In less than a week, we’ll be able to put behind us the 2016 presidential election. Today, the Tribune’s “Out of the Morgue” column paused to take a look back at the election of 1916, and while reports indicated it was a more civil affair than we’ve witnessed this year, there were plenty of issues the voters were faced with that split the ballot and made for a very tight race.
American’s who paid attention in history class know that 1920 marked the first time women across the nation were allowed to vote in a presidential election, but even some of Barton County’s true history buffs didn’t realize that women in Kansas, a suffrage state, took part in the 1916 election, and helped to turn the tide of the election from John Hughes to incumbent President Woodrow Wilson.
The first woman to be elected into the House of Representatives, a Republican, ran in 1916, and she made a lasting difference for women with the advancement of the 19th Amendment, and later proved a woman of conviction as she voted against entering the fray of World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor, which made her exceedingly unpopular. It’s rare today to find a leader of such conviction.
Then, as now, supporters of one party warned of dire consequences if the other candidate was elected. After the election, those predictions were forgotten as the nation grappled with important issues like the 1917 entrance into World War I.
Hopefully, in the months following this upcoming election, the nation’s attention will put behind it the bickering and nastiness, throw their support behind the winner, and get back to the business of grappling with today’s tough issues. Regardless of who is elected, we will still need to deal with terrorism, the state of our budget, and how Americans care for their health. Hopefully, we’ll all be able to work together once more and find solutions so 100 years from now, we’re still a great nation.