The National Woman’s Party thought of course the President would assist them in their campaign for Hennessy and Jameson, as they were both Democrats as well as Suffragists and, in particular, because he had just told the Senate that the passing of the Federal Amendment was necessary to the successful prosecution of the war. But he gave them no help until the Woman’s Party forced him to do so, and then it was too late. But when the news came back from the Suffrage States of the West that the Woman’s Party speakers were telling of his inaction, he sent—in the last week in October—the following letter to Hennessy of New Jersey:
May I not say how deeply interested I am in the contest you are conducting? I cannot but feel that in ignoring my earnest appeal with regard to the Suffrage Amendment, made in public interest, and because of my intimate knowledge of the issues involved both on the other side of the water and here, Senator Baird has certainly not represented the true feeling and spirit of the people of New Jersey.
I am sure that they must have felt that such an appeal could not and should not be ignored. It would be a very great make-weight, thrown into the international scale, if his course of action while in the Senate could be reversed by the people of our great State.
Also, before the end of the campaign, the President came out in a statement endorsing Jameson. But he did not work so hard to elect these two Democrats, who were also Suffragists, as he did to defeat Vardaman and Hardwick, both of whom were Democrats and one a Suffragist. Hennessy and Jameson were both defeated. In the West, the election resulted in the defeat of Senator Shafroth of Colorado, thereby handing the Senate over to the Republicans. The defeat of Shafroth is universally ascribed to the Woman’s Party. The Woman’s Party believed that this election had brought them one vote, Pollock of South Carolina.
The Borah incident of the campaign of 1918 is a black page in the record of any gentleman who has Presidential aspirations. Catherine Flanagan and Margaret Whittemore were campaigning in western Idaho, asking the Idaho people to bring pressure on Borah to vote for Suffrage.
Shortly after casting his vote against the Federal Amendment, Borah came to Headquarters to see Alice Paul. He said that that vote represented his personal belief, but that in the future he would have to be bound by the Idaho Party (Republican) platform which had endorsed the Amendment. He said he would not give a public statement as that would look like trying to get votes, but he wrote out a statement that the Woman’s Party could understand as indicating his position. That statement is as follows:
We have talked over the Suffrage situation with Senator Borah and our understanding from the interview is that he will carry out his platform and vote for the Suffrage Amendment if re-elected.
The Woman’s Party telegraphed this statement to Idaho and asked his constituents to get him to confirm it. He was very evasive in replying to their questions and Alice Paul finally sent him the following letter:
October 29, 1918. Senator Wm. E. Borah,
Senate Office Building,