If you haven’t read the last two posts about Jane, I would recommend you read those first. Here’s part one and here’s part two. Now on to part three!
Today we are going to learn a little bit more about Jane’s personal life.
Jane joined the American Anti-Imperialist League in 1898. The anti-imperialists opposed the U.S. annexation of the Philippines. This was her first public involvement in pacifism.
In politics Jane was a strong supporter of the Progressive Party. She nominated Theodore Roosevelt for Presidency in 1912 and went on to speak and campaign for Roosevelt.
In January 1915, Jane became involved in the Woman’s Peace Party. The organization was founded to oppose World War One and called for peace across the globe. A convention was held to officially establish the Woman’s Peace Party. The convention was held on January 9th-10th, 1915. The event was attended by over 100 delegates representing women’s organizations from all around the U.S. Jane was elected president of the new organization. Its headquarters were then stationed in Chicago. Membership was open to any groups who were willing to repurpose themselves also as a “peace circle” and to any woman who would pay the annual $1 membership fee. After being elected president of the organization Jane gave a speech: “From the moment a soldier is born to the moment he marches in his uniform to be destroyed, it is largely the women of his household who have cared for him. War not only overthrows the work of the mother, the nurse, and the teacher, but at the same time ruthlessly destroys the very conception of the nurture of life…. Many of us believe that throughout this world of ours thousands of men and women have become convinced that the sacrifice of life in wartime is unnecessary.”
In April, 47 women, including members of the Woman’s Peace Party along with representatives from similar organizations began the important and dangerous journey to The Hauge, Netherlands. They were on their way to the Women’s International Congress for Peace and Freedom. The event had great participation with 1,136 delegates and more than 2,000 visitors in attendance. The congress drafted a series of plans that entailed a just peace, calling for general disarmament and removal of the profit motive through nationalizing the production of armaments, and asserting the benefits of free trade and freedom of navigation on the high seas. Before adjourning the congress also formed a new organization called the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace. The Woman’s Peace Party regarded itself as the U.S. section of the new organization. In 1921 the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace changed its name to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, which is still at work today.
In her journal Emily Balch wrote of Jane: “Miss Addams shines, so respectful of everyone’s views, so eager to understand and sympathize, so patient of anarchy and even ego, yet always there, strong, wise and in the lead. No ‘managing’, no keeping dark and bringing things subtly to pass, just a radiating wisdom and power of judgement.”
Because she was a pacifist, Jane’s membership to the Daughters of the American Revolution was revoked. She kept her good humor as always and made a joke about it saying she had thought her “membership was for life- not just during good behavior.” Jane was often ridiculed for her opposition to World War One, and was judged even more harshly for wanting to help all the countries involved after the war ended. During the start of the war Jane and some colleagues travelled to meet with world leaders. They thought it was especially important to urge neutral countries to stay neutral. They visited several European capitals on their trip. They talked with the British prime minister in London. In Berlin they met with the imperial chancellor of Germany. They also met with government officials in Vienna, Budapest, Rome, and Paris. With the exception of the French foreign minister, the European leaders seemed “ready to stop the war immediately if some honorable method of securing peace were provided,” Jane wrote in a letter to her nephew. The most receptive leader seemed to be Prime Minister Karl Count von Stuergkh of Austria who sat in silence listening to Jane’s presentation. Jane thought his silence meant he rejected their talk of peace. She said to him: “It perhaps seems to you very foolish that women should go about in this way. But after all, the world is so strange in this war that our mission may be no more strange or foolish than the rest.” “Foolish? Not at all. These are the first sensible words that have been uttered in this room for ten months. That door opens from time to time and people come in to say, ‘Mr. Minister, we must have more men, more ammunition, more money, or we cannot go on with this war.’ At last the door opens and two people walk in and say ‘Mr. Minister, why not substitute negotiations for fighting?’ You are the sensible ones!” Upon returning home in the summer of 1915 Jane was optimistic that peace would soon be made. She quickly realized that her conversations with the leaders were just small steps toward ending the war.
When the end of the war finally came in 1918, Jane felt the two most pressing matters were to help the victims of the war, and to make sure nothing like this ever happened again. In Spring of 1919 the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom held a conference in Zurich, at the very same time the Allied Forces were creating their peace treaty negotiations in Paris. Unlike the conference in Paris, the women’s meeting would included representatives of the defeated countries as well as victorious countries. During the six day conference the women discussed how to relieve hunger among the European war victims. They also condemned the peace treaty being created in Paris, saying its harsh terms for Germany would only “spread hatred” and “create animosities which can only lead to future wars.” Jane went to Paris after the women’s conference and sent President Wilson all the resolutions the women had come up with for the peace treaty. There is no evidence to suggest that the final treaty took into account the women’s opinions. When Jane returned home in August she began raising money for the starving German children. She faced extreme criticism from fellow Americans, whose hatred for Germany hadn’t been erased by the peace treaty. She was so hated for her efforts to listen to everybody with all sorts of different philosophies, that by the late 1920s she was often falsely called a communist and disloyal to her country. She was also often referred to as “the most dangerous woman in America.” Though these words hurt Jane she had no intention of striking back and continued to work towards world peace for the rest of her life. Her efforts of peace would later make her co-winner of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize.
Jane also spent lots of her time working on women’s suffrage. Thankfully her and many others’ efforts paid off.
In her later years Jane spent as much time as she could with her wife, Mary Rozet Smith. Jane and Mary first met in 1889 and had an instant connection. They bought a house together in Maine and spent some of their summers there. While many historians argue about whether or not Jane and Mary were in a romantic relationship, it is quite obvious they were. They saw themselves as a married couple, when Jane was on a trip she once wrote in a letter to Mary “There is reason in the habit of married folks keeping together.” Their friends were also aware that something was going on between the two. After Mary’s death in 1934 Dr. Alice Hamilton wrote to her sister saying: “When I came out here I told Mary that she must get well, that she could live on without J. A., but J. A. could not live without her. And perhaps Dr. Hamilton was correct because Jane died just thirteen months later on May 21st, 1935. After her death her impact on the world faded into the background until recently. Luckily people have started to remember Jane and recognize her efforts. Hopefully someday soon she will be taught about in history classes everywhere.
These past three articles I’ve written on Jane barely scratch the surface and I hope you will look more into this amazing woman’s story. I highly recommend you read her book Twenty Years at Hull-House and maybe even some of the other books she published.
Here are the resources I used while writing these posts about Jane: Twenty Years at Hull-House by Jane Addams Jane Addams Wikipedia Page Jane Addams: Champion of Democracy by Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin Jane Addams Papers Project
