would all benefit, the citizens would benefit from a real discussion of policy and not going back to conspiracy theories and what are often racist and sexist tropes that are, frankly, just distracting. host: let me conclude one final point. when he received word that senator kamala harris is going to be the vp nominee, mike pence said, tell her i will meet her in salt lake city, which is the side of the vice presidential debate. what do you think that is going to look like? guest: do you mean and light of the pandemic? host: in light of the questioning she is going to get and format itself. be a: i think that it will -- butrespectful debate respectful debate. she has clearly proven herself through the primary process of being an effective debater. as has he and the past. i think it will be an interesting matchup. all ofink that it is, our politics from now until , intion day are going to be fact, different just because of the formats we are all going to be operating in. next twoing these weeks of conventions as remote offense, debate without audiences and the energy audiences bring, even if they are told they are not supposed to cheer. be -- wet is going to are going to have to get used to a new normal for the remainder of this election cycle. of kamala the part harris, we have seen her most recently in the presidential primary debates and she has been quite an effective debater. very strong and quick on her feet. to 1984,ing back geraldine ferraro and more recently hillary clinton and sarah palin. debbie voss is the director of the center for american women in politics at rutgers university, part of the fulton institute. thanks for joining us. guest: thank you for having me. host: a reminder, q and a heirs tonight. tv."re to check out "book the democratic convention, a virtual convention gets underway tomorrow evening at 9:00 eastern. this is a live view from the wisconsin center in milwaukee. a very different scene than it would have been if they could mention had been there, with the delegates now virtually. by joeeches concluded biden thursday will be done virtually. 9:00vents get underway at p.m. eastern time. your reactions live on c-span, c-span radio, the free c-span radio app and on the web at c-span.org. thank you for joining us. enjoy the rest of your weekend. have a great week ahead. ♪ announcer: monday, dnc chairman tom perez and joe biden's campaign manager jennifer o'malley dillon offer a preview of day one of the democratic national convention live at 10:45 a.m. eastern. at noon, a conversation with hillary clinton on u.n.'s -- on u.s. foreign policy hosted by the atlantic council. the president travels to minnesota to give remarks on the economy. live at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. ♪ obama and michelle bernie sanders address the democratic national convention on monday. live coverage begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. ate streaming and on-demand c-span.org/dnc. or, listen with the free c-span radio app. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. announcer: in 1980, an effort to rescue american hostages in orion -- in iran failed. the winter olympics were held in lake placid, new york. mount saint helens or upton. this was the backdrop for the political conventions that year and the speeches made by ronald reagan and jimmy carter. by the time ronald reagan ran for president, he had served two terms as governor of california, had an career -- had an early

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