Tag: History

Forget What You Thought You Knew About the Old First Family Model

Peter Stevenson, Washington Post – December 22, 2016

There’s been plenty of chatter, though few hard details, about the roles that members of President-elect Donald Trump’s family will play in the White House once he takes the oath of office on Jan. 20 — or even whether some immediate family members will make it to the White House at all.

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Ivanka Trump Could be the Most Powerful First Lady Ever

Kate Andersen Brower, Washington Post – December 16, 2016

But unlike her predecessors who weren’t the wife of the president, Ivanka appears poised to be an adviser, advocate and hostess all at once. Which could revolutionize the role — and make her the most powerful first lady ever.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: “Since When” Has Racism or Sexism Disqualified an American President?

Emily Crockett, Vox – December 14, 2016

At a Tuesday forum hosted by the Atlantic on gender in the 2016 election, political commentator and Wake Forest University professor Melissa Harris-Perry said she wasn’t surprised that Donald Trump’s racism and sexism didn’t keep him from winning the election.

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Women are Donating the Pantsuits they Wore on Election Day in Honor of Hillary Clinton

Rachel Lubitz, Mic – December 8, 2016

The pantsuits people might have worn while voting are now shrouded in different emotions than they expected. Yes, there’s historic weight because this was what they wore while voting for a female president for the first time, but things didn’t pan out as they had hoped. Now, as a way to give back to the community, one woman has suggested that people donate the pantsuits they wore when they voted for Clinton. Meena Harris, a Pantsuit Nation member, wrote in Lena Dunham’s newsletter Lenny Letter about the idea.

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Geena Davis’ Letter to Hollywood: Want a Female President? Put Them Onscreen First

Geena Davis, Hollywood Reporter – December 7, 2016

I always say, “If they can see it, they can be it.” Here’s my favorite illustration of that concept: A few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Vigdis Finnbogadottir, former president of Iceland. She told me that while in office, she would get letters from young boys asking, “Madam President, do you think a boy will ever become president?” Interesting, huh?

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Quote from Hillary Clinton’s Concession Speech was Top Political Tweet of 2016

Women in the World, New York Times – December 6, 2016

Popularity was a contest she really won this year. Clinton can also take satisfaction that a quote from her concession speech and tweeted by her official account turned out to be the most popular political tweet of the year, and the third most popular tweet on any topic of the year, according to data released by Twitter on Tuesday. “To all the little girls watching … never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world,” Clinton said in her speech the day after the election.

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The Winner of the Popular Vote Leaves a Complicated Legacy

Charlotte Alter, TIME – December 6, 2016

Winners get to write history. Losers, if they are lucky, get a ballad. Hillary Clinton made history for three decades as an advocate, a First Lady, a Senator, and a Secretary of State, but she will now be remembered as much for what she didn’t do as what she did. A female candidate in an election that didn’t hinge on gender after all, she became a symbol in a fight that was about much more than symbolism. She’s the woman who was almost President, she is what might have been and what will yet be.

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Amanda Renteria, National Political Director for Hillary Clinton 2016, on Standing Up and Making a Difference

Elizabeth Denton, Allure – December 1, 2016

Corresponding with Amanda Renteria over email this week was very different from when my colleagues profiled her this past November, no less. The national political director for Hillary Clinton 2016, the Democrat’s presidential campaign, was quite hopeful that day. At the time, as you can see in the video above, she was decidedly excited about the outcome of the election.

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100 Years of the ‘Gender Gap’ in American Politics

Anya Jabour, The Conversation – November 24, 2016

Men and women did not vote the same way in 2016. In fact, the Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton contest yielded the largest gender gap – the difference between women’s and men’s voting behavior – in U.S. history. Clinton won women by 12 points and lost men by the same amount – a 24-point gap. The gap is growing. Twenty points separated the sexes in 2012.

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The Dream — and the Myth — of the ‘Women’s Vote’

Amanda Hess, New York Times – November 15, 2016

When Victoria Woodhull ran for president of the United States, she couldn’t even vote for herself. “If the women can be allowed to vote,” The New York Herald claimed when Woodhull announced her bid in 1870, “Mrs. Woodhull may rely on rolling up the heaviest majority ever polled in this or any other nation.” After all, the paper said, “women always take the part of each other.” The Herald called for passage of a women’s suffrage amendment, and then “victory for Victoria in 1872.”

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