Woman Patriot Corporation
The Woman Patriot Corporation (WPC) was an American Progressive Era organization formed by women who had been previously active in the National Association Opposed to Women's Suffrage. The group identified as anticommunist, anti-pacifist, and anti-feminist[1] and was formed in response to the recent enfranchisement of women via the Nineteenth Amendment on August 26, 1920.
Formation
The fear of conservative women at the time was the burgeoning feminist movement taking root in women's colleges which would allegedly plant the idea in men's minds that because women were now seen as independent, they could shirk their economic duties as providers.
Anti-Pacifism
The WPC, having formed after World War I and during the First Red Scare, was allied against communism, anarchy, and pacifism (especially internationally).
In 1932, the Corporation infamously filed a memorandum complaining of Albert Einstein's return to the United States. Einstein, a Jewish German-born American citizen and socialist pacifist, was targeted for his preaching against the use of nuclear weaponry. The Woman Patriot Corporation attempted to bar his entry into the United States[2] and stated:
Einstein was not merely a pernicious influence; he was the ringleader of an anarcho-communist program whose aim was to shatter the military machinery of national governments as a preliminary for world revolution.[3]
References
- ^ Deckman, Melissa (2016-05-24). Tea Party Women: Mama Grizzlies, Grassroots Leaders, and the Changing Face of the American Right. NYU Press. ISBN 9781479891023.
- ^ "Professor Einstein Reiterates Pacifist Views in Challenge to Women's Patriot Corporation". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 2017-05-15.
- ^ Einstein, Albert (2013-11-10). Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400848287.