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Theodore Roosevelt provides his opinion on a federal amendment for women’s suffrage. Roosevelt writes that he supports the passage of a federal amendment and compares it to the actions of men who used their votes to abolish child labor and to pass workmen’s compensation laws.
1916-08-04
![Women suffragettes visit Theodore Roosevelt at Sagamore [1917]](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/theodorerooseveltcenter/TRC/Video/Video_Thumbnail.JPG)
Film is the opening of the second New York State suffrage campaign on September 8, 1917, at Sagamore Hill. The first campaign, beginning in 1913, was unsuccessful; the woman suffrage amendment was rejected by the voters in 1915. On November 6, 1917, the suffrage amendment to the New York State Constitution was approved by the voters. The suffragists invited to Sagamore Hill were headed by Mrs. Norman deR. Whitehouse, State Chairman of the New York State Woman Suffrage Party. Sequence of Roosevelt talking to three women: the woman in the dark hat and coat is Mrs. Ogden Mills Reid; the woman dressed in furs next to Roosevelt is Mrs. Whitehouse; and the tall woman in the light hat and jacket is Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw.
Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound
1917
Theodore Roosevelt approves of the work being done by the Women’s Department of the National Civic Federation and discusses women’s rights. He believes the success of the movement to acknowledge women’s equality with men in political rights will be depend on its concrete results. If women do their duty better for having those rights, then they should have them. Their primary duty is in the home. If Roosevelt believed that women would not fulfill those duties well because they gained the right to vote, he would not advocate for them to have that right; just as he would not advocate for men to have political rights if he believed that their having them would take them from their prime duty of providing for their wives and families.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1916-03-29
President Roosevelt thanks Ambassador Reid for what he said to Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, and will accept the offer of the special shooting license for himself and his son Kermit. He is glad that Crewe-Milnes understands that he does not want a fuss in Nairobi when he first arrives. Roosevelt wants to go directly to Mombasa, and from there to Alfred E. Pease’s ranch. Roosevelt also states that Reid’s feeling about the complications in the Balkans was justified, and that what Reid heard about his answer to the women’s suffrage people is true. He is amused with the cartoon of himself and the article on Reid, and shares Reid’s feeling on caricatures.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-17
Senator Lodge expects that the Democrats have nominated Alton B. Parker as their presidential candidate, and he believes Roosevelt and the Republicans can win the election easily. Lodge discusses several planks of the Republican platform and how they may affect the election.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-09
Journalist Gene Frances Baker, who wrote under the name Gene Baker, reports on the crowd of women who “came in droves” to hear Margaret Sanger speak at the Hotel Oakland ballroom. Sanger, who Baker describes as “feminine” with “personal warmth,” scientifically and clearly described the issue of birth control. She criticized the censorship of the United States Postal Service and former President Roosevelt’s sense of morality. Sanger asked the audience who was more moral: she, for encouraging small, responsible families, or Roosevelt, for encouraging American couples to have many children? At this, Baker reports that Sanger received a great deal of applause, indicating that “the Rooseveltian theory would never win him many of the women’s votes.”
The Margaret Sanger Papers Project
1916-06-15
The August 1913 edition of The Progressive Bulletin celebrates the one-year anniversary of the Progressive Party’s first national convention. It discusses many of the principles of the Party and includes mention of Theodore Roosevelt’s involvement at the previous year’s convention.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1913-08
James A. Edgar writes a form letter, announcing an upcoming meeting of the Progressive Party and highlighting the party’s importance and platform on various issues including women’s suffrage and capital punishment.
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1915-08-18
Black ink cartoon of Theodore Roosevelt wearing a fur-lined coat and feathered fedora with “Votes for Women” written on it. He is holding a bunch of flowers behind his back with the tag “From Your Friend T.R.” Roosevelt is knocking on a door labeled “Campaign Headquarters Woman’s Suffrage.”
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site
1912-02-17
A woman holding a flag labeled “Woman Suffrage” stands behind an angry hag labeled “Militant Lawlessness” with a Medusa-like face. The hag, wide-eyed and open mouthed, rushes toward the viewer, carrying a bomb and a torch with smoke labeled “Arson.”
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1913-06-04
Theodore Roosevelt shares with Anna Roosevelt Cowles his frustration with the number of invitations he receives to dedicate and/or deliver speeches at local institutions around the country, and the lack of understanding he encounters when he declines such invitations. He has spoken in almost every state since he returned from safari several months earlier, and while he wanted to do so, he has decided that he will speak only at occasions or for causes that will receive a national audience. He writes about his views on women’s suffrage, saying that he “tepidly” favors it where the majority of women desire it themselves. However, he does not believe it to be of much consequence, believing that it will do only a small bit of good, and none of the harm that its opponents insist it will.
1911-06-29