By March 35 Legislatures had ratified and only a group of three or four States held out any hope of the 36th and final ratification, of which Connecticut was one. Leading Republicans in and out of Congress tried to impress upon those in Connecticut that this was no longer a State but a national issue. At their State convention in March the Resolutions Committee gave a hearing to the suffragists and reported a resolution in favor of a special session, which was passed by the convention and presented to the Governor. It then returned to power the very men who would prevent it. The Governor remained obdurate. To the first petition he had replied that the desire of a few women did not create an emergency. Then he had argued that suffrage was not an issue when the Legislature was elected and therefore the legislators were not authorized by the voters to act upon it. A little later he gave it as his opinion that persistent appeals do not constitute an emergency. Finally on April 10, in reply to a letter from Colonel Ullman, he stated that he was ready to receive proof of the existence of an emergency. The Connecticut women decided to give him the proof and the National Suffrage Association offered its cooperation by sending women from all over the country to Connecticut to join in a great protest against the blocking of woman suffrage for the whole nation. May 3-7, 1920, was declared "emergency week" and a Suffrage Emergency Corps was organized of 46 eminent women from as many States. They assembled in New York the evening of Sunday, May 2, as dinner guests of Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the national president, and received their "marching orders and field instructions" from her and Miss Ludington.
The Emergency Corps arrived in Hartford Monday morning and were guests at a luncheon given in their honor at the Golf Club, whose rooms were crowded with men and women to meet these doctors, lawyers, professors, scientists, officials, business women, presidents of organizations—a remarkable gathering. There were roll call and speeches and then they separated into four groups and departed by motors for the four largest cities, where they spoke at mass meetings in the evening. A carefully planned tour was made of thirty-six towns with a total of forty-one meetings, at which they were introduced and assisted by prominent men. Mrs. Catt spoke to a large audience in Woolsey Hall, New Haven, with Mayor Fitzgerald presiding. The object of the campaign was to show the sentiment in the State for a special session of the Legislature and a resolution calling for it was enthusiastically adopted at each meeting.
The Governor appointed Friday morning at 11:30 for the interview and the visitors and the officers and staff of the State Suffrage Association were at the Capitol. Every possible point bearing on the case was brought out by the speakers and they pleaded with the Governor to settle this question of ratification by a stroke of his pen for the women of the whole nation. He said he would reserve his decision till he had carefully considered their arguments, and they went out to report to the mass meeting in progress on the grounds of the Capitol. The following Tuesday he made public his answer, which was that, while the arguments proved that there was a strong desire for a special session, they did not prove the existence of the "special emergency" mentioned in the constitution and he felt compelled to decline.
A petition asking for a special session was then sent to the Governor signed by a majority of both parties in both Houses of the Legislature, which had not the slightest effect. The State association held a meeting and resolved to try to defeat those Republican candidates who were opposed to ratification and especially the little group who composed the Republican "machine." Miss Ludington issued a manifesto giving in detail their action which had determined this policy and saying:
Our fight now is "November, 1920." One of the most important presidential elections in years is to be held then. Women are just as vitally affected by it and as deeply interested in it as men. Although 35 out of the necessary 36 States have ratified, no women can vote in this election under the Federal Amendment until the 36th State has ratified. It is curious how slow the public—women as well as men—have been to realize this. They talk of our being "almost" voters. They do not seem to understand that although Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, etc., have ratified the amendment, the women of these States will not vote until the 36th State ratifies. Who is responsible for the delay which may keep over 10,000,000 women from the vote for President and about 20,000,000 from the vote for members of Congress, State officials, etc.? Both political parties but the Republican in greater degree.... It lies in the power of this party to speak the word that will fully enfranchise the women of this country and where there is power there is responsibility.
"But," the Republicans say, "we have given you 29 States. Think of that! You ought to be grateful to us." "Exactly," we answer, "but you have withheld that one State which would make just the difference between our voting or not voting. And by the way you didn't 'give' us those 29 States—we had to work pretty hard to get some of them!" An emancipator is not the man who takes the prisoner all the way to the door and lets him look out but the man who actually unlocks the door and lets him go free. Once in history the Republican party played the part of a genuine emancipator. Now it looks very much as if it was playing petty politics.... At the time of the last State Republican convention the Hartford Courant obligingly explained that the suffrage resolution it passed was a pretense and really meant nothing—a statement, it is only fair to say, repudiated by many honorable Republicans. Now it is Chairman Roraback, who, with happy unconsciousness that he is exhibiting his party in a "yellow" light, tells the public that the national Republican platform should not be taken seriously.... "The leaders of the party," he says, "put in the suffrage plank to please women in the voting States but they meant nothing by it." Are the men who are to lead a great party as double-faced and untrustworthy as Mr. Roraback paints them? Were they laughing in their sleeves as they wrote the solemn pledges in the rest of the national platform? We wonder if Connecticut Republicans will let Mr. Roraback smirch the party honor unchallenged.
The course for the State Suffrage Association is clear. We must play our part in this sector of the national suffrage struggle and we must let our opponents see that they can not keep American citizens out of their fundamental rights with impunity.
A committee of Republican women circulated a pledge to give no money or work for the Republican party as long as women had no votes. Three influential Republican women travelled to Columbus, O., to put before the Republican National Executive Committee the opinions of Republican women who were questioning the sincerity of the party in regard to woman suffrage. In August thirty Connecticut women, headed by Miss Ludington, went to New York by appointment to call upon Will Hays, chairman of the National Republican Committee, and ask him what the party was doing to secure ratification in Connecticut. He received them in the national headquarters and Miss Ludington, who spoke for the deputation, reminded him that his party was taking the credit for the ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment thus far but not bringing any effective pressure on the Republican Governors of Connecticut and Vermont, each of whom could insure its full success, and said: "What the women want is the vote in November. What the parties apparently want is a good record as a talking point in the coming campaign. What to the women is the supremely important thing is that 36th State. What to the parties seems to be most important is to exact their full due of gratitude from women who have not as yet received the gift that was promised.... In our own State, where the Republican party is responsible, the women are actually being called upon to aid its campaign while it is repudiating the policy and promises of the national party in regard to ratification."
The speaker then quoted the resolution adopted by the National Republican Committee Dec. 10, 1919, calling for special sessions before February to complete ratification, accompanied by the public statement: "The party managers will cooperate with the women in a determined effort to bring about the calling of special sessions." She quoted the resolution passed by this committee June 1, 1920: "Such Republican States as have not already done so are urged to take such action by their Governors and legislators as will assure the ratification at the earliest possible time." She then gave a part of the plank in the national Republican platform adopted two months ago: "We earnestly hope that Republican Legislatures which have not yet acted will ratify the 19th Amendment to the end that all women may participate in the election of 1920," and said: "We have had no proof as yet that the party means to make good on these declared intentions—in fact many things seem to point the other way; first, the Republican failure to ratify in Delaware; second, the weak plank in the Republican national platform, which was emasculated at the request of the Connecticut delegates until it was an affront to the intelligence of women and a mockery of the Connecticut and Vermont Legislatures; third, the present situation in Connecticut.
"From the time when suffrage became an issue," Miss Ludington continued, "it has had the opposition of the leaders of the Republican party in this State. Since the amendment passed Congress they have resisted every expression of public opinion, every plea for ratification on grounds of justice and fair play. For a year the suffragists have tried sincerely and patiently to work in and with the Republican party to overcome this opposition, and have been cooperating with a Republican Men's Ratification Committee formed for this purpose, but we are apparently no nearer a special session than we were a year ago." She then concluded:
During all this time we have had no evidence that the National Republican Committee was really working in the State. We have found it very difficult to reach you personally and our appeals for specific help have been ignored. Mr. Roraback and Major John Buckley, secretary to the Governor, have stated that he has never been asked by you to call a session. They evidently feel, and wish the public to understand, that the National Republican Committee has given them a free hand to pursue their obstructionist course. And to confirm this comes President-elect Harding's refusal to attempt to persuade Governor Holcomb.
In the meantime, we women are being told that the Republican party can not be held responsible, because the Governor stands alone in his opposition! We submit that so long as the official leaders of the party in the State are in entire harmony with him in opposing us and the national party keeps hands off, they are accomplices in his opposition and must be held responsible accordingly. And we further submit that if a national party is to come before the voters on the basis of its policies and promises, then it must be held responsible for making those promises good through its State branches.... If the Connecticut Republican leaders can play a free hand without interference from the national party, then that party faces the alternative of either admitting powerlessness and disintegration or of being an accomplice in the State's attitude of repudiation.
Connecticut women will remain voteless unless their State or Vermont or a southern State ratifies. The Republican party can help us in two ways—either by giving a solid Republican vote in Tennessee or by putting forth a really vigorous effort in a New England State.
The situation in Connecticut remained unchanged but about two weeks after this interview the Tennessee Legislature ratified by means of both Republican and Democratic votes. This made the 36th State and Secretary Colby proclaimed the Federal Suffrage Amendment a part of the National Constitution. The Democrats were claiming the credit and the general election was only two months away. The Republicans, especially those in Connecticut, keenly felt the situation. Governor Holcomb was obliged to call a special session to enact legislation for registering the women. The Legislature was called to meet September 14 and the Governor warned it that it must restrict itself to the business outlined in the call. No such restriction had ever before been laid upon a Connecticut Legislature and the Governor himself two years before had urged that he was powerless to prevent it from enacting any bills that it pleased when once it had been called in special session. The members of House and Senate were almost unanimous in resenting this attempt to fetter their action and plans were laid to ratify the Federal Amendment.