To the Editor:

The Daily’s editorial (“Missing pieces of history,” Nov. 6) contains an allegation that cannot go unanswered.

None of the issues raised in letters and columns about allegedly racist remarks by Carrie Chapman Catt was “missed” by those who worked to have a building and an important new academic program named in honor of this famous Iowa State alumna or by those who organized a week-long series of events to celebrate her accomplishments.

We knew of her comments and written remarks that could be viewed as racist. We also knew when and why those comments were made. We knew that Catt and the other leaders of the women’s suffrage movement had to make some very difficult choices — even choices that went against their own personal standards— in order to achieve success on a higher level.

A large number of historians agree that women’s suffrage probably would not have been approved until after World War II had it not been for the effective political strategy of Catt and the other leaders of the movement.

The 19th Amendment had to be ratified by two southern states, so the Suffragists decided to form an alliance with white male voters in southern states. Catt’s African-American friends knew of this strategy and were in consultation with Catt during the last days of the campaign.

Carrie Chapman Catt showed her true intent after ratification of the amendment when she spoke out publicly against racism. In one speech, she described racism as “the thorn that will bring down the republic.”

In her 1940 book, “A Colored Woman in a White World,” National Association for Colored Women president Mary Church Terrell wrote, “Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, one of the twelve foremost women in the United States, has demonstrated her freedom from race prejudice over and over again, ever since I met her at least thirty years ago.”

People will always question whether strategic decisions made generations ago were the right decisions.

But the more important question concerning Carrie Chapman Catt is this: Is this nation better off today because of the decisions by Catt and others to gain passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, thus setting the stage for future Civil Rights gains for others?

I think the answer is obvious.

Elizabeth Hoffman

Dean

Liberal Arts and Sciences