Frothy Paradise

On August 26th, 1920, Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby certified that the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, had become part of the United States Constitution. In honor of the 88th anniversary, an excerpt from David Pietrusza’s 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents on the moment of passage in the Tennessee House of Representatives:

“Leading ratification forces was the House’s second youngest member, thirty year old Memphis Representative Joe Hanover, one of only two Jews in the Tennessee legislature, who ran for office for the sole purpose of securing suffrage. He faced a barrage of insults, bribe attempts and physical threats. Governor Roberts finally assigned him a bodyguard.

On Wednesday, August 18, Speaker Walker calculated that he had the votes and brought the matter to the floor. On the first procedural vote, Gibson County’s Banks Turner, a supposed ‘anti’ cast a wavering vote for suffrage. Walker couldn’t believe Turner had switched, but the House still deadlocked 48-48, an omen that the body would ultimately kill ratification. A vote to table also ended 48-48. Then came the crucial vote, formal concurrence with the Senate action. If the House again deadlocked, the amendment officially died. Walker called the roll. Called sixth was twenty four year old Republican Harry T. Burn from McMinn County, in southeast Tennessee. Walker regarded Burn, the legislature’s youngest member, as a solid ‘Anti.’ Burn, voting ‘Anti’ in the first two roll calls, even sported an ‘Anti’ red rose.

Burn muttered a quick, low, ‘Aye.’ No one reacted. But suddenly, it flashed on the assemblage—the Nineteenth Amendment was going to pass. A nervous Burn explained that while all might see the red rose in his lapel, they could not see the letter he had received just that morning from his widowed mother, Mrs. Febb Ensminger Burn, writing from the family’s 400-acre farm. Removing it from his inside pocket, he read:

‘Dear Son: Hurrah and vote for suffrage! I notice some of the speeches against. I have been   watching to see how you stood but have not noticed anything. Don’t forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification. Your mother.’

Burn explained that he realized that is his vote made a difference, he would have to cast it as his mother wished. His switch theoretically made the outcome 49-47, but what if Banks Turner wavered yet again? Turner fairly shouted his ‘AYE!’ The Nineteenth Amendment had passed. Yellow roses rained down from the gallery. Outraged ‘Antis’ chased Burn from the house chamber. He made his exit via a third-floor ledge, hiding in the capitol attic.”

(Thanks to Bill Bodkin for this one.)