This detailed, scholarly work describes the interaction of the
League of Women Voters from its inception in 1920 up to and through
the Nixon administration. The book consists of a dense, narrative
history, focusing primarily on the actions of the league's
leadership. The efforts of the league to remain nonpartisan
constitute an important recurring theme, as does the league's
informal `specialization' in the field of foreign affairs.
Particularly impressive are the descriptions of the league's
tactical adaptations to a changing political environment. The
authors have provided an invaluable analysis or evaluation, but the
accounts of events make this an important historical reference.
Library Journal When the Nineteenth Amendment became law on August
26, 1920, women as newly enfranchised voters entered an era of
political rights and responsibilities for which, as a subordinate
class, they were unprepared. In the Public Interest, the first book
about the League of Women Voters, details the vital role played by
the League as a force in shaping the political participation of
American women from 1920 to 1970. From its beginnings, the League,
a major surviving offspring of the women's suffrage movement,
exemplified the nonpartisanship, political skills, lobbying
methods, and grass-roots organizational capabilities previously
employed in winning the vote for women. During its early years, the
League devised the strategies for capturing the energies and ideals
of the suffrage movement and directing them to broadly defined
goals of social reform and good government. To achieve these ends,
the League learned to work through political institutions at all
levels: local and state governments, the three branches of Federal
government, and both political parties. Young shows how the League
implemented these strategies and, in the process, developed methods
of political education and provided political experience that
strengthened American democracy by contributing to the growth of
thousands of citizens. The volume highlights some of the needed
legislation advanced by the League during the fifty-year period
covered, including the Sheppard-Towner Act for the public
protection of maternity and infancy in the '20s; the fight for the
TVA; the extension of the Civil Service merit system in the the
'30s; and efforts in areas of individual liberties during the
McCarthy era, civil rights, and international relations. Also
addressed are the League's efforts to free women from
discrimination and its differences with the Woman's Party on
protective legislation and the Equal Rights Amendment. Based on the
historical collection of League documents in the Library of
Congress, which Young cataloged, this groundbreaking study will be
especially interesting to students and scholars in Women's Studies
and feminists as well as readers interested in theories of
organization, political participation, and characteristics of small
groups and leadership.
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