West European Studies

This paper discusses the important role that Alice Paul played in the suffrage movement. The main primary sources for the paper were available from the Library of Congress, Harvard University and among National Womans Party papers at the University of Maryland site. While the Alice Paul Papers at the Harvard University are the single most important resource for this paper, they have proved to be the hardest to get since they can only be accessed by visiting the library or ordering the microfilm. Because of the difficulty faced in acquiring these resources, I relied mostly on the Library of Congress, which has made the collection available online. I also used the Alice Pauls oral history by Fry titled Conversations with Alice Paul Woman Suffrage and the Equal Rights Amendment. This in my opinion is an extremely important source in understanding Pauls motivations.

The paper is different from the works of other historians in that it focuses on Alice Pauls unique role in getting the Nineteenth Amendment. The paper argues that it was Pauls shrewd use of the electronic media and the propaganda she created which helped change the public opinion in her favor. Paul was so shrewd in the way she exploited the popular media that even her sufferings in the prison were highlighted to influence public opinion. The paper will carefully chart the course of Pauls life to understand why and how she developed into the militant suffragist leader and why her contributions were more important than those other suffragists.