Both major political parties had Women’s Divisions in the middle of the 20th century. Despite the roles that women had as political strategists to elect and reelect some of the country’s most beloved presidents, their work has been left out of the narratives of midcentury America.
In “Bringing Home the White House,” Melissa Estes Blair introduces readers to five unheralded women at the forefront of historic presidential campaigns. Blair examines the ways that these women affected the outcome of presidential elections and highlights the importance of their individual influence.
The five women introduced in these pages held jobs in the Women’s Divisions from 1932 until 1958. During these years, they organized tens of thousands of women all over the country, providing them with talking points, fliers and other material to strike up political conversations with their friends and neighbors.
In the story of these West Wing women, Blair sheds light on the ways that women were central to American politics from the depths of the Great Depression to the height of the Cold War.
