No Votes for Women: The New York State Anti-Suffrage Movement

Conclusion

Conclusion Duringthepresidentialcampaignof1928thewomenoftheWomen’s National Republican Club held a mock convention to poke fun at the men who refused to let women into the inner sanctums of real power. It was not unusual for male Republican Party members to hold a “Gridiron Day” or “Amen Corner meetings” to poke fun at themselves. The women’s mock convention was an elaborate all-day affair held under the auspices of the Women’s National Republican Club National Affairs Committee on the roof garden of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.1 Ostensibly called for educational purposes, participants accurately represented each procedure of the convention . Sixty women made up the cast of the show, helping to prove the point that “the true wit and humor shown in the many speeches proves that the capability for keen insight combined with as keen a wit does not rest alone in the hands of men.”2 Their goal was to choose a well known Republican for president and “a total stranger, as usual” for vice president. While the voters would have to be “legal and qualified” to participate, the delegates did not have to be qualified, although they had to be legal. No delegate would be “discriminated against for age, color or even for membership in the League of Women Voters.”3 The delegates dressed in a wide range of costumes, including that of a cowboy , a bellhop, a dancer in a grass skirt who represented the delegate from Hawaii, a policeman, and several businessmen.4 Several delegates had theme songs such as “Maryland, My Maryland,” “The Good Old Summertime,” or 166 Conclusion “Oh,YouBeautifulDoll.”AliceHillChittenden,whoplayedthedelegatefrom Michigan, had as her theme song “Over There,” a tribute to her work during the Great War. The platform of the Republican Party included advocating for immigration (citing the need for cooks), foreign relations (the same as in 1924), farm relief (advocating that farmers leave the farms), law enforcement (the necessity of adhering to Emily Post’s Rules of Etiquette), Commerce and Navigation(increasingappropriationsforBathingBeautyContests),andMen in Politics (since the men had yet to get government “right,” they proposed to complete the task and “finish off the Government they have set up”).5 Once they had the platform in place, the delegates nominated their candidates for president and vice president. The delegate from Indiana, played by Henrietta Wells Livermore, announced the nomination of Dr. Mary Walker, “the only self-made man in the United States,” for president. Nominated because she was “indomitable, patriotic, unsexed, and unbeatable,” she campaigned under the slogan, “PantImage from the “Proceedings of the Mock Convention Held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, April 24, 1928.” This photograph shows members of the Women’s National Republican Club dressed in the costumes they wore to poke fun at the male-dominated political process. Photo courtesy of the Women’s National Republican Club, New York, N.Y., and the New York Public Library, New York, N.Y. Conclusion 167 ing for Pants.” Elizabeth Arden, the “apostle of beauty” who would “smooth every ugly line” and provide “ice packs for the Cabinet members so that they may be able to relax and their brains will not become overheated when they are discussing the queer things they call issues,” opposed Dr. Walker.6 A third candidate, Lydia E. Pinkham, the highly successful creator and marketer of a women’s tonic to relieve menstrual and menopausal symptoms, campaigned under the slogan, “A Baby in Every Bottle,” and was the “sworn enemy of race suicide.”7 Whennocandidatereceivedamajorityinthefirstvote,thesecretary called for a second one. Dr. Mary Walker and Lydia Pinkham lost to Elizabeth Arden,whohadbribedthedelegateswith“pink-ribbonedjarsofcoldcream.”8 ThedelegatefromOhionominatedDorothyDixforvicepresidentbecause the “right to pop the question is the only right that men have now that women do not possess”; she promised to eradicate flapperism.9 The delegate from Illinois ,whoproudlystoodformennomatterhowunpopularthestance,nominated Gene Tunney (the 1926–1928 world heavyweight boxing champion) for vice president since the convention had ignored one-half of the population —those “who bear the trunks of this Nation.”10 Again it took two votes, butthesecondtimeLydiaPinkhamwontheballot,althoughshehadnotbeen nominated for the office.11 Delighted by the witticisms of the convention, the audience expressed the hope that it would become an annual event. The profound symbolism of the mock convention illustrates the political dynamics and attitudes of women in the decade after their enfranchisement. It highlights the point that at its deepest level, the long struggle over woman suffragehadbeenanattempttounderstand,articulate,andrevisetherelationship...