D J Hutchinson
Senator Hattie Caraway
Support for the Lend-Lease
Act
Caraway gave the
speech over nation-wide radio network on February 27, l941 at 9:30 PM. Senator Byrnes requested on February 28,
l941 that her speech be printed in the
Congressional Record . Many newspapers
across the nation printed
Senator Caraway's speech. The
version used for this project came from the Pismo Times in Pismo Beach,
California. The Times ran Caraway's speech on April 4, l941. The Pismo Times
stated "Ranking next to President Roosevelt's radio address when the
Lend-Lease Bill was pending, was the address by our only woman member of the
United States Senate."
Rhetorical biography of the speaker
Our nation's first female elected to the U.S. Senate was
nicknamed "Silent Hattie" because she gave only 15 speeches on the
floor of the senate. She was born on February 1, l878 in Tennessee. She chose
teaching as a career and met Thaddeus Caraway, a fellow teacher, whom she
married in 1902. Thaddeus took Hattie back to Jonesboro, Arkansas where she
managed their home and cotton plantation while Thaddeus became a
lawyer. He was interested in politics
and successfully ran for the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Unfortunately on November 6, l931, Senator Thaddeus H. Caraway suddenly died,
leaving Arkansas without a voice in the Senate and his family facing a
financial crisis. The Widow Caraway had
sons to support and the Depression gave little promise of her finding an
occupation. Hattie and the Democrat party could solve their respective problems
with a two step process. First, the governor would appoint Hattie to fill the
vacancy until a special election could be called; second, Hattie would win the
election and finish the few months left in her husband's term. She would receive ten thousand dollars and
the party would have its short term senator;
no one expected Hattie to run
for reelection. Senator Caraway kept a
diary during her first year. She
considered running for a full six-year term, therefore, she took notes and
hoped to become a respected candidate by watching her fellow senators. She did learn the "unspoken" rules
of the Ultimate Men's Club, the U.S. Senate, and did not transgress their
code. A month from primary election day, Hattie faced six opponents; she had no
campaign funds, no campaign manager, and
no campaign plans. Eventually, Senator Caraway gained something that
none of her six opponents could match:
Huey Long !
Hattie and Huey developed a deep friendship when the
Louisiana governor was elected that state's senator; his desk was next to hers
in the back row; two misfits finding solace in each other's company. They would
make an odd tag-team on the campaign circuit. Hattie continued her training and
she had the best possible mentor. In style or message, nobody campaigned better
than Huey Long. Together, they conducted the shortest, most colorful, and most
successful political campaign our nation has ever experienced. Hattie Caraway's
l932 Senatorial campaign changed the way Americans elected their
representatives. In six days, the two senators
traveled "two thousand miles, been to thirty-one counties, made
thirty-nine speeches and personally reached over 200,000 people." Hattie
established the winning formula for her career. She won a second full term by
defeating Congressman McClellan. Eventually age and poor health limited her
influence; she lost her fourth bid for the senate seat to William Fulbright.
The Constraints
Since she was the
first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate, Hattie did not want to be seen as
defying tradition, so she rarely spoke from the senate floor. She also did not
want to alienate the male voters in Arkansas, so she chose carefully her public
speeches back home in Arkansas. Her simple conclusions in her journal reflect
much agreement with Rosabeth Moss Kanter's research in Men and Women of the
Corporation. Solo, token females face difficult scrutiny in three ways:
visibility, contrast, and role encapsulation. They are the only one of their
kind, so they will quickly be noticed, but accomplishments are easily
overlooked. Others will try to perceive how the token can be contrasted with
those in the dominant group; therefore, tokens cannot make members of the
dominant group look bad, or the group will perceive her as attacking them.
People will then try to generalize or stereotype how the token is like the
group she represents rather than seeing her as an individual with her own set
of talents and beliefs. This puts enormous pressure on the token to succeed
without making any of the normal mistakes executive level personnel might do as
they mature in their careers. For most of her career the Senator from Arkansas
tip-toed around male egos and played
the game well. One event, debate on the
Lend-lease bill, motivated Caraway to
publicly break from the acceptable
"Silent Hattie" facade
and reveal her assertiveness. Interestingly, she received no social discipline
from other senators, the press, or voters. Hattie's approach was later justified
by research conducted by Tanford and Penrod (1984) which suggested one tactic a
minority member might use when trying to influence the majority. By first consenting with the group, the
minority member gains "brownie points." She therefore would not lose their admiration when she later
disagreed with them. Slowly the voters
began to trust and admire the quiet widow. Tediously, she began to acquire more influence until she eventually became for a few years the most powerful politician in Arkansas.
Press reports in early February of 1941, stated'
"Mrs. Caraway was silent." Many reasons may have motivated Senator
Hattie Caraway to end her silence
and give this challenging speech. She
was a member of the Senate Committee that considered the House version.
Generally, voters in her home state supported the concept. However, her
aggressiveness and her willingness
to publicly challenge fellow senators' masculinity was a new approach. The Pismo Times removed most of her
inflammatory statements. Perhaps, she felt she had played the game well, earned
enough "brownie points" and was willing to challenge the status quo.
She had defeated Congressman McClellan without a Huey Long by her side. She had
successfully blocked a Roosevelt nomination just because she did not like the
woman. Other elected officials were seeking her endorsement. She sat on the front row of the chamber with veteran senators. The nation's first elected female senator may have decided her political power could
withstand any negative impact angry, male senators might try to force upon
her...or she may have just believed strongly in the cause.
The Audience
Senator Hattie Caraway was a staunch New Dealer and
supported most of Franklin Roosevelt's reforms. With war raging in Europe, the President began to submit new
ideas to support our allies fighting against Hitler. During the 1940's Britain had been buying supplies from the
United States using the cash-and-carry plan. However, the British treasury was
running low on money as the war progressed. Many Americans felt uncomfortable
giving loans to the Allies as this might drag the United States into the war.
Shortly after winning his third term, Roosevelt proposed lending supplies, not
money, to Great Britain. A vocal group of isolationists, America
First Committee, lead the opposition to the Lend-Lease Act and all other aid to
Europe. A spokesman of this organization was Gerald L. K. Smith
of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Caraway's
vocal support for the Act would be critical as Smith, a minister, preached at
the funeral of Hattie's good friend, Huey Long. He believed Long was murdered
at Franklin Roosevelt's instructions.
Smith's resistance to entering the war was
motivated by a racial bias against Jews. Charles Lindbergh, another spokesman for the group, believed the nation's efforts should be
limited to the Western Hemisphere. The
"Committee" conducted a huge rally at Madison Square Garden
protesting the United States' continued
accelerated involvement in Europe's problems. While most people did not support
Smith's radical views, Americans wanted
to see the Germans defeated, but without direct participation by their country. Roosevelt and other influential
personalities began a public relations campaign to persuade Americans and
eventually Congress to accept a new version of financial aid for Europe. Senator Hattie Caraway's speech was very
influential in passing the Lend-Lease bill.
After two months of public debate, the Lend-Lease Act was passed on
March 11, l941 which placed the United States as the "arsenal of
democracy." Four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, America First
Committee was dissolved.
Style
The nation did not
expect a defining speech on the lend-lease act to be delivered by a
woman. These issues dealt with war, dictators, strategy, and national defense. Subjects rarely discussed by
a proper, refined woman.
And women, many thought, were probably too emotional to arrive at a
reasonable conclusion. Hattie realized the cultural land mines her speech might
encounter. She challenged those biases
by stating her approach to the debate:
"Let us view this matter without emotion." She used military
and naval terms such as "Full steam ahead." She left no doubt
concerning her lack of timidity on the subject when she declared she would
disown her sons if they had not joined the military. She sounded more like a
general charging the enemy's line than the soft, spoken Southern widow from
Arkansas.
Organization
Those supporting the Lend-Lease Act engaged in a very precarious balancing
act. Americans did not want to become
militarily active in the European war, however, the Allies desperately needed our support. In her radio speech,
Hattie began with a discussion of the neutrality law and the Selective Service Act. She reminded the audience that the
"same gentlemen" that predicted these two bills would force America
into the European war made the same claim concerning lend-lease. Her response was "Is there any reason
to believe that their present dire forecasts are more accurate than their other
attempts at prophecy?" Hattie declared this, for America, is a war of ideas. Ideas did not seem as frightening as bombs, however, once the
ideas were accepted and believed, the nation might be willing to give more aid
to European allies. She invoked every
precious doctrine held by her listeners as targets of Hitler's armies. The
Senator had strong religious beliefs and most Americans acknowledged some
concept of God. Caraway wisely included
all religious beliefs as possible casualties of the war. Hattie later conceded the possibility that Hitler may invade American
shores if the nation did not
participate in the war of ideas. Her
radio address presented the nation's dilemma. "It is not so much a
question of whether we will get into the war. It is rather one of whether the
war will come to us."
She had to convince Americans that Hitler could invade their shores, so she used the Allies' control of
the naval shipping lanes as proof. If England fell, Germany would control the
seas and easily land on the American
coast. Repeatedly, she stated Great
Britain was America's last wall
protecting us from Nazism. America must
keep that wall strong. Franklin
Roosevelt had used the homey illustration of a house burning so the neighbors
help put out the fire before their homes become inflamed. Which would seem to be a likely scene called
upon by the senator who listed her occupation as "housewife," instead she spoke about controlling naval
lanes.
Much of the New
Deal legislation gave more power to the federal government...especially the
executive branch. She did not ignore the complaints that were advanced by opponents. Instead Hattie
suggested the President's pie was just enlarged for the sake of efficiency, however,
she insisted the executive branch did not take any power from other branches of
government. As with most wars the
American people have fought, critics often questioned if the citizens were losing some freedoms in the war effort that they are supposed to be defending by
engaging the enemy. Hattie tried to
pacify these concerns.
Caraway also quietly suggested that those criticizing the
President may be unwittingly helping the Nazis by causing division in our
country and weakening the nation's resolve.
Many thought the United States would eventually enter the war. Hattie wanted those that fought against
Roosevelt and the Lend-Lease Act to appear cowardly as that day approached. Her
radio speech was more forceful on this subject. " They fear to do anything
lest it bring Hitler's wrath down upon them. Why all this cringing before Mr.
Hitler? Why the fear that we may do something which would make the German
dictator angry?"
While Caraway tried
to increase political support
for the Commander-in-chief, Franklin Roosevelt, she also wanted to present one person as the enemy: Hitler. If the country could not wholeheartedly
rally behind the president, she wanted them to direct their frustrations
toward someone else.
While Hattie claimed to be unemotional and used military
terms and tactics, she still used her feminine advantages at the end of her
speech. Who could argue or question a
woman willing to pay the ultimate price? She was asking Americans to lend
supplies to England while as a mother she was willing to jeopardize her sons
for the cause. In her radio speech, she stated her office received an inordinate amount of mail against the lend-lease bill. Many citizens thought that as the only female in the senate, Hattie would be more
inclined to vote against preparing another country for battle. Her radio speech claimed, "Those
opposing this measure are seeking to frighten the women of this country by their constant cry of
War." She defended her sex by declaring,
"women are just as loyal, courageous, and self-sacrificing as
men." Senator Caraway realized the
attempt to victimize women was a symptom of deeper problems in the American
culture, so she reminded everyone that after
the war has ended, women will
still be fighting for equal opportunities and responsibilities here in their
own nation.
Hattie's sentence, "I do not want war,"
followed the pattern of President Roosevelt's fireside chats. Even as the
nation was being drawn into the conflict, Roosevelt continually spoke of peace
and his total dislike for war.
Historical and Rhetorical Value
Unfortunately, today's female congresswomen must also
give speeches concerning the nation's involvement in a war. Hattie could ask others to sacrifice because as a mother her sons serving active duty in the nation's military were in
harm's way. Today's female senators
need not point to sisters, wives, and
mothers that send their loved ones into war.
Females are serving in dangerous positions in today's military. Female
fighter pilots and combat soldiers have given precedent for women to
claim first hand experience of war. The
horrors of battle are no longer limited
to male soldiers. While many would
claim learning to kill and destroy is not a worthy or progressive step for women,
elected female representatives can be more aggressive in speaking about
the issues of military action. Margaret
Thatcher and Golda Meir served as executives during periods of military action. As women must become more engaged in
America's debate concerning major war efforts, they might follow Caraway's
tactics.
Caraway's Effective Rhetorical Concepts
1. Win the war of ideas
first.
2. Use forceful action-oriented words.
3. Paint a bleak picture as
a result of not engaging the enemy.
4. Personify the evil as one
person.
5. Answer any critical
claims with statistics/facts.
6. Indirectly question
critics' motives.
7. Claim your sense of
sacrifice
8. Verbally embrace peace,
but vote for engagement
President Roosevelt in his State of the Union address
asked for a major change of public opinion concerning his lend-lease idea. The
nation and Republicans were still isolationists. No Republican clapped during this segment of his speech. Two months later, the campaign was so successful that the bill passed by a large
margin. Americans could now be considered internationalists. President
Roosevelt did give Congress the final authority of lend-lease supplies, but his
vision of America's role in the world
prevailed. Caraway was correct; this
was foremost a war of ideas. The
Lend-Lease Act was a catalysts that sparked
the national discussion concerning America's relationship to the
world. Her paramount goal was to
convince Americans they were the leaders and protectors of the free world. She was part of a public relations feat that changed the course of history.
Text of the Speech
The text may be obtained at the University of Arkansas
Library, Special Collections, Hattie
Caraway File. A photo copy of the Pismo Times is available on microfiche. A
copy of her entire radio speech can be
found in the Appendix to the Congressional Record.
Bibliography
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