During Tuesday’s 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, President Donald Trump announced he would grant a pardon to renowned suffragist Susan B. Anthony leading Democrats and journalists to quickly disparage Anthony’s legacy.
In 1872 Anthony was arrested for illegally voting and received a $100 fine as a penalty.
The trial for the women’s rights advocate streaked across headlines in 1873. Anthony made her stand against what she referred to as “high-handed outrage upon my citizen’s rights” and declared she would “never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.” Ultimately officials backed down and she never paid the fine. The court took no further action.
“She was never pardoned,” Trump explained. “Did you know that? She was never pardoned. What took so long?”
The 19th Amendment was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920 with overwhelming Republican support. Anthony passed away 14 years before it was passed and was never able to vote legally.
“She was guilty for voting. And we are going to be signing a full and complete pardon,” Trump said at an event Tuesday. “We have to have honest voting…That’s what this is all about here. We have to have honest voting.”
The Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life nonprofit organization, released a statement commending the pardon. “We are deeply moved and grateful to President Trump for honoring the legacy of this great American hero and we pledge never to tire in carrying on her unfinished work,” it read.
Maggie Haberman and Katie Rogers of the leftwing New York Times condemned the pardon as “heavily political” and accused the president of using the occasion for votes in the upcoming general election.
“Unlike other people the president has pardoned, Anthony is not someone whose work Mr. Trump has spoken of during his campaign or his presidency,” the anti-Trump reporters wrote. “She is also an increasingly divisive figure, adopted by anti-abortion forces and criticized for relegating Black [sic] suffragists to the sidelines. On Tuesday, Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion political group, and Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who represents conservative groups, were in attendance as Mr. Trump made his announcement.”
The Times also cited a Democratic official who demanded that President Trump rescind the women’s rights advocate’s pardon.
“As highest ranking woman elected official in New York and on behalf of Susan B. Anthony’s legacy we demand Trump rescind his pardon,” New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on Twitter. “She was proud of her arrest to draw attention to the cause for women’s rights, and never paid her fine. Let her Rest In Peace, @realDonaldTrump.”
On Twitter, disgraced congresswoman Katie Hill, who resigned last year following a sex scandal with a female staffer, echoed the talking point that Anthony would not have wanted a pardon until “all women had full equality (which we still don’t have).”
Susan B. Anthony did not want to be pardoned. She was very pointed about this. Not until all women had full equality (which we still don’t have).
She said instead she would “urge all women to… the old revolutionary maxim that ‘Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.’”
— Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) August 18, 2020
On Aug. 6th, however, the New York Times published an article that looked at Anthony much more favorably when speaking about a new statue of her to be placed in Central Park, along with Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
“Across the country, monuments honoring racist figures are being defaced and toppled,” wrote Alisha Haridasani Gupta. “In New York’s Central Park, one statue is taking shape that aims to amend not only racial but also gender disparities in public art: A 14-foot-tall bronze monument of Susan B. Antony, Sojourner Truth, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, three of the more prominent leaders in the nationwide fight for women’s right to vote.”
The new Susan B. Anthony statue will be unveiled later this month on Aug. 26th.