The Impact of World War I and President Wilson on Womens Suffrage Essa

The Impact of World War I and President Wilson on Women's Suffrage On November 11, 1918, the armistice was signed that ended World War I. The Allies, including the United States, had won. The very next year the nineteenth amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote passed Congress and in 1920 went on to be ratified by the states. The women of the United States had also won. This timing was not mere coincidence. The war had a profound impact on the suffrage movement. It became the central issue in women’s activism for a federal suffrage amendment. In turn, the women used it as a plea and a bargaining chip for the support of politicians, specifically President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson was a pivotal figure in the last two years of the fight for women’s suffrage, 1917 and 1918. It was his influence on suffrage that ultimately won women the vote by his support of the federal amendment as an emergency war measure. Wilson’s support for a federal amendment was remarkable because before the war, he had not considered womenâ⠂¬â„¢s suffrage a federal amendment issue. Other historians rightfully credit Wilson for his all-important support of the federal suffrage amendment. Yet some do not document the evolution of his ideology on the issue, and those who do not go far enough. For years, Wilson had held the position that women’s suffrage was a states’ rights issue. On August 15, 1912, as Wilson was campaigning in Massachusetts, Governor Eugene Noble Foss wrote him to ask about his position on women’s suffrage. The Governor stated that he had been under pressure from local factions of the women’s movement to learn Wilson’s thoughts on the issue. Two days later Wilson responded and spelled it out for the Governor. â€Å"I must s... ...unardini and Steinson clearly shows Wilson’s important influence on the suffrage movement. It even conveys the fact that Wilson had not always supported a federal suffrage amendment, but neither Lunardini nor Steinson goes far enough in explaining the why and the how of his conversion. Through his correspondence with leaders in the women’s movement and other politicians, Wilson abandoned his previous position of suffrage as a state’s rights issue. He came to believe in a federal amendment for a variety of philosophical as well as practical concerns. This conversion and its process were important occurrences in the course of American women’s history. Without Wilson’s support it is impossible to tell how much longer the suffrage battle would have worn on, and his support would never have come about if it were not for all these influences on his evolving ideology.