On the morning of September 1, 1960, Herb Klein and Pierre Salinger met in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., to discuss the details of what would be the first televised presidential debate. Klein was press secretary for Republican candidate Vice President Richard Nixon and Salinger was press secretary for Democratic candidate Senator John…

In late December of 1951, a news story out of Mims, Florida, shocked the nation. The story contained elements of prejudice, discrimination, injustice, lynching, rape, bombings, and murder. The story not only made headlines across the country, but also the world. On the evening of December 25, a bomb was placed under the floor joists of the bedroom…

In 1878, Senator Aaron A. Sargent of California introduced to the Senate an amendment to the Constitution "Conferring upon Women the Right of Suffrage." Drafted by Susan B. Anthony, this same amendment would be introduced on a near-yearly basis until its final passage by Congress on May 19, 1919. Varying degrees of voting rights presented an…

Discusses the issue of secret voting in England during the middle decades of the nineteenth century, with particular reference to the movement to secure the secret ballot and to the important position occupied by the ballot question within the Philosophic Radicals' reform program. Journal availability: see SO 507 179. (Author/DB)

Most of the material for this issue of the "Goldfinch," which explores the life of Carrie Chapman Catt, came from the archives of the State Historical Society of Iowa. Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) was an Iowan who advocated woman suffrage and spent 26 years actively working for that cause. The issue contains a biography of Catt, and…

This book, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the 19th Amendment as well as the 75th anniversary of the League of Women Voters, argues that U.S. women always have been political, even when they were excluded from party membership, voting and running for office. Political expression could be found in early temperance societies, antislavery…

Given the role that initiatives and referenda have played in state and local governance, it is interesting that there has never been a national initiative or referendum in the United States. The reason for this is that the Constitution of the United States does not provide for direct citizen initiation of, or direct popular votes on, either…

After 38 of the 41 delegates signed it on September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was sent to the Continental Congress in New York where a vote was taken to pass the document to the 13 states for ratification. The process began with a struggle in Congress between those who favored the document, or the Federalists, and those who opposed it, or…

Oliveira Salazar's accession to the government followed the military coup of 1926, which put an end to the period of democratic republican life. The Constitution approved in 1933 defined the new regime, which came to be known as "Estado Novo". Ideologically sustained by an anti-liberal concept of Catholicism, this political regime would…

A study was conducted to find out how the topics of the Nineteenth Amendment and women's suffrage were handled at the time by news publications in rural areas. Several components were used to carry out the objective: one was to investigate newspaper coverage of the amendment and in addition broaden that search to include women's suffrage; another…

Describes organization and services of Subscription Television Inc. (STV) and 1964 legal battle over wired pay-per-view television in California. Included are discussions of reasons for voter opposition to pay television, likelihood of success for STV had voter referendum not passed, and effects of its failure on subsequent pay television…

Analysis of the Wisconsin woman suffrage campaign of 1910-1920 suggests that public relations belonged not only to political or business practices, but was equally a process by which the masses achieved their own best interests in nineteenth and early twentieth century social reform movements. Woman suffragists were led by women, and the public…

The necessity for candidates for public office to gather money in order to mount effective campaigns has raised concerns that campaign contributions may give some individuals and groups improper influence on the selection of public officials and the making of public policy. Part of this concern stems from the pluralist theory that maintains that…

The defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War affected the dearest notions held by Americans of the nature of the national existence. That defeat determined, in the words of John Hellman, "the disruption of our story, of our explanation of the past and vision of the future." This appears most poignantly, perhaps, in school history…

This bulletin on the use of the schoolhouse as a polling place is divided into two sections. Part I, Use of Schoolhouse for Political Purposes, explains why this practice is beneficial to the schools (allows youth to witness and understand the civic process) and to the public (it is economical, worthy, appropriate, convenient, permanent,…