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Our Founding
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The Palmer House Chicago, Illinois The Federation was founded here in 1938. |
The story of Republican women's clubs begins many years before
women even had the right to vote. Inspired by the Republican
Platform of 1872, which said: "The Republican Party is mindful
of its obligation to the loyal women of America for their
noble devotion to the cause of Freedom ...," Republican
women’s clubs were off and running. In fact, the oldest such
club on record was founded in Salt Lake City in the late
1800s.
Hundreds of independent Republican women’s clubs grew up
around the nation in the years to come. For example, there
were 140 clubs in Indiana alone by the late 1930s.
It was in 1938 that Marion Martin, assistant chairman of the
Republican National Committee, called a meeting at the Palmer
House in Chicago to organize these clubs into a national
organization.
States in which Republican women’s clubs were organized on a
“statewide” basis sent delegates and alternates to that meeting with
a request to affiliate with such an organization. To be
considered "statewide" at that time, a state or local club had
to have members in 60 percent of the counties of that state.
(Later this rule was changed to cover either 50 percent of the
counties or 75 percent of the state's congressional
districts.)
The delegates adopted rules governing the establishment of a
National Federation of Republican Women’s Clubs, with the
following purposes:
"to foster and encourage loyalty to the Republican Party and the ideals for which it stands - to promote education along political lines - to encourage closer cooperation between independent groups and the regular party organization, which are working for the same objectives, namely sound government - to promote an interchange of ideas and experiences of various clubs to the end that the policies which have proven particularly effective in one state may be adopted in another - and to encourage a national attitude and national approach to the problems facing the Republican Party."
Eleven states became the charter states of NFRW - California,
Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Indiana,
Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania.
At the age of 31, Joyce Arneill of Denver, Colo., was elected
the first president of the Federation, and the organization
began to grow.
At the time of NFRW’s founding, three states – Maryland,
Virginia, and Alabama – had not even ratified the 19th
amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting suffrage to women.
The campaign of 1936 had reelected Franklin D. Roosevelt over
Alf Landon with only two states – Maine and Vermont – going
Republican. There were only six Republican governors, 89
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, and 16 in
the Senate.
And yet the National Federation of Republican Women – born in
a climate of defeat – grew in size and strength, providing a
vehicle for women concerned with the direction of our
government.
In 1940, the NFRW reported that, “Since the founding of the
Federation, there has been a steady and consistent progress.”
Thirty-four states, as well as the District of Columbia, were
represented in the Federation through statewide federations
and/or individual clubs.
In its earliest days, the Federation was a lobbying group. In
1940, NFRW enlisted the support of its members to urge their
representatives in Washington to hold free and open hearings
and a full investigation on the amendments to the Wagner Labor
Relations Act. They wrote their representatives during
National Debt Week to impress them with the fact that
constituents were concerned about the national debt. And on
June 10, 1940, NFRW President Joyce Arneill sent a letter to
all club presidents urging their help in keeping Congress in
session until the immediate crisis of the “foreign situation”
was past.
By September 1, 1943, 23 statewide federations held membership
in the national organization, along with 98 individual clubs
from 16 states.
Today, the NFRW consists of thousands of active members in
local clubs across the nation and in several U.S. territories. The goals
of those women who met in Chicago in 1938 continue to be the
goals of the NFRW – to encourage women’s participation in the
governing of our nation, to elect Republicans to office at all
levels, and to promote public awareness of the issues that
shape America.
Biennial national conventions have been held in cities
across the nation, with U.S. presidents and vice presidents,
first ladies, cabinet members, legislators, party leaders,
political experts, and celebrities
attending. Presidential candidates never miss these meetings.
They know that many of those attending will be delegates to
the Republican National Convention or will be instrumental in
the delegate selection process. They know that these women are
the GOP’s grassroots activists.
Programs such as NFRW’s campaign management schools, women
candidate seminars, and polling schools have trained literally
thousands of Republican women and men to help elect GOP
candidates, and communities throughout the nation have
benefited from the volunteer services of NFRW’s Caring for
America and literacy programs.
Millions of American women, ages 19 to 90, have helped shape
our nation through wartime and peace, through depression and
prosperity, through good times and bad – all through the
National Federation of Republican Women.
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