Women’s Strength In Republican Party

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31755, 12 August 1968, Page 3

Women’s Strength In Republican Party

MIAMI BEACH (Florida).

The role of women in the Republican national convention has grown in more than 90 years of participation from a single appearance in 1872 calling for equal rights for women to numerous positions of responsibility in 1968, including 559 women delegates and alternates.

In 1968, nine women made speaking appearances on the platform during the four-day convention. One nominated a candidate to be the party’s Presidential choice.

That nominee, incidentally, was the third Republican woman to nominate a proposed presidential candidate. She is Mrs Ivy Baker Priest, Treasurer of the United States in the Administration of President Eisenhower, who nominated the Governor of California, Mr Ronald Reagan, for the Presidency. At the convention were 224 women delegates in the State delegations and 335 alternates, the third largest women's contingent in the party’s history. Women made up 20 per cent of the 2666member convention. Mrs Mary Brooks can take high credit

for the presence of these women. As assistant chairman of the Republican national committee, she is the party’s second-ranking official. Party Rule

One reason for strong female representation at the party conventions—the record number.was 597 female delegates and alternates to the party’s 1960 gathering—was that party rules require both male and female State representation on all committees. Without women delegates eligible to serve, a State loses its seat on a committee. By coincidence, the largest women’s delegation was from the host State of Florida, 17 out of 34. The women’s role at the convention began in the week before the meeting opened, a week of hearings on the party platform. Among the witnesses giving suggestions for the party’s policy statement

on national issues were representatives of the National Organisation for Women, which called for a platform guaranteeing women equal rights, equal employment opportunity, income tax deductions for child care expenses, and liberilisation of abortion and birth control laws. Help For Poor Representatives of the National Council of Women, which urged strengthening of international peace machinery, wider use of N.A.T.0., stronger support of the Organisation of American States, increased appointment of women to leadership positions in Government, and high priorities for housing, education and employment programmes to help the poor. This type of civic activity by women dates far back in the party. Their original work was to get women the vote in national elections. By 1900 the first women delegates had been elected to the Republican convention and in 1916 the party platform included the first Federal women’s suffrage plank. Four years later, by constitutional amendment, it was law.

One symbolic high point in women’s activities in the party came in 1964 when the first woman was placed in nomination for the presidency, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, of Maine. Wide Influence

At this 1968 Republican convention such a specific distinction was not part of the programme, but women were prominent on a wider scale. Their year-round efforts to increase Republican voter registration and improve party strength were reflected in the speech of Mrs Brooks in her address to the convention on August 5.

“Millions of American women,” she said, “regardless of party affiliation, feel it is time for a change. We are concerned about war, just as men are . . . but our concern is greater, because it is always with us.” She expressed women’s fear of crime rates and of the rising cost of living, their dedication to help the young, notably those who would drop out of school and society. Through such action, she said, “Republican women will strengthen their own understanding of today’s world and they will strengthen our party as well.” Higher Percentage

“I venture to predict,” Mrs Brooks told the audience of 14,000 in the convention hall, “that women can—and will—spell the difference between victory and defeat in this election.” Such a forecast is mathematically possible. There are a reported 7.5 m more women eligible to register and vote

in the United States than men. In the 1960 election, for example, of those who voted 51 per cent were women, 49 per cent men.

The now-traditional participation of women at the convention is reflected in the following plank adopted in 1872 in the first reference to women in a Republican national platform:— “The Republican Party is mindful of its obligations to the loyal women of America for their noble devotion to the cause of freedom. Their admission to wider fields of usefulness is viewed with satisfaction, and the honest demand of any class of citizens for additional rights should be treated with respectful consideration.”— United States Information Service.