Christine Lunardini And Thomas Knock: Article Analysis

In Christine Lunardini and Thomas Knock’s article, a new look is put over the passing of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution (Women’s Suffrage) during Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency. Most people view the passing of the 19th amendment in terms of women protesting to the point where Congress gave in, but the authors feel there is much more than meets the eye to this subject than most assume. They use this premise to formulate a thesis pertaining to how Wilson’s ideologies changed during this period as well as how important a President can be to the passage of an Amendment. The authors state on the second page of the article, “By 1915, awareness of the ways in which the presidency could be used convinced all suffragists that is was necessary to

win the support of Woodrow Wilson. An examination of Wilson's role illustrates the crucial nature of active presidential lobbying and brings to light a significant aspect, hitherto unexplored, of the political dynamics involved in the passage of the amendment in both houses of Congress, as well as the ratifications by the states.” (Lunardini and Knock 656). The authors write two overarching arguments to back up this thesis in a scholarly manner.
The first argument in this article pertained to Wilson’s views as well as motivations on women’s suffrage.

They argue that Wilson had a major change of heart on his views of women’s suffrage. At first it would be safe to say that Wilson disliked women. The article cites Wilson saying, “Barring the chilled, scandalized feeling that always overcomes me when I see and hear women speak in public” (Lunardini and Knock 655). Obviously, Wilson started out with some misogynistic feelings; but he eventually felt a change of heart and started to support women fully. The authors explain this by stating, “After 1916,[Wilson] habitually described the suffrage amendment as ‘a very wase act of public policy and also and act of fairness’ … To him, woman suffrage was not simply a measure to establish equal voting rights… [it was a] democratic reconstruction of the world” (Lunardini and Knock 670). The author also juxtapose this with the idea that he also had clear political motivations. Nevertheless it seems clear that Wilson had a major change of heart, pertaining to his view of women’s suffrage, completing the Author’s first

argument.
The second argument the authors examined was that Wilson played a huge role in passing the 19th Amendment.

In the authors’ thesis, they describe how in the past many did not think of the President as a way to help pass a Constitutional Amendment. But they argue that Wilson help change this by playing a huge role in the passage of the amendment. Wilson had a large amount of influence of many people in Congress. He used to to try and help the amendment be ratified. The authors explain by saying, “Letters to senators and congressmen … number over 100” (Lunardini and Knock 671). He obviously worked very diligently, and furthermore it actually worked and he used his influence to get the bill through Congress. The authors explain this when stating that, “he secured the decisive votes in the House in 1918… the Senate in 1919… and the … state vote… in 1920” (Lunardini and Knock 671). He worked so hard that he used his influence to get the amendment through at every phase of its process. It’s clear he was so influential that the amendment probably wouldn’t have passed without Wilson helping. Showing how the authors’ second point makes sense in that Wilson had a monumental impact on the passage of the

amendment.
“Woodrow Wilson and Woman Suffrage: A New Look” examines a thought to be simple topic of the passage of the 19th Amendment and shows how complex this event really was at the time. The authors contend that the presidency transformed to a point where suffragist realized they need Wilson’s influence in order to pass the amendment. They argue this with Wilson’s change of heart towards the idea of women’s suffrage, as well as the proof of the great impact Wilson had on the passage of the amendment. The authors were able to shed light onto a topic that to many was completely unknown before.