Guest Author - Linda Sue Grimes

In 1912, women could vote in several Western states, but not in any state east of the Mississippi River, and during the presidential election of that same year, neither the Republican candidate William Howard Taft, nor the Democrat candidate Woodrow Wilson called for women’s suffrage at the national level.

Although in 1896, the Republican Party had been the first major party to endorse women’s suffrage, it was an independent or “third party” that would keep the issue in the forefront, making women’s suffrage a national issue that would finally result in women being allowed to vote by 1920. Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Progressive Party was open to leadership by women as the major party’s had never been.

Theodore Roosevelt, a former Republican, became a strong advocate for women’s rights, and it was reflected in his campaign. At the Progressive Party’s national convention in Chicago in August 1912, a number of women filled the positions of delegates and other leadership positions. William White, a newspaper editor from Kansas, remarked: “We were, of course, for woman suffrage, and we invited women delegates and had plenty of them. They were our own kind, too—women doctors, women lawyers, women teachers, college professors, middle-aged leaders of civic movements, or rich young girls who had gone in for settlement work.”

Jane Addams
The first woman to speak at a national convention was Jane Addams, who seconded the nomination of Roosevelt. Addams was one of the “rich young girls who had gone in for settlement work” referred to by White. The famous Hull House of Chicago was an example of a settlement house, where the poor could go for food and shelter.

First Woman to Cast Presidential Vote
Roosevelt captured six states, including Washington and California, in which women had the vote. A Progressive elector, Helen J. Scott is considered the first woman to cast a vote for a president.

Frances Kellor, who was a noted social worker, was appointed director of the Progressive Service, a division of the national Progressive Party. The service did research and published information about the party; it also secured witnesses for congressional hearings. It was rare in 1913 for women to fill such prominent positions in a political party.

The party also employed Jane Addams to serve on the executive committee of the national party; Mrs. Kellogg Fairbank of Illinois served as a member of the finance committee for the national organization, and Alice Carpenter worked for women suffrage and labor issues for the party.

Reference:
Bull Moose Years of Theodore Roosevelt
GOP History