The Woman Patriot Corporation (WPC) was an American Progressive Era organization formed by women who had been previously active in the National Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage. The group identified as anti-communist, anti-pacifist, and anti-feminist. [1] The WPC was formed in response to the then-recent enfranchisement of women via the Nineteenth Amendment on August 26, 1920.
The fear of conservative women at the time was the burgeoning feminist movement taking root in women's colleges which would allegedly plant the idea in men's minds that because women were now seen as independent, they could shirk their economic duties as providers.
By 1932, Mrs. Randolph Frothingham (who was from Brookline, Massachusetts) was president of the WPC. [2] Mrs. John Fremont Hill from Boston was the vice president of the organization, and Mrs. Lewis C. Lucas from Washington, D.C. was the secretary-treasurer. As of 1932, the board of directors included Mrs. Frederic Jay Cotton of Boston, Mrs. Rufus M. Gibs of Baltimore, Mrs. James Cunningham Gray of Boston, Mrs. Paul Killiam of Cambridge, Mrs. Frederic W. Longfellow of New York, Mrs. Francis E. Slattery of Brighton, and Miss Mary G. Kilbreth. [3] Kilbreth previously worked as the acting president of the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. [4]
The WPC, having formed after World War I and during the First Red Scare, was allied against communism, anarchy, and pacifism (especially internationally).
In the 1920s, Mrs. Randolph Frothingham, who was then on the board of directors for the WPC, filed alongside the group with regards to a Supreme Court case called Massachusetts v. Mellon , consolidated with Frothingham v. Mellon. [5]
The WPC had been compiling a list of individuals which they wanted barred from entering the United States, including George Bernard Shaw and the grandson of Karl Marx. Infamously, this also included filing a memorandum complaining of Albert Einstein's return to the United States. [6] Einstein, a Jewish German-born American citizen and socialist pacifist, was targeted by the WPC, which attempted to bar his entry into the United States [7] and stated:
Einstein was not merely a pernicious influence; he was the ringleader of an anarcho-communist program whose aim was to shatter the military machinery of national governments as a preliminary for world revolution. [8]
Frothingham claimed that Einstein was "affiliated with more anarchist and Communist groups than Josef Stalin himself." She said that letting Einstein into the US would "allow anarchy to stalk in unmolested". [9] Copies of Frothingham's letter urging the US State Department to bar Einstein's entry to the United States were distributed to US consuls. [2] [10] In response to these efforts, Einstein threatened to cancel his engagement with Princeton University if his visa were not issued within 24 hours. The visa was granted. [2]
In 1932, the WPC had Mary G. Kilbreth of its board of directors testify for the 72nd US Congress, against federal legislation concerning birth control which it considered to be immoral, a measure which would lead to population control, and a tyrannical imposition of federal power over the states. [3]
Jeannette Pickering Rankin was an American politician and women's rights advocate who became the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916 for one term, then was elected again in 1940. Rankin remains the only woman ever elected to Congress from Montana.
The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization created in 1949 by the Cominform and propped up by the Soviet Union. Throughout the Cold War, WPC engaged in propaganda efforts on behalf of the Soviet Union, whereby it criticized the United States and its allies while defending the Soviet Union's involvement in numerous conflicts.
The American Crusade Against Lynching (ACAL) was an organization created in 1946 and headed by Paul Robeson, dedicated to eliminating lynching in the United States. A strong advocate of the Civil Rights Movement, Robeson believed "a fraternity must be established in which success and achievement are recognized and those deserving receive the respect, honor and dignity due them." In his speech "The New Idealism", delivered as a Rutgers College valedictory address, Robeson supported the idea that all – both colored and white people – need to take part in the creation of the new "American Idealism"; which led to the development of the American Crusade Against Lynching.
Anti-suffragism was a political movement composed of both men and women that began in the late 19th century in order to campaign against women's suffrage in countries such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States. To some extent, Anti-suffragism was a Classical Conservative movement that sought to keep the status quo for women. More American women organized against their own right to vote than in favor of it, until 1916. Anti-suffragism was associated with "domestic feminism," the belief that women had the right to complete freedom within the home. In the United States, these activists were often referred to as "remonstrants" or "antis."
Charlotte Despard was an Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist. She was a founding member of the Women's Freedom League, the Women's Peace Crusade, and the Irish Women's Franchise League, and an activist in a wide range of political organizations over the course of her life, including among others the Women's Social and Political Union, Humanitarian League, Labour Party, Cumann na mBan, and the Communist Party of Great Britain.
During the Cold War (1947–1991), when the Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in an arms race, the Soviet Union promoted its foreign policy through the World Peace Council and other front organizations. Some writers have claimed that it also influenced non-aligned peace groups in the West.
German-born scientist Albert Einstein was best known during his lifetime for his development of the theory of relativity, his contributions to quantum mechanics, and many other notable achievements in modern physics. However, Einstein's political views also garnered much public interest due to his fame and involvement in political, humanitarian, and academic projects around the world. Einstein was a peace activist and a firm advocate of global federalism and world law. He also wrote: “the population of Europe has grown from 113 million to almost 400 million during the last century… a terrible thought, which could almost make one reconciled to war!”. He favoured the principles of socialism, asserting that it was an ideological system that fixed what he perceived as the inherent societal shortcomings of capitalism.
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term anti-war can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts, or to anti-war books, paintings, and other works of art. Some activists distinguish between anti-war movements and peace movements. Anti-war activists work through protest and other grassroots means to attempt to pressure a government to put an end to a particular war or conflict or to prevent one from arising.
The World Committee Against War and Fascism was an international organization sponsored by the Communist International, that was active in the struggle against Fascism in the 1930s. During this period Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, Italy invaded Ethiopia and the Spanish Civil War broke out. Although some of the women involved were Communists whose priority was preventing attacks on the Soviet Union, many prominent pacifists with different ideologies were members or supporters of the committee. The World Committee sponsored subcommittees for Women and Students, and national committees in countries that included Spain, Britain, Mexico and Argentina. The Women's branches were particularly active and included feminist leaders such as Gabrielle Duchêne of France, Sylvia Pankhurst of Britain and Dolores Ibárruri of Spain.
The following events occurred in December 1932:
Helen Crawfurd was a Scottish suffragette, rent strike organiser, Communist activist and politician. Born in Glasgow, she was brought up there and in London.
The Seventh Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance met in Budapest, Hungary, 15–21 June 1913. As had been the case with all the preceding International Woman Suffrage Alliance conferences, the location had been chosen to reflect the status of woman suffrage: a place where the prospects seemed favorable and liable to influence public sentiment by demonstrating that it was now a global movement. When it had been announced at the sixth congress that the next one would be held in the capital of Hungary, it was felt that the location seemed very remote, and there were concerns that Hungary did not have representative government. In fact, it proved to be one of the largest and most important conventions. Furthermore, the delegates stopped en route for mass meetings and public banquets in Berlin, Dresden, Prague and Vienna, spreading its influence ever further afield.
Edith Claire Cram was an American peace activist and heiress. She founded Peace House, which produced anti-war and peace movement lectures, newspaper advertisements, and other propaganda to promote peace. She was a benefactor for the War Resisters League.
Margaret Lillian Foley was an Irish-American labor organizer, suffragist, and social worker from Boston. Known for confronting anti-suffrage candidates at political rallies, she was nicknamed the "Grand Heckler."
The New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage (NYSAOWS) was an American anti-suffrage organization in New York. The group was made up of prominent women who fought against the cause of women's suffrage by giving speeches, handing out materials and pamphlets and also publishing a journal. There were several auxiliaries of the group throughout New York and it was considered one of the most active anti-suffrage groups in the state.
Annie Riley Hale was an American teacher, writer, and social critic. In her lifetime she was known for her criticism of Theodore Roosevelt and her anti-suffrage and anti-vaccine activity.
Sara MacCormack Algeo, born Sara Louisa MacCormack, was an American suffragist and educator.
Women's suffrage began in Hawaii in the 1890s. However, when the Hawaiian Kingdom ruled, women had roles in the government and could vote in the House of Nobles. After the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893, women's roles were more restricted. Suffragists, Wilhelmine Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett and Emma Kaili Metcalf Beckley Nakuina, immediately began working towards women's suffrage. The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) of Hawaii also advocated for women's suffrage in 1894. As Hawaii was being annexed as a US territory in 1899, racist ideas about the ability of Native Hawaiians to rule themselves caused problems with allowing women to vote. Members of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) petitioned the United States Congress to allow women's suffrage in Hawaii with no effect. Women's suffrage work picked up in 1912 when Carrie Chapman Catt visited Hawaii. Dowsett created the National Women's Equal Suffrage Association of Hawaiʻi that year and Catt promised to act as the delegate for NAWSA. In 1915 and 1916, Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole brought resolutions to the U.S. Congress requesting women's suffrage for Hawaii. While there were high hopes for the effort, it was not successful. In 1919, suffragists around Hawaii met for mass demonstrations to lobby the territorial legislature to pass women's suffrage bills. These were some of the largest women's suffrage demonstrations in Hawaii, but the bills did not pass both houses. Women in Hawaii were eventually franchised through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.
Alice Thacher Post was an American editor, suffragist, and pacifist. She was a founding officer of the Woman's Peace Party. She was married to Louis F. Post, who was Assistant Secretary of Labor in the Wilson administration.
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