Renewed interest in 1st woman nominated
HOMER, Ohio — Nearly a century and a half before Hillary Clinton, a fiery activist from Ohio became the first woman nominated for U.S. president.
Victoria Woodhull’s varied and colorful life makes her difficult to pigeonhole. The suffragist, medium, businesswoman, stockbroker and newspaper publisher was “Mrs. Satan” to some, a visionary champion of women’s and children’s rights to others. She rode motorcycles, preached “free love” and followed the guidance of an ancient Greek orator she believed had presented himself to her as a spirit guide.
The Equal Rights Party nominated Woodhull to face incumbent Republican Ulysses S. Grant in 1872 and Democrat Horace Greeley, nearly 50 years before women had the right to vote. At 34, she was a few months shy of the required age, but most historians still view her nomination and run as the first.
Woodhull lost, of course, but by how much is unclear. The number of votes she received in losing to Grant was never officially recorded, and historians surmise many were discarded. Nonetheless, interest in Woodhull’s life is on the rise with Clinton’s historic candidacy this year as the first female nominee of a major party.
Woodhull is being honored in and around her hometown in Homer, Ohio, with exhibits, lectures and prominent mention in the village’s bicentennial parade this Saturday. A documentary, “The Coming Woman,” is in production. Visits are up at the only U.S. memorial to Woodhull: a clock tower in nearby Granville where her wooden likeness emerges hourly to organ music.
“What’s kind of funny about Hillary Clinton’s campaign bringing everyone out is that this is a very contentious campaign, and it was the very same way in 1872,” said Judith Dann, a professor of ancient history at Columbus State Community College who has made a project of Woodhull’s life since moving to Homer around 2000.
Dann said a rivalry with Susan B. Anthony and others in the early suffragist movement may have led to Woodhull’s exclusion from history books. Her radical beliefs on women and marriage also caused consternation.
Woodhull’s party picked Frederick Douglass, the runaway slave turned abolitionist, as her running mate — though Douglass never acknowledged it.
Despite her campaign fading into history, Dann said, she had a lasting impact.
“Victoria’s here,” she said. “She left her mark. We just don’t know to look for it.”