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10 A New women's Movement

1. Betty Friedan, It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women's Movement (New York: Random House, 1976), 77. [BACK]

2. Esther Peterson to the Secretary, 26 January 1966, folder PE-4-2, "Peterson, Esther, 1966," box 400, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA; citizens' Advisory Council on the Status of Women, transcript of the meeting of 31 May 1966, pp. 93-96, box 13, CACSW papers, NA. [BACK]

3. "How NOW Began, Background Memorandum on NOW from Betty Friedan," n.d. [1967], in folder "NOW," box "Women's Organizations," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.); Interview with Catherine East, 6 July 1978 (Arlington, Va.); Frances Kolb, "The National Organization for Women: A History of the First Ten Years,'' chap. 1 (unpublished manuscript); Friedan, It Changed My Life, 77-84. [BACK]

4. Citizens' Advisory Council on the Status of Women, transcript of the meeting of 12 October 1964, pp. 30-35, box 13, CACSW papers, NA. [BACK]

5. Friedan, It Changed My Life, 77-84; East interview, 6 July 1978 (Arlington, Va.); Friedan, "How NOW Began," in folder "NOW," box "Women's Organizations," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.). [BACK]

6. Interview with Richard Graham, 31 July 1985 (Washington, D.C.); Richard Graham to Cynthia Harrison, 13 February 1987; Cynthia Harrison to Richard Graham, 27 February 1987 (with Graham's handwritten notes). [BACK]

7. Friedan, It Changed My Life, 77-84; East interview, 6 July 1978; Friedan, "How NOW Began," in folder "NOW," box "Women's Organizations," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.). [BACK]

8. Esther Peterson to John Macy, n.d., in folder "NOW," box "Women's Organizations," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.). [BACK]

9. According to Clarenbach, Esther Peterson was more receptive to the idea of permitting resolutions than the others, but Peterson later explained that she could not side with Clarenbach because Keyserling opposed the plan and insisted that Peterson not usurp her authority at the conference (Interview with Esther Peterson, 17 June 1980 [Washington, D.C.]; Telephone interview with Kathryn Clarenbach, 22 June 1981 [Madison, Wis.]). Friedan, "How NOW Began," in folder "NOW," box "Women's Organizations," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.); Friedan, It Changed My Life, 77-84; Washington Post and Washington Evening Star, 1 July 1966, clippings, in folder "Publicity," drawer "1966 Conference,'' PCSW papers (Washington, D.C.); U.S. News and World Report, 4 July 1966, 61-62, clipping in folder "NOW," Esther Peterson papers (in Peterson's possession). [BACK]

10. Mary Keyserling, "Report to the Secretary on the Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women, June 28-29-30," 12 July 1966, in folder "1966—Committee—ICSW (June-July)," box 349, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA; Olya Margolin to Andrew Biemiller, 5 August 1966, folder 22, box 55, Legislative Reference Files, Meany Archives. [BACK]

11. Kolb, "National Organization for Women," chap. 1. [BACK]

12. Chicago Tribune, 3 July 1966, clipping, in folder "89th Congress, women, comments re: discrimination," box 118, Martha Griffiths papers, BHL; Charles Maguire to Mr. Kintner, 29 June 1966, folder FG655 (Exec.), and 12 October 1966, folder FG655A (Exec.), LBJL. [BACK]

13. Detroit News, 13 November 1966, clipping, in folder "General 1964-66," box "Title VII," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.); Toni Carabillo, "A Passion for the Possible," Do It NOW 9, no. 9 (October 1976): 5-8. [BACK]

14. Carabillo, "A Passion for the Possible"; Friedan, It Changed My Life, 83-85; Kolb, "National Organization for Women," 4, 23, 39-44; Judith Hole and Ellen Levine, Rebirth of Feminism, (New York: Quadrangle Books, 1971), 84. [BACK]

15. Carabillo, "A Passion for the Possible," 5-8; National Organization for Women, "An Invitation to Join," September 1966, reel 110, NWP papers (microfilm ed.); National Organization for Women, "Statement of Purpose," in Up From the Pedestal: Selected Writings in the History of American Feminism, ed. Aileen S. Kraditor (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1968), 363-69. [BACK]

16. Friedan, "How NOW Began," in folder "NOW," box "Women's Organizations," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.). [BACK]

17. Esther Peterson to John Macy, attached to untitled memorandum beginning, "The specific events I have set forth. . . ," n.d., in folder "NOW," Esther Peterson papers (in Ms. Peterson's possession); Esther Peterson to John Macy, n.d., in folder "NOW," box "Women's Organizations," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.). [BACK]

18. Kolb, "National Organization for Women," 19-33; National Organization for Women, "Targets for Action, 1966-67" (draft), 26 October 1966, in folder "NOW," box "Women's Organizations," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.). [BACK]

19. Kolb, "National Organization for Women," 25, 30-31; Friedan, It Changed My Life, 84. [BACK]

20. Kolb, "National Organization for Women," 20-21. [BACK]

21. NOW, "Statement of Purpose," in Kraditor (ed.), Up From the Pedestal, 363-369. [BACK]

22. Ibid. [BACK]

23. Kathryn Clarenbach, Betty Friedan, and Caroline Davis to Stephen N. Shulman, Luther Holcomb, and Samuel Jackson, 11 November 1966, and Clarenbach, Friedan, and Davis to the President, 11 November 1966, and Clarenbach, Friedan, and Davis to Ramsey Clark, 11 November 1966, in folder "ICSW meeting, January 17, 1976, Room 102-A," reel 25, DOL microfilm, LBJL; Betty Friedan to John Macy, 24 January 1967, in folder "NOW," Esther Peterson papers (in Peterson's possession). [BACK]

24. Kathryn Clarenbach, Betty Friedan, and Caroline Davis to the President, 11 November 1966, in folder "ICSW meeting, January 17, 1967, Room 102-A," reel 25, DOL microfilm, LBJL. [BACK]

25. Betty Friedan to John Macy, 24 January 1967, in folder "NOW," Esther Peterson papers (in Peterson's possession); Stephen Shulman to Edith Green, 27 February 1967, in folder "EEOC," box 67-12, Edith Green papers, OHS. [BACK]

26. Willard Wirtz to Betty Friedan, 25 November 1966, in folder "1966--Committee--ICSW (Nov.-Dec.)," box 349, and Kathryn Clarenbach and Betty Friedan to Willard Wirtz, 9 April 1967, in folder "1967--Committee--ICSW (meeting April 18, 1967)," box 53, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA. [BACK]

27. Esther Peterson to the officers of NOW, 15 December 1966, in Betty Friedan papers, cited in Kolb, "National Organization for Women," 112. [BACK]

28. Betty Friedan to Marvin Watson, 5 December 1966 (plus attachments) folder HU3 (General), box 58, LBJL. [BACK]

29. Kolb, "National Organization for Women," 111. [BACK]

30. Harry McPherson, Jr., to Kathryn Clarenbach, 20 March 1967, folder S2-3/1967/HU2/Pro/A-Z, box 90, LBJL. [BACK]

31. Willard Wirtz to Esther Peterson, 26 July 1965 (plus attachments), Joseph Goldberg, note for follow-up, 5 August 1965, and Joseph Goldberg, memorandum for the files, 1 October 1965, in folder "Re: Labor," box "Engagements--Labor," Esther Peterson papers, SL. [BACK]

32. Penelope H. Thunberg to Willard Wirtz, 14 April 1967, in folder "H.R. 643(2)," box "Women," Esther Peterson papers, SL; Attachment 2 to FPM letter 713-7, 13 October 1967, "Catherine East to Esther Peterson, 17 February 1967," in folder "Government--Federal Woman's Award, 1963, 1966-67," box ''Correspondence Files,'' Esther Peterson papers, SL; Joseph Goldberg to Esther Peterson, 30 September 1966, in folder "NOW," Esther Peterson to the Secretary, 24 March 1967, [no folder], Esther Peterson papers (in Peterson's possession); Willard Wirtz to the President, 2 June 1967, attached to Wilfred Rommel to Mr. Levinson, 21 June 1967, folder HU2-1 (Exec.), box 43, LBJL; Harry McPherson, Jr., to Kathryn Clarenbach, 20 March 1967, folder SP2-3/1967/HU2/Pro/A-Z, box 90, LBJL: Francena Miller to the President, 19 October 1967, folder HU3 (General), box 58, LBJL; White House press release, 28 February 1966, folder MA1/F, box 2, LBJL; White House press release, 10 October 1967, in folder "1967—Committee—ICSW(Oct.-Dec.)," box 53, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA; Betty Friedan, Report of the President, NOW Second National Conference, 18 November 1967, reel 110, NWP papers (microfilm ed.); U.S. Congress, House, 90th Cong., 1st sess., 16 and 17 October 1967, Congressional Record 113: 28948-28949, 29098-29099; Federal Woman's Award Study Group on Careers for Women, Progress Report to the President, 3 March 1967, in notebook "ICSW meeting, 18 April 1967," box 23, CACSW papers, NA. [BACK]

33. Betty Friedan, Report of the President, NOW Second National Conference, 18 November 1967, reel 110, NWP papers (microfilm ed.). [BACK]

34. Wisconsin Commission Resolution, 20 April 1966, in folder "1966—Committee—ICSW (Jan.-Apr.)," box 349, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA; Dorothy Height to Luther Holcomb, 28 July 1966, in folder "Women's Bureau, Interdepartmental Committee on the Status of Women," reel 25, DOL microfilm, LBJL; ''Statement adopted by the Commissioners at meeting #123 of August 19, 1963," in folder "1967—Committee—ICSW (Feb.)," box 53, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA; Esther Peterson to Willard Wirtz, 9 December 1966, in folder "ICSW meeting, 17 January 1967,'' box 23, CACSW papers, NA; Summary of meeting with representatives of Consumers League, 4 January 1967, in folder "1967--Committee--ICSW (March)," box 53, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA; Mary Keyserling to Esther Peterson, 23 January 1967, in folder "Title VII," reel 17, DOL microfilm LBJL; Draft working paper, Title VII and State Protective Laws, in folder "Equal Opportunity (1)," reel 20, DOL microfilm, LBJL; Proposed Department of Labor position on state labor standards relating to the employment of women and their relationship to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 14 March 1967, in folder "Title VII," reel 17, DOL microfilm, LBJL; Department of Labor position on state labor standards laws relating to the employment of women and their relationship to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 16 March 1967, in folder "Labor Standards," reel 16, DOL microfilm, LBJL; Draft position paper on inter-relationship of state labor legislation and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 2 February 1967, attached to Title VII and State Protective Laws, draft working paper, n.d., attached to Briefing for meeting with representatives of the National Consumers League, 8 March 1967, in folder "1967—Committee—ICSW (March)," box 53, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA. [BACK]

35. Kolb, "National Organization for Women," chap. 2; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission press release, 1 May 1967, reel 110, NWP papers (microfilm ed.); Federal Register 32 (11 July 1967): 10228; Stephen Shulman to the President, 23 March 1967, folder FG 655, box 380, LBJL; Jo Freeman, The Politics of Women's Liberation (New York: McKay, 1975), 56. [BACK]

36. Despite the new policy, the issue was finally decided by the courts. Litigation, supported by NOW and other feminist groups organizing its wake, raised the matter repeatedly, and by 1971 federal courts ruled consistently that hours laws and weight-lifting laws that applied only to women were invalidated by Title VII. Citizens' Advisory Council on the Status of Women, "Summary of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Hearings," 2 and 3 May 1967, item 141, box 17, CACSW papers, NA; National Federation of Business and Professional Women press release, 3 May 1967, in folder "Title VII, 1967 Legislation," BPW Archives; Statement by Marguerite Rawalt, 2 May 1967, reel 110, NWP papers (microfilm ed.); U.S. Congress, House, 90th Cong., 1st sess., statement by Martha Griffiths on 3 May 1967, 17 May 1967, Congressional Record 111:13108-13110; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, press release, 23 February 1968, in folder "Equal Employment Opportunity, President's Commission on," box 68-4, Edith Green papers, OHS; Federal Register 33 (24 February 1968): 3344, 3361; Hole and Levine, Rebirth of Feminism , 409; Los Angeles Times , 11 September 1968, clipping, reel 111, NWP papers (microfilm ed.); Rosenfeld v. Southern Pacific , 293 F. Supp. 1219 (C.D. Cal. 1968), Aff'd, 444F. 2d. 1219 (9th Cir. 1971). [BACK]

37. CACSW, "Summary of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Hearings." [BACK]

38. Catherine East to Easther Peterson, 20 December 1966, attached to Phineas Indritz to Officers and Directors of NOW, 6 December 1966, in folder "Advertising," box "Title VII," Catherine East papers (Arlington, Va.); Petition to the EEOC to amend the Commission's rule set forth in section 1604.4 of 29 Code of Federal Regulations, 19 December 1966, in folder "Equal Opportunity (2)," reel 20, DOL microfilm, LBJL; Stephen Shulman to Edith Green, 27 February 1967, and Edith Green to Stephen Shulman, 14 February 1967, in folder "Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,'' box 67-12, Edith Green papers, OHS; Stephen Shulman to Willard Wirtz, and Willard Wirtz to Stephen Shulman, 26 January 1967, in folder ''1967—Committee—ICSW (Feb.)," box 53, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA; Esther Peterson to Clifford Alexander, Jr., 9 September 1967, in folder "Title VII," reel 17, DOL microfilm, LBJL; U.S. Congress, House, 90th Cong., 2d sess., 30 September 1968, Congressional Record 114:28819-28825. [BACK]

39. Carabillo, "A Passion for the Possible," 5-8; Hole and Levine, Rebirth of Feminism , 40-44; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission press release, 6 August 1968, in folder "Equal Employment Opportunity, President's Commission on," box 68-4, Edith Green papers, OHS; Federal Register 33 (14 August 1968): 11539; Freeman, Politics of Women's Liberation , 76-79; Jacob Potofsky to Willard Wirtz, 7 March 1968, and Willard Wirtz to Jacob Potofsky, 29 April 1968, in folder "WA-3 Employment Advancement 1968,'' box 95, RG 174 (Wirtz), NA. [BACK]

40. Freeman, Politics of Women's Liberation , 80-81; Jean Witter to Alice Paul, 15 April 1968, reel 111, NWP papers (microfilm ed.). Congress submitted the ERA to the states in March 1972. In 1982, when the ratification period expired, the ERA went down, having won approval from only 35 of the 38 states needed. It remains an important item on the feminist agenda. [BACK]

41. The CACSW also adopted a recommendation to repeal criminal abortion laws in April 1968. Council member Viola Hymes responded initially to the makers of the motion, "Well, you have got a lot of guts" (Citizens' Advisory Council on the Status of Women, transcript of the meeting of 26 April 1968, pp. 168-204, box 13, CACSW papers, NA [quote, p. 169]). National Organization for Women press release, 20 November 1967, in folder "NOW" box 92, Martha Griffiths papers, BHL; Miriam Holden to Miss Newall, 1 February 1967, and Ernestine Powell to Alice Paul, 25 January 1968, reel 110, NWP papers (microfilm ed.). [BACK]

42. Alice Paul oral history, pp. 530-535. [BACK]

43. The CACSW endorsed the ERA in 1970. Freeman, Politics of Women's Liberation , 212; Citizens' Advisory Council on the Status of Women, notes for Mrs. Peterson, 2 and 3 December 1967, and notes for Senator Neuberger, 2 and 3 December 1967, in folder: "CACSW meeting, December 2-3, 1967," box 5, CACSW papers NA; Interdepartmental Committee on the Status of Women, Summary of Eighth Meeting, 14 February 1968, in folder "Women's Bureau, Interdepartmental Committee on the Status of Women," reel 25, DOL microfilm, LBJL; Joseph Califano to Emma Guffey Miller, 11 April 1968, folder HU3.(General), box 58, LBJL.

In October 1967, Johnson did send Emma Guffey Miller a letter saying his Senate support for the ERA was unchanged. Miller's request for a statement had come through Deputy Press Secretary Robert Fleming and presidential assistant Will Sparks, who considered it a personal message and therefore did not send the inquiry to the Department of Labor to be answered as was the customary practice. Johnson's letter was an aberration, however, and subsequent letters from the White House were worded to avoid either reiterating support for the ERA or implying that the president's October 1967 letter was a mistake. Emma Guffey Miller to the President, 1 November 1967 (plus attachments), folder HU3 (Executive), box 58, LBJL; cf. Califano to Miller, 11 April 1968, and George Christian to Margery Leonard, 12 October 1967, folder HU3 (Executive), box 58, LBJL; Will R. Sparks to Cynthia Harrison, 11 December 1980. [BACK]

44. Margery Leonard, "The Equal Rights Amendment in the New Hampshire Primary," telegram sent to all presidential candidates by Betty Friedan, 15 May 1968, National Organization for Women press release, 6 May 1968, George Wallace to Alice Paul, 20 July 1968, Statement by former Vice-President Richard M. Nixon on the Equal Rights Amendment, [July 1968], reel 111, NWP papers (microfilm ed.); New York Times , 7 May 1968; National Organization for Women press release, 6 May 1968, reel 111, NWP papers (microfilm ed.). [BACK]

45. See Sara Evans, Personal Politics: The Roots of Women's Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left (New York: Knopf, 1979). [BACK]

46. See Cynthia Harrison, Women's Movement Media (New York: Bowker, 1975), for a contemporaneous compilation of the publications of the women's movement. [BACK]

47. Freeman, Politics of Women's Liberation , 83-92, 145-151. [BACK]

48. For discussions of the policy impact of the women's movement, see Freeman, Politics of Women's Liberation; Hole and Levine, Rebirth of Feminism; Irene L. Murphy, Public Policy on the Status of Women: Agenda and Strategy for the 70s (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1973); and Joyce Gelb and Marian Leif Palley, Women and Public Policies (Princeton: N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1982). [BACK]


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