I WOULDN'T CALL THEODORE
ROOSEVELT A FEMINIST, AND
I DON'T THINK HE WOULD HAVE
CALLED HIMSELF A FEMINIST.
HE DID SUPPORT
UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE.
AND THAT INCLUDED THE
RIGHT OF WOMEN TO VOTE.
AND WHEN HE WAS PRESIDENT, THEY
DID NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE.
WHEN HE RAN FOR PRESIDENT
AGAIN, IN 1912, HE ALLIED
HIMSELF WITH WOMEN WHO, FOR
WHOM SUFFRAGE WAS A PRINCIPAL
AIM OF THEIR POLITICS
AND THEIR PROGRAM.
AND SO HE BECAME, IN 1912,
VERY CLOSELY ASSOCIATED
WITH WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE.
AND THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN
HAVING THE RIGHT TO VOTE.
BUT HE NEVER THOUGHT THAT
WOMEN COULD BE EQUAL TO
MEN IN ALL RESPECTS.
AND EVEN GIVING THEM THE RIGHT
TO VOTE WAS NOT CONCEIVED IN
HIS OWN MIND AS MEANING
COMPLETE EQUALITY.
WOMEN, IN HIS MIND,
HAD A SPECIAL NATURE.
THEY WERE MORE CARING.
THEY WERE MORE NURTURING.
THEY WERE LESS CORRUPTIBLE.
SO BRINGING WOMEN INTO THE
POLITICAL PROCESS WAS TO
INTRODUCE INTO THE POLITICAL
PROCESS SOMETHING DIFFERENT
THAN WHAT MEN BROUGHT.
MEN BROUGHT CORRUPTION, GREED.
WOMEN WOULD BRING THEIR
NURTURANCE, THEIR VALUES,
THEIR UNCORRUPTABILITY.
AND IN THE PROCESS,
CLEANSE POLITICS OF
MUCH OF ITS CORRUPTION.
AND SO BY SEEING WOMEN HAVING
THE RIGHT TO VOTE IN THIS WAY,
HE ALLOWED HIMSELF TO CONTINUE
SEEING WOMEN AS BEING
DIFFERENT FROM MEN.
AND OF COURSE, WOMEN, THE
THOUGHT OF WOMEN GOING TO
WAR WAS INCONCEIVABLE TO HIM.
AND SO IN HIS INNERMOST
THOUGHTS, HE BELIEVED AS A
MATTER OF PRINCIPLE THAT WHAT
HE THOUGHT OF AS BEING THE
MOST IMPORTANT ENGINE OF
ASSIMILATION, ACHIEVEMENT,
VALOR, VICTORY, WOMEN BY
DEFINITION WERE EXCLUDED FROM.
AND SO IN THAT WAY, HE WAS
PROFOUNDLY INEGALITARIAN
IN HIS THINKING.
