Ernest Bernbaum

The women’s suffrage movement was not always successful in lobbying state legislatures. In 1915, Massachusetts put the idea of giving women the right to vote directly to the electorate. The end result was an overwhelming rejection of the referendum. Sixty-four and a half percent of those who participated voted against the provision. A Harvard professor of literature and frequent vocal opponent of granting women the right to vote was invited to write the introduction to a collection of essays "commemorating" the defeat of women’s suffrage in Massachusetts. In his essay, Professor Ernest Bernbaum describes why he believes the push for female enfranchisement was unsuccessful. First, he argues that men were swayed by the fact that most women were cool to the idea of voting. Second, he suggests that such indifference would not allow the addition...