CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT PROPOSES A LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
St. Louis, Missouri (JFK+50) On March 24, 1919, Carrie Chapman Catt*, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, spoke at the group's convention here in St. Louis where the NAWSA celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding.
President Catt said...
"I propose a memorial whose benefits will bless our entire nation and bring happiness to the humblest of our citizens...a League of Women Voters to "Finish the Fight" and to aid in the reconstruction of the nation.
Let us raise up a League of Women Voters...that shall be non-partisan and non-sectarian and consecrated to...
1. secure the final enfranchisement of the women of every state & to reach across the seas in aid of the women's struggle...in every land
2. remove legal discrimination against women
3. make our democracy safe for the nation and the world
All things worth having are possible. I believe in my America. I believe in her ideals, her common sense, her responsiveness to duty. When she understands, she has never proved false to a single appeal to justice. She has never failed to rise to her full measure of greatness when the call has been made. She will not fail now."
*Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) was born in Ripon, WI & educated at Iowa State University. She was the only woman in her graduating class. CCC was a teacher & school superintendent and was founder of the League of Women Voters & the International Alliance of Women.
SOURCE
"The Nation Calls--March 24, 1919," Iowa State University, Archives of Women's Political Communication, www.awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/
Carrie Chapman Catt &
Anna Howard Shaw
Bain Photo (1917)
Library of Congress Image
