The Woman's Hour

When Catt arrives at her hotel in Nashville, she assesses the bleak current situation. Tennessee suffragists consist of squabbling factions divided along regional lines. Catt’s job will be to get the warring groups to work together. In addition, an immediate crisis looms in the form of a political satire aimed at Suff advocate Governor Roberts. “If this mockery hit the streets in the pages of the city’s leading pro-suffrage newspaper, it would embarrass the governor: he might renege on his promise to call the legislature into special session to consider ratification” (28).

Catt hosts a reception at the elegant Hotel Hermitage and invites the newspaper’s publisher Luke Lea to attend. “The Chief,” as Catt’s colleagues know her, convinces Lea to suppress the parody because it might destroy all hopes of ratification within Tennessee. After some polite wrangling, Lea reluctantly agrees. “The matter concluded, the colonel strode out of the Chief’s suite. One down. Now the governor” (37).

As Josephine Pearson begins her plan of attack, she relies heavily on her Anti allies. Foremost among them is lawyer John Jacob Vertrees. Vertrees has published a number of opinion pieces espousing the view that women are too irrational and physically debilitated by their reproductive functions to engage in politics. He is a firm believer that men must unilaterally decide what is good for women and what rights they ought to have.

Pearson agrees fully with the theories that Vertrees espouses. She is dismayed by the effect that World War I has had on American women, who participated in the war effort by succeeding in traditionally male work:

They’d been called upon to take up men’s work, in the coal mines, […] in the munitions plants, in the streetcars and elevators. They’d donned men’s clothes and been paid men’s salaries, and the worst part of it was—the women seemed to enjoy it! (43).

Pearson is determined to stop the moral degeneracy she believes these changes presage. She and her allies meet to consider the best way to attack the Suffs, now converging on Nashville prior to the ratification vote. Their most obvious target is Catt, and they intend to paint her as evil incarnate—the enemy of all the Old South holds dear.

The push for women’s rights in America sprang from the Abolitionist movement of the early 19th century. Women had worked tirelessly at the forefront of Abolition and the Underground Railroad, but had failed to achieve recognition for their efforts. When Elizabeth Cady Stanton and several other female delegates were denied the opportunity to speak at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, Stanton came home newly resolved to liberate women and Black people. She was later to write, “It seemed as if all the elements had conspired to impel me to some onward step. I could not see what to do or where to begin, my only thought was a public meeting for protest and discussion” (48).

Stanton and her colleagues organized the Woman’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls to formally launch the American women’s movement. The most controversial statement of Stanton’s Declaration of Sentiments asserted that women should be granted the right to vote. While many attendees balked at the resolution, the well-known abolitionist Frederick Douglass firmly supported it.

The convention drew attention to the woman question for the first time, and a group of activists coalesced around its principles: “At the center were Elizabeth Stanton, the new movement’s philosopher; Lucretia Mott, its moral force; Lucy Stone, its voice; and Susan Anthony, its organizer” (53).

As the Civil War loomed, the question of Black emancipation became critical for the nation. The women’s movement temporarily took a back seat as its organizers threw all their energy into petitioning the government for an amendment to guarantee black male suffrage. In the process, Stanton and her colleagues learned the basics of organizing masses of women to support a single political movement. This knowledge would be critical to their battle for women’s suffrage 70 years later

As a representative of NWP, Sue White faces a specific set of challenges. Even though she is native to Tennessee and understands the political players and the cultural climate, her tactics ruffle feathers: “Everything about the National Woman’s Party irritated southern sensibilities […] its federal amendment doctrine, its fierce opposition to President Wilson and the Democrats, and especially its combative, distinctly unladylike style” (59).

Years earlier, White had defected from NAWSA and earned the distrust of Catt. She is now in the unenviable position of trying to avoid her former boss while pursuing her agenda. White doesn’t share Catt’s sanguine view that Tennessee will be an easy victory because the state already granted limited suffrage to women a year earlier. Instead, White sees emerging difficulties:

The East Tennessee Republicans who had supported the partial suffrage bill were probably not going to be so obliging this time around, lest ratification be fashioned into a feather in the Democrats’ cap for the fall elections (64). 

Governor Albert Houston Roberts has just returned to Nashville after quieting labor unrest throughout the state. The author describes him as a man in over his head:

He was a serious, earnest man with a milquetoast personality: a teacher turned lawyer, a circuit-riding judge turned hapless politician. He had good intentions, but he couldn’t execute his ideas smoothly or get people to understand (66).

Roberts dreads his upcoming meeting with Catt. He fears that pushing for the ratification of the suffrage amendment will constitute political suicide. His enemies are eager to take advantage of any misstep. He worries about the Suffs, as well as labor unions, black voters, manufacturing interests, and political rivals.

When Roberts sits down to discuss matters with Catt, she—an experienced and skilled negotiator—urges him to push ratification forward: “They were, in fact, two politicians making a deal. Governor Roberts wasn’t accustomed to negotiating political deals with ladies, it made him uncomfortable. And more malleable” (72). At first, Roberts is unwilling to allow his political enemies to become part of his committee, so Catt suggests Roberts create multiple ratification committees. They will be troublesome to coordinate but will create less tension among all the participants in the long run. “She had rescued the governor’s exposed hide, not to mention his fragile ego, from the fire” (72-73). Roberts ultimately agrees to the Chief’s proposal.