Recasting the Vote by Cathleen D. Cahill

Author:Cathleen D. Cahill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2020-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

[ CHAPTER 15 ]

Courting Political Ruin

Nina Otero-Warren

Throughout the war, suffragists in individual states closely followed the federal amendment’s progress through Congress. Journals of national organizations, newspapers, and visiting speakers kept them abreast of the struggle. Sometimes the women themselves traveled to the capital and came back with updates. This was the case with Nina Otero-Warren, who made at least two trips to Washington. She met with other New Mexicans, including the politicians, in the city. She lobbied for the amendment and connected with her fellow National Woman’s Party activists, and her visits were reported in the Suffragist.1

In the early spring of 1918, for example, Otero-Warren traveled to the capital with friend and fellow educational leader Isabel Eckles. While in the city, the NWP feted Otero-Warren for her suffrage work in the Southwest. Elizabeth Thatcher Kent, former NAWSA Congressional Committee chair and wife of a former California congressman, hosted a tea in her honor. Alice Paul herself assisted Kent, and the party’s organizer, Anne Martin, presided over the table. Guests included officers and members of the NWP.2 At this meeting Otero-Warren may have learned that Anne Martin was planning to run for the Senate seat in Nevada, making her the first woman in the United States to run for that office. Back in New Mexico, La Voz del Pueblo reported the news, calling Martin the “íntima amiga” (intimate friend) of Otero-Warren and reminding readers that she had been one of the “centinelas callados” or silent sentinels who had picketed the White House.3

When Otero-Warren returned to Santa Fe, she was recognized as an expert on the federal situation by the members of the Santa Fe Suffrage League. The first lady of the state, Deane Lindsey, was a “staunch friend” of suffrage as was her husband, New Mexico’s third governor, Washington E. Lindsey. Mrs. Lindsey invited the Suffrage League to meet at the executive mansion, where Otero-Warren often gave presentations. The war infused the tone of the meetings, which were described as “deeply patriotic,” with Mrs. Lindsey serving “wartime refreshments.” In September, after one such reception, which included a number of prominent Albuquerque suffrage leaders, a general meeting was called to strategize for the upcoming convention and legislative session. The women were confident that the federal amendment would soon be passed by Congress, so they focused on the problem of putting “machinery” into place that would ensure that their state would ratify it. They named a committee of five women representing different parts of the state who would chair subcommittees in charge of various aspects of the work. Otero-Warren was chosen as chairman of the political parties and platforms.4

Otero-Warren was incredibly busy in the fall of 1918 as she balanced her leadership in suffrage activism with her educational and war work. She had been serving as appointed superintendent of Santa Fe County schools but was now seeking to win the office in an open election. She was the only woman but not the only Hispanic Republican candidate for county office. The party’s advertisement

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