|
|
Elizabeth Thacher Kent
By Nancy Smith Harris
In conjunction with the Writer's Center of Marin
In a 1977 interview, Roger Kent, youngest son of Elizabeth Thacher Kent and William Kent, recalled an incident on the 1948 campaign trail in his run for Congress. I. G. Zumwalt, a prominent citizen of Colusa, California, approached the candidate at a benefit luncheon. "Good luck to you, young man," he told Kent, "Your father beat me, but I never figured it was your father. I always figured that it was your mother. She was really quite a campaigner!"
Elizabeth Thacher Kent campaigned for her husband in each of his congressional races. She campaigned just as vigorously for women's rights, for international peace, for refugees and orphans, all in a time when many women of her background and generation quietly devoted themselves wholly to children and husbands. Thacher Kent was an independent and strong-willed woman who gave tremendous energy to her family, to her community, and to the world at large. And she had the support of her husband, William.
When colleagues implored California Congressman William Kent to convince his wife to withdraw from her work opposing Woodrow Wilson's run for re-election in the 1916 presidential race, Kent, who was also the national chairman of Wilson's campaign, told his wife that he'd always valued his independence more than anything else and did not see why she should give hers up.
Thacher Kent continued her efforts, campaigning in California and Oregon, opposing Wilson and other Democratic nominees on the grounds of party responsibility. At the time, she'd recently traveled to Nevada to work for suffrage, where the state measure passed; she'd campaigned in Delaware, speaking at a suffrage parade rally there, only to see that state's measure fail. Increasingly frustrated by the immobility of Congress on the suffrage issue, Thacher Kent joined ranks with Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, national leaders of the suffrage movement, in speaking out against Wilson's reelection.
"In the last Congress, Wilson, supported by a party majority in the Senate and the House," wrote Thacher Kent, "could have passed the Federal equal-suffrage amendment and failed to do so."
The fight for women's suffrage in the U.S. had been on-going since long before Thacher Kent was born in 1868, the only daughter in a family of eleven boys, to Yale Latin Professor Thomas Thacher and his wife, Elizabeth Sherman Thacher. The year of Thacher Kent's birth brought ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The fourteenth and fifteenth amendments were created after the Civil War to give former male slaves the right to vote. Women, both black and white, were left disenfranchised.
When Thacher Kent was four years old, Susan B. Anthony, the first leader of the American women's suffrage movement, entered a polling booth in Rochester, New York, and voted, in violation of both federal and state laws. Anthony was indicted under an 1870 congressional act, which made it illegal for women to vote. Found guilty in a federal court case and ordered to pay a fine of $100, Anthony responded by saying that she would not pay a penny of it.
By the time Elizabeth Thacher married William Kent on a sunny hillside in the Ojai Valley in 1890, a union of another sort was taking place. The National Woman Suffrage Association, under the direction of Miss Anthony, and the American Woman Suffrage Association, under Elizabeth Cady Stanton, merged. The American Association's policy had been to win suffrage state by state; Susan B. Anthony's national organization put continued pressure on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment. By joining forces, the leaders of the suffrage movement, now united under the title of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), hoped to push politicians at both the state and national levels to obtain the right to vote for women.
Meanwhile, the Kents settled in Chicago, where they ran the family business ventures and began raising their family of seven children. They soon became actively involved in Chicago community life.
"There was a large group of young professional and business men in Chicago during these years who met frequently at lunch time," Thacher Kent wrote in her biography of William. "At the University Club there was a special table reserved for them. Important city problems were discussed and often solved. " Thacher Kent went on to give the names of local politicians, leading Chicago architects, and newspaper magnates.
In the Kent home on Ellis Avenue, many members of the family's influential circle convened for dinner parties and overnight stays. Thacher Kent, busy with her young family, nevertheless kept herself well-informed on local and national political issues. It was in Chicago that she first met activist and social worker Jane Addams, who was working for the local chapter of the suffrage association.
On vacations, the Kent family traveled by train to visit Thacher Kent's brothers, who administered the Thacher School in the Ojai Valley, and to see William Kent's family in Marin County. In 1907, the Chicago Kents joined William's family in Marin, resettling first in San Rafael, and eventually in Kentfield. In California, Thacher Kent observed that the local political climate had brought both victory and upset for the women's suffrage movement.
In 1893, the California state legislature had approved suffrage for women, only to have the governor veto the bill as unconstitutional. In 1896, a statewide referendum had defeated suffrage. Although the suffrage measure had the support of Populists, Prohibitionists, Republicans, and unions, it was defeated by a sizeable majority.
The California campaign of 1894 had been the biggest of the century and it was no longer church groups and small groups of conservative citizens who battled the suffragists. Big business interests now controlled millions of dollars in political contests. The liquor dealers, for one, held a meeting in San Francisco to organize opposition to the women's cause, believing that if women were given the right to vote, they would vote for prohibition.
The defeat of the 1896 measure only spurred the suffragists on. Disenfranchisement concerned women from all walks of life at the turn of the century and by the time Thacher Kent and her family were settled in California, women's clubs, unions, church groups, black groups, temperance groups and Socialists had all begun to incorporate the suffrage issue into their day-to-day grassroots community work.
Within three years of the family's relocation to California, Thacher Kent was on the campaign trail with husband William, who was running for his first term in Congress. The congressional district ran north to the Oregon border, east to Nevada, and south into San Joaquin and the Kents traveled it tirelessly, speaking with residents about the issues of the day. At the same time, Thacher Kent continued to campaign for the suffrage movement in California, again attempting to help California constituents win the vote. This time, Thacher Kent and her colleagues were successful; now it was time for the movement to expand eastward, having been victorious in the state of Washington as well.
The Kent family resettled in Washington, D.C. where William took up his duties in Congress. Thacher Kent astutely surmised that "social life in Washington is a business." On a visit to California, Thacher Kent was invited to speak at a meeting of the Tamalpais Centre Woman's Club, where she explained the process by which the suffragists continually kept an amendment for women's suffrage on the agenda for introduction in the House of Representatives each term. In fact, she told the gathering, she'd quickly found herself playing a prominent role in house proceedings. In 1911, Thacher Kent, as Chair of the Congressional Committee of NAWSA, had the responsibility of presenting the amendment for suffrage before the House of Representatives.
For many Washington wives, family, husband's careers, and households were enough to keep them busy. But events in her first few years as a congressional wife conspired to insure that Thacher Kent would continue to work for the women's movement.
The first of these was her participation in the first Fifth Avenue parade. Thacher Kent marched along with NAWSA leaders. It was probably while visiting her close friend, the outspoken feminist Mrs. Lillian Rogers, that Thacher Kent was inspired to join the parade herself. Rogers, on a visit to the Kent household in California, had helped Thacher Kent campaign for suffrage. In his transcribed memoirs, Roger Kent recalls that a few years later, his mother "would be working with Alice Paul and with Lil Rogers."
"I remember one of the ladies telling me, when I was quite young, 'I hope you don't think your mother is just a mother'," recalls Roger, " . . . 'she isn't just a mother; she's really quite an extraordinary person'!" Kent adds, "She was a strong person and a wise person."
The second defining moment insuring Thacher Kent's continued dedication to the suffragist movement came when she and William traveled to Europe and were invited to sit in on a session of Parliament. It was during a break in the session that Thacher Kent saw how very different the suffragist movement in England was from the American campaign.
"The members come out on the terrace at four o'clock in the afternoon for a cup of tea," she recalled in a talk to a women's club. "The suffragettes, who are ever on the alert for an opportunity to express themselves saw a point of vantage. One afternoon, they drew up in front of the recreating lords and commoners in two launches, and began to speak with all their might. Police were ordered to come with grappling hooks and pull the boats away, which they soon proceeded to do. But one woman was armed with a pair of tin shears, and by cutting loose the officers hold, gained time to deliver more of her sentiments."
Inspired by this display and curious about the startling difference between the staid, respectable American suffrage movement and the energized, militant English effort, Thacher Kent, despite the disapproval of her children, decided to attend a suffrage meeting in London.
There, two professional hecklers interrupted the speaker at every turn. Recognizing Thacher Kent as an American, the speaker asked her to talk about the movement in America. "...they listened with respectful attention, not even the trained rioters offering to interrupt," recalled Thacher Kent.
Thacher Kent and other American suffragists were beginning to realize that their movement had been too narrowly focused, primarily engaging women from the upper classes, when it was working women who would benefit most from the passing of suffrage law. They needed to involve women from all walks of life, to reach out beyond teas and small community events, bringing working-class as well as professional women into the movement beyond the grassroots level.
Another prong of the English movement that had been missing from the American effort was the politicization of the cause. American leaders decided to publish propaganda meant to educate women at large about the political aspects of suffrage. Public meetings were held. In New York, a catalog was published, indicating where every local politician stood on the issue of suffrage. The Judiciary Committee was petitioned for the discharge of the suffrage bill, which had not been mentioned on the senate floor for fifteen years. Although the measure was defeated, suffragists had succeeded, for the first time in many years, in sparking debate in both houses of congress.
Thacher Kent was quick to recognize the gains taking place. Speaking before community members at the Tamalpais Women's Centre, she said, "Last session seven congressmen asked, without being prompted by any woman, that the word 'sex' be eliminated from the clause in the constitution defining the qualifications of a voter. Nobody expects the measure to pass, but women pleading for it before the congressional committee had their speeches franked all over the country, giving the cause wide advertising."
Thacher Kent went to work for the fiery Alice Paul and her associate, Lucy Burns, youthful successors to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Paul and Burns were satisfied that a federal amendment was the shortest route to achieving the vote for American women. With Thacher Kent's financial support, the suffragists opened headquarters on F Street, not far from the Kent household. They organized the first demonstration in Washington, timing it to coincide with newly elected Woodrow Wilson's inauguration. When President Wilson arrived in Washington, he was surprised by the sparse group of supporters who met him at the train station.
"Where are all the crowds?" Wilson asked an aid.
"Over on Pennsylvania Avenue, watching the suffrage parade," was the answer.
The demonstration garnered its share of publicity and the persistent Alice Paul immediately followed up by calling on Wilson to ask where he stood on the issue of suffrage. Wilson responded that it was a matter for study. The National Council of Woman Voters responded to Wilson’s foot-dragging by holding their annual convention in Washington in August of the same year. A few weeks later, NAWSA members arrived in Washington to hold a convention. Characteristically, Wilson excused himself from meeting with the organization's delegation. Congress still refused to act on the issue of suffrage and the women decided to bring more pressure to bear by opposing democrats in the upcoming elections. Two years later, when Wilson was up for re-election, Thacher Kent joined Alice Paul and her constituents in opposing the president.
After his reelection, Wilson remained stubbornly opposed to taking action on behalf of the suffragists, advising them that the country was not yet ready for such a measure and that the suffragists should put their energy into educating the American people on the issue to mobilize public support. Meanwhile, the president was concentrating on efforts to keep the U.S. out of World War I.
"How to do this in war time," wrote Thacher-Kent, "how to make people even think of women's suffrage at such a time was a problem. However, when phrases like 'making the world safe for democracy' were given the widest publicity and were receiving a patriotic and intensely emotional response, the suffragists, under the brilliant leadership of Alice Paul, were impelled to indicate dramatically that, here at home, we did not yet have democracy and that half the adult population was not yet enfranchised."
When the president continued to refuse to meet with Alice Paul's delegations, she organized picketers, who marched in front of the east and west gates of the White House. Thacher Kent began delivering William's overcoats, along with wheelbarrows full of warmed bricks, to the obstinate protestors, who stood their ground through rain and cold. It wasn't long before she joined their ranks and was twice arrested for picketing the White House. William Kent, her biggest supporter, paid the bail of $25 both times, despite Thacher Kent's protest.
The suffragists eventually won President Wilson's support for their cause but it would take another year and a half of constant pressure on delegates to win the necessary votes in Congress. Finally, in May of 1919, the Sixty-Sixth Congress was called in special session and the suffrage amendment passed through the House quickly. In the Senate, the measure passed after long discussion. Thacher Kent did not see the signing of the measure in Washington. Back in California, she'd begun working on the campaign for William's senatorial bid, after having seen him through three terms as congressman.
"In May of 1920, the last state ratified the Susan B. Anthony Amendment to the United States Constitution, forever guaranteeing American women the right to vote," wrote author Nancy Nakai in her nomination of Elizabeth Thacher Kent for the Marin Women's Hall of Fame award. "The suffrage effort took generations of women thousands of hours to win the battle. Elizabeth Thacher Kent was one of them."
Once the right to vote was achieved, Thacher Kent was not content to settle into suburban domesticity. She turned her attention to another urgent humanitarian endeavor spearheaded by her fellow suffragist, Jane Addams.
As the first vice-president of NAWSA, Addams had impressed Thacher Kent with her impassioned address before Congress. After winning the vote for women, Addams went on to become president of the fledgling Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). The league was begun in 1915 when its organizers, leading women in the international suffrage alliance, recognized a connection between their struggle for equal rights and the struggle for peace. They met in an International Congress in The Hague, the Netherlands, to protest against the European conflict, to suggest possible resolutions, and to work for the prevention of future wars.
Thacher Kent quickly joined forces with Addams, sponsoring the Marin County Chapter and working as its president for many years. Thacher Kent assisted the league in organizing meetings, seminars, and conferences to educate the public about the league's mission and goals. With the outbreak of World War II, she continued the league's work for world peace and assisted in the relocation efforts on behalf of European and Asian refugees. Functioning on the international, national, and local levels, the league, now in its eighty-fifth year, continues to educate, inform, and mobilize women for action to achieve its goals.
"Mother kept herself busy," Roger Kent recalled in his taped interview, "my mother would never be idle." After helping secure American women's right to vote, while helping promote the cause of peace through the WILPF, Elizabeth Thacher Kent also worked on community causes in her own backyard.
For more than forty years, Thacher Kent sponsored the Sunny Hills Grape Festival at her home to raise money for the Sunnyhills Orphanage. Roger recalled the annual event. "Surrounding the house, they planted four really quite large vineyards. The grapes were sold at the grape festival. It gradually built up into a big county kind of fair." Kent went on to describe what was an impressive gathering of Marin residents, complete with cakes and baseball throwing, rifle shooting, crafts, etc.
Remarkably, Thacher Kent's involvement in community and world affairs appears to have never compromised her role within the Kent family. "Mother put family first," recalled Roger. Granddaughters Eleanor Kent and Molly Kent Schardt describe her as a wonderful grandmother who listened carefully to what children had to say, treating them with the same respect she would give another adult. "If children wanted to do something, she helped them to achieve their goals in very specific ways," says Eleanor.
"I think what Grandmother would have been most proud of," adds Molly Schardt, "is her sense of justice, her fairness, her willingness to listen to both sides of an argument before coming to a decision. I have a sense of having been loved and inspired by her, taught and trained--all at the same time."
|
