Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites Who Fought for Women's Right to Vote by Johanna Neuman

Abstract

Reviewed by: Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites Who Fought for Women's Right to Vote by Johanna Neuman Karen Pastorello Gilded Suffragists: The New York Socialites Who Fought for Women's Right to Vote. By Johanna Neuman. New York: New York University Press, 2017. 240 pages. $24.95 Cloth. Gilded Suffragists is exactly what Johanna Neuman intends it to be—an informative and compelling narrative about the fight to win woman's suffrage. Neuman successfully chronicles the lives of white elite New York City women who arrived at their place of power and privilege by marrying well and who supported suffrage for women. Women with surnames such as Astor, Belmont, Vanderbilt, and Whitney achieved celebrity status for their activism. They did not hesitate to dirty their hems on the streets of the city in the name of this important turn of the century social and political movement. As compelling as this story may be, it has been told before. One of the highlights of the book describes the 1907 establishment of the seven-hundred member Colony Club by Florence "Daisy" Harriman. Hailing from a privileged and politically well-connected family, Harriman founded the city's first exclusive women's social club and guided its evolution into a space for civic engagement. Although all club members could afford the annual $100 dues, they did not all agree with Harriman's suffrage sentiments. Harriman and the other suffragists viewed club debates as opportunities to win reluctant members over to the side of suffrage. While elite women's suffrage activities fascinated observers, gossip often focused on the women themselves rather than suffrage issues. One convert [End Page 484] to suffrage, novelist Katherine Duer Mackay, became the archetypical club member as she vied to "leverage [her] social status for political power." The descendant of a prominent New York family and the wife of a postal telegraph and cable magnate, Mackay used her flair for fashion to attract the attention of reporters whom she hoped would print her pro-suffrage proclamations in their newspapers. Mackay's eminence did not last long. An adulterous affair with her husband's doctor culminated in Mackay abandoning her family to follow her lover to Europe in the midst of the First World War. Neuman notes that renowned suffrage advocate Alva Belmont compiled over fifty suffrage scrapbooks but not one contained a single mention of the scandal involving Mackay. For publishers of New York's more than twenty dailies however, Mackay's exploits meant "big news." In the interest of promoting the cause (and thus an untarnished historical memory), Belmont chose to ignore the negative publicity. The strength of Neuman's study lies in her claim that virtually all New York City suffrage elites recognized the value of public appeal and effectively used it to convince others (primarily other elites) to support women's suffrage. They directed their activism toward collecting signatures on petitions, welcoming audiences into their private parlors, parading, stumping from soapboxes and automobiles, and hosting costume balls. With their motives for involvement in the suffrage cause running the gamut from sincere political conviction to having "fun," wealthy suffragists craved attention. Much of the publicity these media celebrities generated had to do with the clothes they wore. Neuman contends that the activists' appearance meant as much as their arguments. Delighting in challenging the suffragist reputation for dressing like "frumps," early twentieth century suffragists prioritized fashion as put their campaign strategies into effect. In the process of incorporating modern notions of beauty and glamour by wearing lacey dresses with shorter hemlines and feathery hats into their campaign, they appealed to more men but also subjected themselves to harsh criticism. Antisuffragist women such as Josephine Jewell Dodge, president of the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage, virulently objected to the suffragists' use of fashion because of what she perceived as their overt promiscuity. Regardless of the controversy that these fashionable displays caused, Neuman concurs with Margaret Finnegan's assessment [End Page 485] that supporters (in this case "gilded" supporters) sold suffrage by making it fashionable. Fashion sense aside, according to Neuman, involvement in the suffrage movement often came at a price. Tensions erupted over campaign tactics between the moderate...