1916:
Wilson, Women, and War
Two articles about Woodrow Wilson, women’s suffrage,
and the League of Nations
by
Bill Holden
Written in 2009.
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TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Introduction
1916: Wilson,
Women, and War
Part Two – A Speculation
Supplemental Information (like footnotes)
Research
About the Author
INTRODUCTION
My
father told the story many times of his mother voting for President Wilson in
1916 upon her first opportunity to vote. Women’s suffrage had arrived in Idaho
in 1916 and she hoped that the Wilson slogan “He kept us out of War” would mean
that her son would not be going to war.
My
maternal grandmother lived in California all her life, including when women’s
suffrage arrived there in 1912.
Much
of my career was spent as a lawyer for the Office of the California Secretary
of State, where I learned how research the Election Archives.
Putting
these threads together led me to write about how in 1916 Woodrow Wilson was
elected to a second term as president.
Thus
the title “1916: Wilson, Women, and War.”
President Woodrow Wilson, who in
1916 was
elected to a second term on a Lie
about War.
1916:
Wilson, Women, and War
In
1916 Republican Charles Evans Hughes went to bed on Election Night assuming
that he had won California and thus had been elected President of the United
States. In the morning he was told that Democrat Woodrow Wilson had won
California’s 13 electoral votes and had been elected to his second term as
president.
In
1910 Republican Hiram Johnson had been elected Governor of California as a
reform candidate. He was going to “throw the Southern Pacific Railroad out of
Sacramento.” In 1911, in order to carry out the reforms, the Legislature, at
the Governor’s urging, had proposed 20 amendments to the state Constitution for
the voters’ approval. One of the twenty was a proposal for women’s suffrage. In
a special election on October 10, 1911, a majority of the (then all-male)
electorate approved 19 of the 20 propositions, including approval of the
women’s suffrage amendment. The vote on the women’s suffrage amendment was
50.7% “yes” and 49.3% “no,” a difference of 3,587 votes.
My
maternal grandmother lived in California all her life and in 1912, at the age
of 45, voted for the first time.
In
the 1900, 1904, and 1908 presidential elections, Republicans William McKinley,
Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft, respectively, carried California
with 55%, 61%, and 55% of the vote.
Then
in 1912, the first year women voted in California, Theodore Roosevelt and the
Progressive Republican (popularly known at the “Bull Moose”) Party defeated
Woodrow Wilson and the Democratic Party by a mere 174 votes out of a total
presidential of some 678,000 votes. The Regular Republican Party and incumbent
William Howard Taft were almost nonexistent with less than 4,000 votes. The
presence of California Governor Hiram Johnson as Roosevelt’s vice presidential
candidate probably contributed decisively to Roosevelt’s California win.
In
1912, of course, Wilson won nationally based on the state electoral vote. He
had 42% of the national popular vote but 432 electoral votes whereas Roosevelt
had 27% of the popular vote and only 88 electoral votes. Taft had 23% of the
popular vote and 8 electoral votes. Socialist Eugene Debs had 3% of the popular
vote.
The
total presidential vote in California in 1900 had been 302,000, in 1904 had
been 331,000, in 1908 had been 386,000, and in 1912 was 678,000. A guess is
that women cast over a third of the 1912 presidential vote. After 1912,
California should have no longer been considered to be safely Republican and
should have been considered a toss-up state in presidential elections. Hughes
likely was behind the times which was why he went to bed on Election Night
instead of staying up for the California vote.
In
1916 the California vote was very close, with 465,936 votes for Wilson and
462,516 for Hughes. Incidentally, minor parties were significant. The Socialist
Party candidate drew 43,263 votes and the Prohibition Party candidate drew
27,316 votes. The total vote was virtually a million. Wilson had 46.64% of the
total vote while Hughes had 46.29%.
In
1916 the state electoral vote count was 277 for Wilson and 254 for Hughes.
Wilson had 49.2% of the national popular vote while Hughes had 46.1%.
Without
women’s suffrage, California would have voted Republican in 1916, as it had
earlier in the 20th Century. California became a toss-up state with
women’s suffrage in 1912 and continued as such in 1916. It is clear that the
women voters of California made the difference. Woodrow Wilson was the first
president elected by women voters.
However
there is a further story about Wilson’s victory and it is illustrated by my
paternal grandmother who lived in Idaho. Women’s suffrage having arrived in
Idaho in 1916, she at the age of 49 voted for the first time. Her then 23-year
old son (my father) was a senior at the University of Idaho. Woodrow Wilson’s
slogan had been “He kept us out of War.” Thinking of her son, my grandmother
voted for Wilson. In 1917 the presidential term began on March 4. On April 2,
1917, early in his second term, President Wilson asked Congress for a
resolution declaring a state of war with Imperial Germany. My father ended up
as an artillery lieutenant in France.
My
grandmother thought that the Wilson slogan was not only a description of
Wilson’s first term but was also a commitment to continue that policy if
elected for a second term. Undoubtedly a substantial number of voters thought
the same.
Another
event bearing on this discussion was the election by the voters of Montana,
also in 1916, of Republican Jeannette Rankin to Congress, the first female
member of Congress. When President Wilson in April of 1917 ask Congress for a
war resolution she voted “NO.” As a member of Congress, Jeannette Rankin was a
Republican, a woman, and against war. It looks like she and my grandmother were
thinking along the same lines.
My
conclusion about the slogan is that the slogan influenced more women to Wilson
than it did men. It made enough difference that Wilson won the state. Absent
the slogan, Hughes would have won California and the presidency.
With
respect to President Wilson’s request to Congress to adopt a war resolution, we
might ask “What did Wilson learn in April 1917 that he did not know in November
of 1916?” In his address to Congress, Wilson noted that Germany in April of
1916 had announced some restrictions on its submarine commanders, which
restrictions, in practice, were sometimes followed and sometimes not. Wilson
contrasted that policy with Germany lifting all restrictions on February 1,
1917, after which all ships would be sunk without warning. Even with the
restrictions some American ships and American crews had been lost. With respect
to unrestricted submarine warfare, Wilson stated “we will not choose the path
of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to
be ignored or violated.” The problem is that the same statement could have been
made as to restricted submarine warfare prior to Election Day but Wilson chose
to wait until after 29 days of his second term to talk about “the sacred rights
of our nation.” Wilson was not honest with the American voters.
Prior
to the Election Day of November 7, 1916, Wilson must have known that early in his
second term he would ask Congress for a war resolution. He could not make the
request prior to March 4, 1917 because that would have been within his first
term. He felt that the slogan must be considered to have been good for the
entirety of his first term but not thereafter.
Wilson’s
thinking must have been that the slogan was only a description of his first
term. It was not phrased in terms of commitment or any statement about the
future. He must have known that many voters interpreted the slogan as a policy
which would continue into his second term. He deliberately did not tell of his
plan to ask Congress for a war resolution because withholding that information
was the only way he could get elected to a second term.
Wilson’s
address to Congress on April 2, 1917 asking Congress for a war resolution was
filled with an amazing amount of detail which he must have been preparing prior
to Election Day. Thus he knew prior to Election Day that if elected to a second
term he would be taking the country into the War early in his second term. This
theme is set forth extensively in Part Two – A Speculation.
Our
21st Century journalists (as well as our late 20th
Century journalists) would never have let Wilson get away with not telling of
his plan to ask Congress for a war resolution early in his second term. They
would ask him for details about the slogan and ask him about commitment. They
would ask what he thought about submarine warfare and how important that
problem was to our country.
Put
simply, Wilson was elected to his second term on a LIE about WAR, which worked
together with women’s suffrage in California. It took both elements for Wilson’s
election to a second term.
STOWELL
AND HERMINA (Shontz) HOLDEN
1887 wedding photo of author’s
grandmother.
In 1916 she voted for the first time.
PART TWO – A
SPECULATION
President
Woodrow Wilson’s address to a joint session of Congress on April 2, 1917,
asking Congress to adopt a resolution to recognize the state of war which had
been thrust upon the United States by Imperial Germany, contains a number of
statements, which when considered together lead to the interesting speculation
that Wilson had an overall Grand Plan.
Starting
here there are set forth nine separate excerpts from that address:
1. “International
law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected
and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where lay
the free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage has that law been
built up … This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under
the plea of retaliation and necessity.”
2. “There
is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making; we will not choose
the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our
people to be ignored or violated.”
3. “What
this [war resolution] will involve is clear. It will involve the immediate full
equipment of the navy in all respects … It will involve the immediate addition
to the armed forces of the United States already provided for by law in case of
war at least five hundred thousand men … and also the authorization of
subsequent additional increments of equal force.”
4. “Our
object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the
life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst
the truly free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose
and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of those principles.”
5. “We
are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same
standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed
among nations and their governments that are observed among the individuals
citizens of civilized states.”
6. “A
steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of
democratic nations.”
7. “It
must be a League of Honor, a partnership of democratic nations.”
8. “The
world must be made safe for democracy.”
9. “But
the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which
we have always carried dearest to our hearts, for democracy, for the right of
those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the
rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by
such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations
and make the world itself at last free.”
Let me suggest that these excerpts read together point to a
Wilson Grand Plan of being at the peace conference following the defeat of
Germany. At that conference he would be the Architect of a new International
Law to protect democracies from being overrun by autocracies. Wilson would also
be the Architect of what Wilson called a “League of Honor” to administer and
enforce the International Law and to settle disputes between nations.
Notice also the
repetition of “concert.” In #4 above “a concert of purpose and of action.” In
#6 “A steadfast concert for peace.” In #9 “a concert of free peoples.” One
might wonder whether Wilson considered himself as the conductor with the other
nations as the musicians who always followed his lead.
The steps leading to
Wilson’s architectural success can be set down in reverse of events.
1. In
order that Wilson be respected at the peace conference, the United States must
have entered the war and must have been a major factor in the German surrender.
2. In
order that the United States be a major factor in the war, the United States
must have raised a sizable army and not be involve merely in the naval war
and/or supplying the Allies with war material. The army of one million men
mentioned in the address was a good start to creating a sizable army.
3. In
order to ask Congress for a war resolution Wilson had to defeat Charles Evans
Hughes and be elected to his second term.
4. In
order to defeat Hughes, Wilson could not appear to be pro-war and (to his
surprise) he also had to carry California. The 1912 presidential election with
women’s suffrage in California had demonstrated that either party could carry
California. Wilson’s slogan “He kept us out of War” appealed more to women than
to men and Wilson’s 3,420 vote plurality over Hughes in California undoubtedly
was attributable to that slogan together with women’s suffrage.
Wilson’s Grand Plan
depended on taking the country to war early in his second term. The Wilson “He
kept us out of war” slogan was phrased as a description of his first term and
was not phrased as a commitment for a second term but enough voters voted for
Wilson based on a hope for a continuation of that policy that he carried
California.
One such voter in
another state was my first-time voter grandmother living in Idaho, where
women’s suffrage had arrived in 1916. She voted for Wilson because she hoped
her son (my father) would not be going to war. Her hope disappeared after 29
days of Wilson’s second term and her son ended up as an artillery lieutenant in
France.
Twice in his address he
used the words “League of Honor.” He also said “The world must be made safe for
democracy.” The “League of Honor” must be limited to democracies because such a
nation would not make war on another nation, the will of the people being
significant in the governing of a democracy as opposed to autocracies or
nations ruled by a small group of men.
Putting this all
together leads me to suggest that Wilson had a Grand Plan. Wilson thought that
he could be the Architect of a “League of Honor” which would establish an
International Law and governing body to solve disputes between nations and
which League of Honor would be recognized and respected by all the leading
nations.
In order for Wilson to
become that Architect it was necessary that the United States join the war
against Imperial Germany and be a major factor in a successful outcome.
Prior to the November
7, 1916 election, Wilson knew that he was going to take the country into war
early in his second term. But in order to be elected to a second term he could
not appear to be pro-war. The Wilson slogan was not phrased as a commitment for
a second term. The slogan was vague enough that many people would think, or at
least hope, that he would continue to keep us out of war into his second term.
Having been elected to
a second term, the German announcement, on February 1, 1917, of unrestricted
submarine warfare gave Wilson the ready basis to ask for a war resolution early
in the second term. Even without the German declaration, there were many
sinkings of United States flag vessels and loss of American lives, enough to
justify a war resolution. But the German declaration allowed Wilson to state to
Congress that the situation had changed completely since he announced the
slogan “He kept us out of War.” Thereafter the German announcement in effect
overcame the Wilson slogan. The wording of the war resolution was not a
“declaration of war” but instead “recognized the state of war which had been
thrust upon the United States by Imperial Germany.”
In his address to
Congress he visualized a 500,000 man Army early on followed directly by a
build-up to a 1,000,000 man Army. In this way the United States would be a
major factor in the conduct of the war.
After the war there
would be a peace conference which Wilson would attend and he thought that he
would be able to sell the European powers on his “League of Honor.”
It all worked out as
Wilson planned, except that the name became “League of Nations” rather than
“League of Honor” and except that Wilson was unable to sell the League of
Nations to the American people. The United States did not become a member of
the League of Nations. In practice the League of Nations was a failure at
settling disputes between nations. The failure was due to the League membership
not being solely among democracies, a point Wilson had made in the “League of
Honor” portion of his April 2, 1917 address to Congress.
A reverse example of
Wilson’s democracy membership requirement would be Germany. When Adolph Hitler
became Chancellor of Germany in January of 1933, one of his first actions was
to take Germany out of the League of Nations, which League the Versailles
Treaty had required Germany to join. Apparently Hitler did not want the League
of Nations trying to put any restrictions on Germany’s freedom of action.
It is obvious that
prior to Election Day, November 7, 1916, Wilson knew that he was going to take
the country into war early in his second term. Not sharing that specific intent
with the voters amounted to a LIE. It seems clear that Wilson must have known
that he was lying to the voters but probably in his own mind it was justified
if it was a necessary step to his Grand Plan of being the Architect of World
Peace. If the League of Nations had succeeded, his name would have lived
forever throughout the world.
SUPPLEMENTAL
INFORMATION
In 1914 Republican
Hiram Johnson was elected to a second term as Governor of California and in
1916 was elected to the United States Senate in the same election in which he,
as the father of women’s suffrage in California, was delivering Wilson his
California victory which became Wilson’s national victory. Johnson served in
the Senate until his death in 1945.
_______
My mother lived in
California all her life and in 1911 when women “got the vote” in California,
she was only 15. My mother never “got the vote.” Instead in 1917 she qualified
as a voter in the same manner that the men qualified. She became 21 years old,
the then-legal voting age.
_______
New Hampshire with its
four electoral votes was another state which Wilson won and with a lesser
percentage of the popular vote than Wilson had in California. His margin in
California had been 0.34% of the total vote and in New Hampshire had been
0.06%. Without Wilson’s slogan Hughes would have carried New Hampshire.
_______
In 1940 Jeannette
Rankin was again elected to Congress from Montana and after December 7, 1941,
when Congress voted for war against Japan, she again voted “NO.”
RESEARCH
California Secretary of State Election Archives
October 10, 1911
Special Election
Proposition 8, Women’s
Suffrage
Yes 125,037
No 121,450
1916 Presidential
Election
(California
had 13 electoral votes. Each party names 13 persons to have their
names on the ballot as presidential
electors. Voters voted for up to 13 names as
presidential electors. The
number of voters for presidential electors was not the
same for each party’s electors.)
The number of votes for Wilson’s
presidential electors ranged from a high of 465,936 to
a low of 463,709.
The number of votes for Hughes’
presidential electors ranged from a high of 462,516 to a
Low of 460,821.
_______
New
Hampshire Secretary of State Election Archives
1916 Presidential
Election
(New
Hampshire had four electoral votes. The names of the two candidates were
on the ballot. Voters voted for one
of the candidates. Whichever party’s candidate
had
the most votes, that party’s presidential electors became the New Hampshire
presidential
electors.)
Democrat Wilson received 43,787 votes.
Republican Hughes received 43,724 votes.
_______
Montana
Secretary of State Election Archives
1916 Congressional Election
(Montana
elected two members to the House of Representatives. They ran at large
and
not by district. Each party nominated two persons for the ballot. Voters voted
for
up to two. They need not be of the same party. The two candidates with the
most
votes were elected.)
Democrat John M. Evans had 84,499
votes. Republican Jeannette Rankin had 76,932
votes. The others had fewer votes.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Bill
Holden has always lived in California, except for his Navy service in WW II. He
graduated from Loyola Law School Los Angeles. The greater part of his law
career was spent with the Office of the California Secretary of State. Now
retired (as of 2009) he lives in Fair Oaks, California (suburban Sacramento).
For comment (encouraged) or to obtain more free copies, use email.
Email
address (as of 2009)
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