Elisabeth Israels Perry
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199341849
- eISBN:
- 9780190948542
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199341849.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century, Political History
In 1930, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized an investigation first into New York City’s lower court system and then into its entire government. The investigation, known by the name of its ...
More
In 1930, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized an investigation first into New York City’s lower court system and then into its entire government. The investigation, known by the name of its head, retired judge Samuel Seabury, had a dramatic impact on the city’s politics and its powerful Democratic Party machine, Tammany Hall. Because the investigation began with an inquiry into the entrapment of women for alleged sex crimes and their subsequent treatment in the city’s women’s court, it attracted great interest from the city’s women civic activists. These women played significant roles in encouraging and later broadening the Seabury investigation and in making decisions about its consequences.Less
In 1930, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized an investigation first into New York City’s lower court system and then into its entire government. The investigation, known by the name of its head, retired judge Samuel Seabury, had a dramatic impact on the city’s politics and its powerful Democratic Party machine, Tammany Hall. Because the investigation began with an inquiry into the entrapment of women for alleged sex crimes and their subsequent treatment in the city’s women’s court, it attracted great interest from the city’s women civic activists. These women played significant roles in encouraging and later broadening the Seabury investigation and in making decisions about its consequences.
Elisabeth Israels Perry
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199341849
- eISBN:
- 9780190948542
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199341849.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century, Political History
New York City women civic activists avidly followed the Seabury investigations’ hearings and revelations. They passed resolutions demanding reform and traveled to Albany to confront legislators and ...
More
New York City women civic activists avidly followed the Seabury investigations’ hearings and revelations. They passed resolutions demanding reform and traveled to Albany to confront legislators and urge Governor Roosevelt to take action. When the investigations’ focus turned from the women’s court to city governance, women were on the front lines of discussions of the city’s future and then helped bring a reform administration into power under the leadership of independent Republican Fiorello La Guardia. Women were thus engaged in not only the specifics of the corruption Samuel Seabury exposed but also the consequences of that exposure for New York City’s future.Less
New York City women civic activists avidly followed the Seabury investigations’ hearings and revelations. They passed resolutions demanding reform and traveled to Albany to confront legislators and urge Governor Roosevelt to take action. When the investigations’ focus turned from the women’s court to city governance, women were on the front lines of discussions of the city’s future and then helped bring a reform administration into power under the leadership of independent Republican Fiorello La Guardia. Women were thus engaged in not only the specifics of the corruption Samuel Seabury exposed but also the consequences of that exposure for New York City’s future.
Elisabeth Israels Perry
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199341849
- eISBN:
- 9780190948542
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199341849.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century, Political History
Soon after his first inauguration in 1934, New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia began appointing women into his administration. By the end of his three terms he had installed almost a hundred ...
More
Soon after his first inauguration in 1934, New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia began appointing women into his administration. By the end of his three terms he had installed almost a hundred women as lawyers, board and commission members and secretaries, deputy commissioners, and judges. No previous mayor had done anything comparable. These “Women of the La Guardia Administration” met frequently for mutual support and political strategizing. This book tells their stories. It begins with the city’s suffrage movement, which prepared them for political action. After they won the vote in 1917, they joined political party clubs and began to run for office. Their plan was to use political platforms to enact feminist and progressive public policies. Circumstances unique to mid-twentieth-century New York City advanced their progress. In 1930, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized an inquiry into alleged corruption in the city’s government, long dominated by the Democratic Party’s machine, Tammany Hall. The inquiry turned first to charges of Vice Squad entrapment of women for sex crimes and their treatment in the city’s Women’s Court. Outraged by the inquiry’s disclosures and impressed by La Guardia’s pledge to rein in Tammany, many New York City women activists supported him for mayor. As appointees in his administration, they then helped him fulfill his plans for modernizing city government. This book argues that La Guardia’s women appointees contributed to his administration’s success and left a rich legacy of experience and political wisdom to oncoming generations of women in politics.Less
Soon after his first inauguration in 1934, New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia began appointing women into his administration. By the end of his three terms he had installed almost a hundred women as lawyers, board and commission members and secretaries, deputy commissioners, and judges. No previous mayor had done anything comparable. These “Women of the La Guardia Administration” met frequently for mutual support and political strategizing. This book tells their stories. It begins with the city’s suffrage movement, which prepared them for political action. After they won the vote in 1917, they joined political party clubs and began to run for office. Their plan was to use political platforms to enact feminist and progressive public policies. Circumstances unique to mid-twentieth-century New York City advanced their progress. In 1930, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized an inquiry into alleged corruption in the city’s government, long dominated by the Democratic Party’s machine, Tammany Hall. The inquiry turned first to charges of Vice Squad entrapment of women for sex crimes and their treatment in the city’s Women’s Court. Outraged by the inquiry’s disclosures and impressed by La Guardia’s pledge to rein in Tammany, many New York City women activists supported him for mayor. As appointees in his administration, they then helped him fulfill his plans for modernizing city government. This book argues that La Guardia’s women appointees contributed to his administration’s success and left a rich legacy of experience and political wisdom to oncoming generations of women in politics.
