Elleda Wilson: Belva runs
Sep. 8—An election tidbit from The Daily Morning Astorian, Sept. 8, 1888:
—Belva Lockwood is candidate for president, but she might as well withdraw. In a speech she made the other day, she destroyed her chances entirely. Among other things, she said this: "If elected, I propose to do as other presidents do."
... It means that if elected president, Belva Lockwood will: Put her feet on the table sometimes. Chew tobacco. Miss the cuspidor nine shots in 10. Swear at the office seekers ... Wear suspenders and a plug hat ... Do the American people want to see a female president do these things? No! A thousand times. No!
Note: Belva Ann Lockwood (1830-1917) ran for president in both 1884 and 1888, on the National Equal Rights Party ticket. One of the first women to run, and one of the first female lawyers in the U.S., she was also an educator, author and politician who championed the world peace and temperance movements and women's rights, including equal pay and women's suffrage.
A force to be reckoned with, Lockwood fought discrimination against women attorneys and, in 1870, Congress passed a law allowing female attorneys to practice in federal court. That same year, she became the first woman member of the Supreme Court bar. In 1880, she was the first female lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court.
In 1983, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.
