Republicans led women’s suffrage struggle
Letters to the editor
To the Phoenix LOG,
This is a response to the April 26 column by Elstun Lauesen, “Join the call to end the war on women.”
With snarky ignorance, Mr. Lauesen refers to it as the “Republican war against women.” But the Democrats have not always been knights in shining armor. Consider Bill Clinton, a serial philanderer and sexual predator who lied under oath to conceal it. Then there was Ted Kennedy who let a woman drown in his car while he called his lawyer — before calling an ambulance. And what about Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer of New York who called an airline stewardess a “bitch” for doing her job and telling him to sit down!
In truth, it was Republicans who led the 40-year struggle for women’s suffrage while Democrats blocked them at every turn. Up until a century ago, only the Republican run states of Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, California and Washington allowed women to vote. Then, in 1918, Representative James R. Mann, a Republican from Illinois, introduced the 19th Amendment. It passed the Republican House by an overwhelming majority, then was approved by a Republican Senate. Democrats, led by Woodrow Wilson, opposed the amendment. In fact, all the states that refused to ratify the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, were run by Democrats.
Historically it has been the Democrats who have waged a “war on women.” But then, what can one expect from a party of separation in the South and ward boss thuggery in the North.
— August Cisar, Seward