Draft:Alice Hill Chittenden

Alice Hill Chittenden was a prominent organizer, speaker, and advocate for anti-suffragists in New York and the United States during the early twentieth century.

Biography
Chittenden was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1869. Her father, Simeon Baldwin Chittenden, was a Yale educated lawyer, and her grandfather, Simeon B. Chittenden, served as an Independent Republican in the House of Representatives from 1872 to 1881. From 1886 until 1888, Chittenden attended Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut. While Chittenden was introduced into society in 1888, she never married, and lived with her parents until their death.

In 1894 the New York Constitutional Convention struck down an amendment to their constitution hoping to give women in New York the right to vote. Chittenden started attending meetings of the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage with her mother. Chittenden was an anti-suffragist and wrote multiple articles on the topic. From 1913 to 1917, she was the president of the New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. In this role she also traveled to other states that already granted women the right to vote in order to inform her position in New York.

In 1914 when the Great War broke out, Alice Hill Chittenden argued that anti-suffragist political movements should be halted out of respect for the ongoing war. In the fall of 1914, Chittenden partnered with the Red Cross Auxiliary Committee and allowed them to use the headquarters of the organization to accept donations and relief funds. This became a popular talking point for anti-suffragists, as many claimed that suffragists were unpatriotic for continuing their fight for the right to vote in the midst of a war, while anti-suffragists were proving their loyalty to their country.

During World War I, Chittenden volunteered with the war effort where she recruited people for the Red Cross, volunteered in Halifax and France, and served as a director of a hospital group in Germany. From 1921 until 1922 she was the president of the Women’s National Overseas Service League, an organization that served women who served in the military. She was also a volunteer with the Liberal League, a group that advocated loyalty for representative government.

Despite Chittenden’s work with the anti-suffragist movement, on November 7th 1917, New York Women earned the right to vote. In response, Chittenden pushed fellow anti-suffragists to join a political party to fight against these amendments. Chittenden then reorganized the New York State Association Opposed to Women Suffrage into the New York State Women Voters’ Anti-Suffrage Party. In an interview with the New York Times, Chittenden predicted that men would "rue the day" when women were given the right to vote.

1917 in the Times 'sex war'

Disbanded New York State Association Opposed to Women Suffrage in order to focus on support of the war activities.

After the Republican election upset in 1920, Chittenden, Henrietta Wells Livermore, and Pauline Morton Sabin founded the Women’s National Republican Club, a private club affiliated with the Republican Party. The club worked with its membership to stand in support of Republican political candidates, and "carried on the work" of the Republican party. She was elected president in 1926 and 1927.

In 1927 she rejoined the political scene in Brooklyn.

Spent a few months in California, and returned to note that the state was spending what she considered excessive amounts of money due to the fact that women in California now had the right to vote

lengthy interview in the NY Times response by others

resigned from Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform due to the organization's support of Roosevelt / Gardner ticket

Her 1915 letter to the editor raises the question if it is worth a social upheaval that would occur if women are given the right to vote

(elected in 1934) secretary of the New York branch of the American Red Cross

Died October 2, 1945