I ran across an interesting United States history tidbit, and that is on this date in 1890 President Benjamin Harrison, either with the approval or more likely the PROMPTING of Mrs. Harrison, hired Alice Sanger to be the official stenographer for his Cabinet. Try as I might, I was able to find precious little information about Alice Sanger, other than that she was an efficient secretary and that she was able to learn the skill of typewriting. Granted, at the time she was hired, no typewriter existed in the White House, and more than likely no one from President Harrison on down even knew how to type. A typewrite would indeed be purchased by the Harrison Administration within a few months, but that is a story for another day.
What is nearly as, or maybe more, intriguing is why Benjamin Harrison decided to hire Ms. Sanger in the first place. You see, at this point in United States history, women had not yet won the right to vote, at least nationally. There was really no compelling reason for President Harrison to hire a female in any capacity. Why hire a woman, of all things?! Well, there was the First Lady...
First Lady Caroline Harrison was a believer in women's suffrage. She was also instrumental in furthering women's opportunities in the academic world and in those professions traditionally only open to men, which was pretty much anything except grade-school teaching and nursing at the time. First Lady Harrison was quite influential and powerful, as she served as a major fundraiser for Johns-Hopkins Medical School for the Washington D.C. area. In this capacity she raised over $100,000 with the stipulation that the money would provide scholarships for both men and women. Maybe she realized the time was right to have a woman working in the White House, and being a very strong woman, she no doubt had her husband's ear.
But what about Alice Sanger? As I said earlier, there seems to be very little information readily available about this woman. For instance, how had she come to the attention of either Benjamin Harrison or Caroline Harrison? Was it President Harrison's idea to hire her, or was it a stroke of somewhat risky genius on the First Lady's part? I believe that the First Lady was aware that if she personally came on "too strongly" for women's rights at this historical juncture, it would be damaging to her husband's administration. But by bringing a woman onto the President's personal staff, though not in a major role, she could help secure at least a footnote of fame for her husband while making a least a token advancement for women in the federal workforce. This move may also have earned President Harrison at least some respect from the various organizations involved in the women's rights movement. In an administration known for little else, President Harrison would be famous for hiring a woman, and Alice Sanger would be given one little footnote in United States history.
On March 4, 1893, President Harrison quietly left the White House. Benjamin Harrison had presided over a relatively quite segment of American History. Reconstruction was two decades in the past, and the Spanish American War was yet five years into the future. Harrison even missed the "Panic of 1893," which did not occur until Grover Cleveland was safely in office. As for Alice Sanger, I can only guess that she slid into obscurity once again, probably without much fanfare or financial gain, after having served her nation as the first ever female White House stenographer.
Thank you all for reading...
And May God Bless America
What is nearly as, or maybe more, intriguing is why Benjamin Harrison decided to hire Ms. Sanger in the first place. You see, at this point in United States history, women had not yet won the right to vote, at least nationally. There was really no compelling reason for President Harrison to hire a female in any capacity. Why hire a woman, of all things?! Well, there was the First Lady...
First Lady Caroline Harrison was a believer in women's suffrage. She was also instrumental in furthering women's opportunities in the academic world and in those professions traditionally only open to men, which was pretty much anything except grade-school teaching and nursing at the time. First Lady Harrison was quite influential and powerful, as she served as a major fundraiser for Johns-Hopkins Medical School for the Washington D.C. area. In this capacity she raised over $100,000 with the stipulation that the money would provide scholarships for both men and women. Maybe she realized the time was right to have a woman working in the White House, and being a very strong woman, she no doubt had her husband's ear.
But what about Alice Sanger? As I said earlier, there seems to be very little information readily available about this woman. For instance, how had she come to the attention of either Benjamin Harrison or Caroline Harrison? Was it President Harrison's idea to hire her, or was it a stroke of somewhat risky genius on the First Lady's part? I believe that the First Lady was aware that if she personally came on "too strongly" for women's rights at this historical juncture, it would be damaging to her husband's administration. But by bringing a woman onto the President's personal staff, though not in a major role, she could help secure at least a footnote of fame for her husband while making a least a token advancement for women in the federal workforce. This move may also have earned President Harrison at least some respect from the various organizations involved in the women's rights movement. In an administration known for little else, President Harrison would be famous for hiring a woman, and Alice Sanger would be given one little footnote in United States history.
On March 4, 1893, President Harrison quietly left the White House. Benjamin Harrison had presided over a relatively quite segment of American History. Reconstruction was two decades in the past, and the Spanish American War was yet five years into the future. Harrison even missed the "Panic of 1893," which did not occur until Grover Cleveland was safely in office. As for Alice Sanger, I can only guess that she slid into obscurity once again, probably without much fanfare or financial gain, after having served her nation as the first ever female White House stenographer.
Thank you all for reading...
And May God Bless America
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