President Woodrow Wilson and his swaying opinion on the Womens Rights Movement.

President Woodrow Wilsons support for the womens suffrage was a subject which people had different views on. When Wilson elected in 1913 support for womens suffrage part of the republican platform but not the democratic platform. While he said he was a supporter, he thought the state by state method proposed by the NAWSA was best. Wilson showed some sympathy for demonstrators before the United States entered the war. He even invited protestors into the White house on a cold day. However, for a long time Wilson did not support a national amendment. He also encouraged the press not to report the suffragist activists, although this attempt failed. As the protests continued during the war, he even later encouraged arrests and detention of protestors. Some believed he was really against the movement, some thought he was scared to openly support the amendment for political reasons. Although his views seam to be complicated, he initially seemed to support the protestors, and although he vacillated, in the end he ended up backing the amendment. As public opinion swung towards women because of press coverage, it became politically expedient to back amendment became a fairly active supporter. During protests the NWP pointed out how hypocritical it was for Wilson to be at war to support democracy in other countries while it was being denied to half the

population in his own country. Did Wilson actually come around? Was he too finally convinced by the womens courage and the strength of their principle? Or did he agree only because of the growing population of the movement? While no one can truly know Wilsons thoughts it seemed he did support the movement, but would only openly support it when it became the politically correct thing to do.