Skip to main content
Like
Create new Glog
previous
next
Email share
27 views | 0 likes | 0 reposts
This mobalization also brought significant changes to other aspects of public health. The 1921 Maternity and Infancy Act gave over 1 million to clinics for prenatal care, and other funds were used to combact the ''great flu'' of 1918-1919.
A century of Reforms: Public Health, Prohibition, and Woman's suffrage
Until World War I, the fight for woman suffrage varied greatly within individual states. Western states and territories were the first to establish various forms of woman suffrage as law. The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was the most important suffrage group of this time. Under the leadership of Carrie Catt, NAWSA supported the war.. NAWSA pursued a moderate policy of lobbying Congress for a constitutional amendment. Alice Paul, a young Quaker activist, left NAWSA dissatisfied with its conservative strategy and joined forces with western women voters to form the National Woman’s Party. This party pursued a more aggressive and dramatic strategy of agitation. Paul’s radical approach helped make the NAWSA position more acceptable to President Wilson. Carrie Chapman Catt gained President Wilson’s support, and in 1917 the president urged Congress to pass a woman suffrage amendment as “vital to the winning of the war.” The House passed the amendment in January 1918 and a more reluctant Senate approved it in June 1919. On August 20, Tennessee gave the final vote needed to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, making woman’s vote legal nationwide.
During this time, the prohibition grew and succeeded as well. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union had become the single largest organization in american History by the early 1900's. Through their efforts, the 18th amendment was passed in January 1919, providing a national ban on alcoholic drinks. Interstingly, prohibition of alcohol perpetuated organized crime.
Wartime action brought government scrutiny of public health issues, especially sexual health. Due to the growing rate of venereal disease in army personel, the government started a vigorous campaign against venereal diseases, including the closure of red-light districts and handing out condomes such as these.
1920's Anti-Alcohol Ad
