Ship’s Log 04: Against the Tide with Paula Casey

 "The suffragists were the greatest politicians the world has ever seen because they WON the right to vote without having it." - Paula F. Casey

Episode Summary:
In this episode of Project Candor, host Jeanne Andersen sits with Paula F. Casey, a leading historian and advocate for preserving women’s suffrage history, to uncover the remarkable story behind the 19th Amendment and Tennessee’s role as the “Perfect 36.” Paula shares how a pivotal moment early in her life—and the sudden loss of her husband—set her on a lifelong mission to educate the public about citizenship, voting rights, and the suffragists who fought for democracy without having a voice themselves. The conversation highlights the power of historical memory, the importance of participation in government, and why understanding this history matters more than ever today.

Guest’s Bio:
Paula F. Casey has spent over 35 years educating the public about the 19th Amendment's ratification. She helped place suffragist public art across Tennessee, published the book, The Perfect 36: Tennessee Delivers Woman Suffrage, and produced the DVD/video: "Generations: American Women Win the Vote." She co-founded the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Heritage Trail, is the current chair of the National Votes for Women Trail Committee, and helped produce the podcast, "Her March to Democracy ... Stories Along the National Votes for Women Trail."

Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-casey-736110b/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP3NoP1YjkuK9_aHhTUrAYA
Websites: www.theperfect36.com and https://tnwomansuffrageheritagetrail.com

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Transcript

Welcome to Project Candor, the show where ordinary people share unexpected stories. I'm your host, Jeannie Anderson, and every episode is designed to open the door to real life, the moments that shape us, surprise us, and remind us that everyone carries a story you'd never guess just by looking. Here on Project Candor, we slow down, we listen, and we explore the parts of people's lives that often stay behind the door, the stories that reveal who someone really is beneath the titles.
Today is no exception. 

Our guest today is Paula F. Casey. Paula has spent over 35 years educating the public about the 19th Amendment's ratification. She helped place suffrages. Public Art Across Tennessee published her book, The Perfect 36. Tennessee delivers women's suffrage and produced the DVD video. generations, American women win the vote. She co-founded the Tennessee Women's Suffrage Heritage Trail, is the current chair of the National Votes for Women Trail Committee, ⁓ helped people produce the podcast, or helped produce the podcast, Her March to Democracy, Stories Along the National Votes for Women Trail.

Paula, welcome to Project Candor. Thank you so much for joining today. ⁓
How are you?

Paula:
Thank you so much for having me. This is a great opportunity to talk about my favorite topic. ⁓

Jeanne:
⁓ great, fantastic. So let's begin because I have a lot of questions for you and I know that this will be a wonderful ⁓ podcast to walk through women's history. As a woman, ⁓ I do have an interest in this and so I was so excited ⁓ to talk to you because I don't know anything about it. So let's, here's my questions. ⁓
Before we talk strategy, what's one moment or experience that shaped the way you lead and help others today?

Paula:
Well, I was very fortunate that my parents wanted my sister and me. We had very active involved, attentive parents, and I'm very grateful my mom is still living and active at 96. My daddy died three years ago at 95. So all of my family, long-livers. And, you we've had a lot of fun, but my interest really began...

Jeanne:
Wow, that's blowing me away. That is a long life. ⁓

Paula:
⁓ in 1977 actually, the National Women's Conference, ⁓ and I was a very young woman and I got to be a delegate to the National Women's Conference in Houston, ⁓ and that really sparked my interest in politics, ⁓ but also ⁓ what does it mean to be a citizen? ⁓ And that's what the woman's suffrage movement is really about. ⁓ And let me just say here at the beginning, Jeannie, ⁓
You have got to watch Ken Burns' episodes of the American Revolution. I watched all 12 hours. It is fabulous. ⁓ And what he brings out, as he does in all his documentaries, they always are thought-provoking. But the idea that in this, before this country began, people were subjects. ⁓
They were not ⁓ citizens. And so the idea that you go from being a subject ⁓ to being a citizen and what that entails. ⁓ And that's why, as we're sitting here in November of 2025, ⁓ looking ahead to 2026, ⁓ which will be the 250th ⁓ anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, ⁓ it's important that we know this history. This is American history. ⁓ Who would have the right to vote?
who are citizens and what does citizenship entail? ⁓ So I really got started on this after my husband died suddenly in 1988. He was a Vietnam veteran who had been injured in Vietnam.
and he was missing the back part of his right leg. So I was prepared for him to have a leg amputated. I wasn't ready for him to die at the age of 42. He and Elvis both died at the age of 42. And so after Richard died, I just was thinking, what am I going to do with my life? And my good friend, Carolyn Yellen, who died in March of 99, was the person who made me realize that this is history that we need to know, promote, and preserve. ⁓

Jeanne:
That's a touching story. I'm sorry about your husband dying at 42. That is such a young age, but, I also have a real heart for veterans being a veteran myself of United States Navy. What branch was he in? He said Army or Marines.

Paula:
No Marines. ⁓ My father was in the Marines and I was born at Camp Lejeune. My husband was in the Marines and my late father-in-law was in the Army. ⁓

Jeanne:
Wow. ⁓ Well, that's, ⁓ everybody says this, thank you for your service. It seems like too common, but it's a sacrifice of a life that ⁓ has changed your life. So thank you. That's a really, ⁓ you took me to a place I wasn't expected to go. ⁓ I'll get back on track here. ⁓
You talk a lot about freedom and legacy. ⁓ When you think about your own legacy, what impact do you hope people will say you made?

Paula:
You know, as we get older, ⁓ we do tend to think about it. And the downside of getting older is you lose so many people. ⁓ But I really think that because I had Carolyn Yellen, and also my husband was my biggest cheerleader, ⁓ and Carolyn... had such a profound impact on me. She was such a wonderful friend. ⁓ She was the first person ⁓ outside ⁓ of Dr. Antoinette Elizabeth Taylor, and she went by Dr. A Elizabeth Taylor. And I got to tell you this story, ⁓ it's such a great story. ⁓ Carol Lynn told me that at Richard died in July of 88. And so I started spending a lot of time with Carol Lynn and her husband, David, and Carol Lynn and I would talk about all this research that she had done.

Jeanne:
Yeah. ⁓

Paula:
And what happened was when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in Memphis ⁓ in April of 1968, ⁓ Carolyn and David and several other folks put together this group called the Search for Meaning Committee. ⁓ And they captured everything, ⁓ newspapers, ⁓ grocery store receipts, just anything that was happening at that time, all of the contemporaneous items. ⁓ And it ended up ⁓ being
⁓ at ⁓ what was then Memphis State University, it's now called the University of Memphis, ⁓ and Carol Lynn ⁓ and her friends wanted to preserve ⁓ that moment in history and every book that has ever been written about Dr. ⁓ utilized their research. So while they were doing this research, she stumbled upon this story ⁓ about the suffragist. And let me give you a little factoid, in the United States it's suffra- ⁓ in Great Britain and Canada, ⁓ it's suffragette. ⁓ So in the United States, they were suffragists. And ⁓ suffragette, ⁓ G-I-S-T, is the American ⁓ version of those who supported the right to vote. ⁓ And suffrage ⁓ is a universal term. ⁓

Jeanne:
Say that way we wait say that one more time cuz I suffragist and suffering

Paula:
So ⁓ woman suffrage and see back then they used ⁓ WOMAM ⁓ to be ⁓ plural and inclusive. So I have always used woman suffrage. I'm not sure when the women's came out, but it's okay. I get Google alerts on both of them. ⁓ And so Carol Lynn ⁓ discovered this story. ⁓ And she said, ⁓ people should know about this. ⁓ All American women vote today thanks to Tennessee. ⁓ It is remarkable ⁓ that the state of Tennessee, which had no history of progressivism, ⁓ ended up being the deciding state. And remember back then in 1920, there were only 48 states. ⁓ So it took three quarters of the states to ratify an amendment. ⁓
and Tennessee ended up being what the editorial cartoonist of the day called the perfect 36. ⁓ So it fell to Tennessee. ⁓

Jeanne:
⁓ I'm trying to wrap my head around the Perfect 36. Can you explain that a little more? Because I got...

Paula:
Yeah, 3036 of the then 48 states, because it takes three quarters of the states to ratify an amendment. So the question was who would be the perfect 36 and it became Tennessee. So Tennessee was called the perfect 36 because it was the 36th state to ratify. Nine states have rejected it and three states refused to even consider it. And so it fell to Tennessee.
⁓ Tennessee came through ⁓ surprisingly. ⁓ Although Carolyn Yellen told me ⁓ that Tennessee had this remarkable network ⁓ across our 95 counties in the state ⁓ of dedicated suffragists and they lobbied the state legislature ⁓ and the hero in Tennessee was representative Joseph Hanover from Memphis, ⁓ a Polish ⁓ immigrant from from ⁓ he was from
and his father ⁓ ended up in Memphis and sent money back for the mom ⁓ and the two boys to come to Memphis. ⁓

Jeanne:
Thank you. ⁓

Paula:
And he ended up being the hero ⁓ because he couldn't understand why his mother couldn't vote after his parents became naturalized citizens. ⁓ And of course, he became a naturalized citizen and a lawyer. ⁓ And he led the fight in the House of Representatives. And this is what's so great about this history, Jeannie. ⁓ I got to meet Joe Hanover in 1983. ⁓ Carolyn Yellen introduced me to him ⁓ and she said he is the real hero ⁓ of the suffrage

Jeanne:
⁓ Thank
⁓ man. ⁓ I'm sitting here thinking about when you meet somebody like that, you are probably a major fangirl is what they use the term now. I'm fangirl for this person. ⁓ you know, it's a different spin on being a fan. You're a fan of a lawyer ⁓ that drove.

Paula:
in Tennessee and then he died in April of 84. So this is very recent history.

Jeanne:
⁓ legislation, that's just incredible. And you got to meet them.

Paula:
It really is. ⁓
And ⁓ he really did not get the recognition that he should have because he wasn't a self promoter. ⁓ He was a dedicated lawyer, humanitarian, and I got to tell you this story. ⁓ My friend Bill Haltem is an attorney, retired attorney now. Bill and I have known each other since the early 70s when we were at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Go Lady Bolls. ⁓ We were there when the late, great Pat Hibb was hired. ⁓ So Bill and I have been friends for years. He's a great

Jeanne:
Hahaha!

Paula:
writer ⁓ and ⁓ I just felt like Joe Hanover ⁓ deserved a biography because nobody had written one. ⁓ So Bill ⁓ got to work ⁓ and he had access to the Jewish archives in Memphis ⁓ and a lot of the Hanover family is still around.
And so I know a lot of them just they're so great and they're so happy ⁓ that Mr. Joe's legacy is being preserved. So Bill wrote the book. Why can't mother vote ⁓ Joseph Hanover and the unfinished business of democracy? ⁓ And it's on his website at BillHalton.com ⁓ and then. ⁓ I did a speech at Temple Israel earlier this year in 2025. ⁓ and everybody was great. I mean it was so much fun and I put ⁓ a bust of Joe Hanover on our Memphis suffrage monument equality trailblazers because he wasn't honored anywhere in Memphis. ⁓ So Bill ⁓ during the pandemic ⁓ was making the circuit for the Jewish book club ⁓ and there was a group in Boston that had him on virtually. ⁓ A lot of folks were excited to learn about Joe Hanover ⁓ and wanted to

Jeanne:
⁓ Thank

Paula:
copies of Bill's book and there was a man on that virtual presentation who told Bill ⁓ that Joe Hanover ⁓ sponsored his grandparents ⁓ to come to this country and he was always grateful for Joe Hanover. ⁓ I mean it was just great you know you can't you can't make this stuff up I mean this was wonderful so we were excited to know, ⁓ right it was true. ⁓

Jeanne:
True, true, and a lie, but that's those ⁓ unexpected stories. ⁓

Paula:
So it was just a great experience and I'm so glad Bill wrote the book and I've made sure that law schools know about it because he was a superb lawyer founded a major law firm in Memphis, Hanover and Walsh and then they merged with another big law firm Harris Shelton. So anyway, Bill ⁓ being a lawyer himself was really happy to write about another lawyer who had such impact on history. ⁓

Jeanne:
You know, I have to roll back a little bit on that because I love the title. Why can't mother vote? That is a great title. I know and then it had a subtitle to it, but you know, I when you said that it just caught me because I would probably want to pick that book up just because I can't when I read all of the information about you and you saw your website and looked at some of your details. I can't even imagine being told I can't look.
I try to put myself in ⁓ those people's shoes. Do you have any writings from the women, like things that they would have ⁓ documented themselves about how they felt or ⁓ why they were doing what they were doing ⁓ during this time?

Paula:
There's actually quite a bit, that's the advantage of this being recent history as opposed to what Ken Burns was doing with the American Revolution because they didn't have footage, they didn't have photos, but we do. ⁓ We do have that.
and Carolyn and Dr. Antoinette Elizabeth Taylor in her book, The Woman's Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, and I got to tell you this story too. This is another great story. ⁓ Carolyn told me this. In 1920 Antoinette Elizabeth Taylor, this is before she had her doctorate, was taking notes and she actually saw a lot of the action ⁓ in the House and the Senate. ⁓

Jeanne:
Okay, good, I love these stories. ⁓

Paula:
So when she went to Vanderbilt University and I grew up in Nashville ⁓ and I've been in Memphis since January 1981, you know I'm Memphis girl, but Nashville is the state capital ⁓ and so there's quite a bit in the Tennessee archives because again this is recent history ⁓ and Dr. Taylor ⁓

Jeanne:
It is.

Paula:
When she was working on her dissertation at Vanderbilt, ⁓ she wanted to write about what happened in Tennessee in 1920 and she was asked, Carol Lynn told me this because Carol Lynn found this out, ⁓ she was asked if it was a serious topic for a dissertation. ⁓ So she wrote her dissertation, got her PhD, and the book was finally published in 1957, and I have an original copy. So our book, The Perfect 36, Tennessee Delivers Women's Suffrage, was the second book to be written about what happened in Tennessee, and it had all of Carol Lynn's voluminous research because she had written an article in the December 1967 1978 edition of American Heritage magazine ⁓ called Countdown in Tennessee and they cut so much out of it that she wanted to do a book. ⁓ So after Richard died we were talking in 1989 and she told me she wanted to do this book and of course ⁓ I, being a graduate of the University of Tennessee, figured that ⁓ UT Press would want to do this book because Carol Lynn had all of this research so I called UT Press ⁓ and I talked to some woman who acted like ⁓ they weren't interested. She goes, ⁓ we've already done a book on women's suffrage. And then later it occurred to me, I should have said, nobody ever says that about the Civil War. ⁓ But I didn't think of it till later. ⁓

Jeanne:
Right, book after book keeps coming out. ⁓

Paula:
So anyway, we finally got it published and I'm still selling it to libraries and of course it's on my website, perfect36.com. But the idea is that if people know about this history, they will appreciate their right to vote because the suffragists did not believe that democracy is a spectator sport. They wanted everyone, 21 and older, you know, this is before the 26th Amendment, but when the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, ⁓ thanks to Tennessee, ⁓ the idea was that women would participate in their government. ⁓ And so, ⁓ you know, I mean there's a whole history of voting rights, ⁓ but that's what was significant about the suffrage movement was that they wanted women to be active participatory citizens. ⁓

Jeanne:
Right. I guess my question is a little, ⁓ I know that there's stuff there that there's history because it is a recent history. And I know you've captured a lot of it. I guess my question was coming more from dear diary. I can't vote that really stinks. ⁓ mean, what, do you have any women that actually documented how they felt at that moment? Cause I'm an emotional person. And if I'm told I can't do something, then I am ⁓ just going to fight it in. ⁓ You know, in this day and age, you can just pop up a video on YouTube and complain, but back then they couldn't. So I wondered if you had the real inner feelings of some of these ⁓ women that just felt like they were snuffed out because they didn't have a voice in where they lived and what was happening around them.

Paula:
Get.
There's quite a bit. mean, there were newspapers back then. Even Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had a newspaper. And that's why I will tell you as someone who graduated in journalism and spent 10 years of my life in the newspaper business, I hate to see the demise of newspapers because they're so important for archives. I mean, I got to tell you, Jeannie, librarians and archivists do the Lord's work. ⁓ It is just so important ⁓ for people to utilize libraries and archives
and the archives ⁓ have so much of what the suffragists wrote and published. ⁓

Jeanne:
You'll be surprised that I have an upcoming guest coming on ⁓ that is an archivist from Clay County in Florida. ⁓ And she's telling me stories that I was shocked about. I can't reveal all of her juicy information, but yes, I love talking to her about the history and the things she uncovers and documents. So you're right about that, definitely. Well, I... I just am really amazed. Sometimes you're just flooring me because I just don't even think about this history. ⁓ I honestly can tell you that I heard ⁓ that there was a Broadway ⁓ suffragist movement ⁓ play that came out and ⁓ I just ⁓ didn't get it. ⁓ I was just like, well, do I want it? I wouldn't want to go see that. ⁓ I don't really care, but you're making me care. ⁓

Paula:
Actually, Sups is a ⁓ really good play. ⁓ My concern is, okay, let me just expose my bias here. ⁓ People hear the story about Harry Byrne. Have you heard the story about Harry Byrne in the letter from his mother? That's the story that gets all the play. ⁓ And Joseph Hanover ⁓ was overshadowed by Harry Byrne because ⁓

Jeanne:
So. ⁓

Paula:
Even though Mr. Joe knew ⁓ that the opposition, and the opposition included the railroads, ⁓ the liquor industry, and the manufacturing industry, they didn't want women voting. ⁓They wanted child labor. didn't want women voting and they knew that women would not go along with what they wanted ⁓ and they couldn't bribe everybody. So they did their best to thwart ⁓ ratification in the various state legislatures. ⁓ It was a brawl. I mean it was a hard fought issue.
And there's, we have a quote in our book where one of the political reporters in Nashville said ⁓ that the Battle of Nashville was a tea party compared to what happened with the 19th Amendment ratification battle. ⁓ I thought that was funny. ⁓

Jeanne:
⁓ It ⁓ is.

Paula:
So what what Mr. Mr. Joe was the one who kept the pro-suffrage votes together, which made it possible for Representative Banks Turner, who was also from West Tennessee, a Vanderbilt lawyer and a farmer and Harry Byrne. Mr. Joe knew on the morning of August 18th, 1920, that he was two votes short and he didn't know where those two votes were going to come from. And Banks Turner was a
surprised because he had been an anti ⁓ but he was persuaded by the governor back then, Governor A. Roberts ⁓ to vote in favor ⁓ because both political parties wanted Tennessee to ratify because they wanted women to be able to vote in the 1920 presidential election ⁓ and so ⁓ the governor put a lot of pressure on Banks Turner unbeknownst to Joe Hanover. ⁓
And then on that morning of August 18th, Harry Byrne had a letter from his mother, Dear son, hooray and vote for suffrage. ⁓ I have looked to see how you're voting and can't find anything. Don't keep them in doubt. Help Mrs. Cat, meaning Carrie Chapman Cat, ⁓ put the rat in ratification. So it's a great story. But people didn't know about Joe Hanover and his mother. ⁓ Why can't mother vote? ⁓
And so these three guys were heroes and I've called them back and I was thrilled that one of my buddies in Nashville, John Williams, is an attorney who got the Tennessee Historical Commission to erect a marker for Banks Turner up in northern West Tennessee. So Bill Haltem and I were there in June of 2021 when we got that marker dedicated and then Harry Burns got a

Jeanne:
You ⁓

Paula:
monument in Knoxville, ⁓ all done by Alan LaCroix, our buddy Alan LaCroix, the sculptor in Nashville, who I worked with ⁓ on the Barberleaf sculpture that's hanging inside the Tennessee State Capitol. There was nothing prior to February 1998. I mean, Jeannie, people didn't think about it. It's like, well, it happened. Everybody could vote. People didn't realize how hard fought it was, how long it took. ⁓ This is a major story in American history. ⁓ And the ⁓
suffragists were nonviolent. ⁓ Susan B. Anthony was into nonviolence ⁓ long before Gandhi and Dr. King. ⁓ And of course she never got recognized for that. But that was part of the strategy was the nonviolent revolution ⁓ so that they could get this amendment. And you also had a schism in the suffrage movement from those who wanted it to be done by the states ⁓ as opposed to those who wanted the federal constitutional amendment because

Project:
⁓ Okay. ⁓

Paula:
what the states give, the states can take away. ⁓ So that's why ⁓
Women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Carrie Chapman Catt ⁓ led the fight and then Alice Paul ⁓ to get a federal amendment. And when you think it took really over 72 years, it's remarkable. ⁓ But when it happened, it just became a way of life. know, people forgot how long it took, ⁓ how hard fought it was, but we are the beneficiaries of what they did. ⁓

Jeanne:
But you have a heroine like Susan B. Anthony, what do they do to acknowledge her, put her on a $2 bill that nobody uses?

Paula:
Well, actually, my pick would be Susan B became the icon, but I think Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was the one. OK, let me tell you this story about Seneca Falls in 1848. Susan B. was not a part of Seneca Falls. Before 1848, Lucretia Mott, who was an avowed abolitionist and Quaker.

Jeanne:
Okay.

Paula:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton ⁓ went to London ⁓ thinking they were going to get to speak at the 1840 World ⁓ Anti-Slavery Convention and they were not allowed to speak. ⁓ Women were not allowed to speak. ⁓ And so they came back to the United States ⁓ In upstate New York, they were determined ⁓ that they were going to figure out a way for women to achieve equal rights. ⁓ So they wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, ⁓ which is patterned after the Declaration of Independence. It was remarkable. ⁓ and ⁓ Elizabeth Cady Stanton put in there that ⁓ it is the sacred duty of the women of this country to secure themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise ⁓ and that was shocking. ⁓ The idea that any woman should be able to vote ⁓ so they put together this women's rights convention in Seneca Falls at 1848 and I've been to Seneca Falls twice I'm telling you it's mecca to me ⁓ and I was up there ⁓ and and saw Elizabeth Cady Stanton's house. The National Women's Hall of Fame is up there. ⁓ All of this history that happened in Seneca Falls and Susan B. Anthony was from Rochester ⁓ and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony did not meet until 1851. ⁓ Amelia Bloomer introduced them and then they became great friends. ⁓ Susan B. Anthony was a teacher, ⁓ wedded to the cause, ⁓ lived in Rochester. ⁓

Jeanne:
Great.

Paula:
And ⁓ Stanton was married with seven children. ⁓ And she wrote the speeches. ⁓ She was the great thinker. She was the one who envisioned ⁓ an America where all citizens could participate ⁓ and to think that that was radical. ⁓ And then of course, they were derailed by the Civil War. And they ended up, you know, being involved with all that. But they really wanted women.
to be included in the Constitution. the 15th Amendment, well let me back up, the 14th Amendment ⁓ is the first time the word male, M-A-L-E, appears in the Constitution. ⁓ So women could not vote under the 14th or 15th Amendments. ⁓ 15th Amendment extended suffrage to newly freed black ⁓ male slaves, not female. ⁓

Jeanne:
Okay.

Paula:
So then we had to go through a couple more memos. You the 18th amendment was prohibition.

Jeanne:
Hmm.

Paula:
And then we got the ⁓ 19th Amendment. So women were enshrined in the Constitution. And let me tell you one of my pet peeves. get so sick of hearing this. Women were given the right to vote as though it were bestowed by some benevolent entity. No, they fought, ⁓ struggled, persevered, persisted, and won the right to vote. Because that's why Carolyn Yellen is the one who gave me that quote. I don't want to claim authorship, but ⁓

Jeanne:
Yeah. ⁓

Paula:
is the one who said ⁓ the suffragists were the greatest politicians the world has ever seen because they won the right to vote without having it. Think about how remarkable it is that they persuaded ⁓ those men in 36 state legislatures to willingly share power. It's remarkable. ⁓

Jeanne:
That is very remarkable. I remember living in Rochester, I actually lived in Rochester, New York, and I remember they have Susan B. Anthony statue and a lot of ⁓ memorabilia about her up there that I got familiar with and got to visit. ⁓ I hate to bring this discussion to like a little halt here, but I will, ⁓ we want to play our two truths and a lie. ⁓ And also, I do want you to tell me that you'll come back again because there's more that I want to hear. And I know the listeners would love to hear. ⁓ Next time, we'll talk more about topics, specific topics that we want to ⁓ dig into because I think you have history that nobody else has ⁓ or knows about and we want to keep it moving. ⁓

Paula:
I'd love to.

Jeanne:
All right, so are you good to go to our next segment here? It's my favorite part of the show. Here's how it works. So I'll read the headlines. The guest has provided three headlines to me. Two of them are true and one is a lie. We'll read them all for everybody and then we'll display them so you can see them if you're watching video. But we'll talk about them and I'm going to guess which one is the lie. Then we'll let our guests talk through all these stories and let us know which one is actually the truth or the two truths and which one is the lie. So let me share my screen and we'll bring up the actual. Slide. So this has been so much fun so far. I just really hate to cut you off, but we gotta do this part that I love as well. ⁓ You got some great headlines. So here's the headlines. Paula's husband's death prompted her to focus on preserving women's suffrage history. That's number one. Number two, for Paula raising money for women's suffrage book, ebook, audiobook.
public art and podcast has been very easy. ⁓ I threw in very easy, sorry. ⁓ Number three, preserving women's suffrage history is the focus of Paula's life. So as the host, I'm gonna guess that number two is a lie because I have never, ⁓ for any kind of thing, worthy cause, ⁓ I've always struggled to raise money. So I'm gonna say that's not an easy task. So that's my... thought on the lie, but we're gonna let you go through all the stories and then tell us which one is a lie. So number one, you wanna start?

Paula:
absolutely, well number one is very true because Carolyn Yellen was so wonderful. ⁓

Jeanne:
Don't tell us the one that's true and wants to lie until the end. ⁓
But we know one's true now. ⁓

Paula:
know I was gonna ask you do you want me to comment on all three of them okay oh okay yeah Richard died and I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do with my life and then on number two let me tell you a story about raising money this is a great story in 1991 there was this big conference in downtown Nashville

Jeanne:
Yeah, tell us the story behind them, because...

Paula:
and it was sponsored by the Stennis Center out of Mississippi. ⁓ And they had a panel on fundraising. ⁓ And there were some real heavyweight fundraisers on this panel. ⁓ And there was a guy named Ted Welch who's now deceased and he was a major ⁓ Republican Party fundraiser in Nashville. ⁓
and he was really a great guy ⁓ and I went to see him in 1992 when I was raising money for a dinner with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. We had a blast. Maggie was great. We had a lot of fun with her and we talked about the British suffragettes and the American suffragettes and we had lot of fun with her. We were at Opryland Hotel ⁓ and that was another great experience in my life. I had lot of fun with her. It was just a really terrific experience.

Jeanne:
Okay.

Paula:
⁓ And I got to tell you the people at the Opryland Hotel were so thrilled because they had had Gorbachev ⁓ and Reagan and now they're getting Thatcher and they were thrilled. So Thatcher was great. ⁓ So we're sitting there at the dinner and the governor, Governor McCourt. ⁓

Jeanne:
I was not expecting you to throw out a name like that that you ⁓ raised money for our dinner and then what did you call her Maggie? ⁓ I was not expecting that. Okay, so sorry for interrupting keep going. This is getting good

Paula:
Maggie. That's what hurt the people that worked for her.
It's so our governor at that time, Governor Ned McWhorter, great, great guy, and he was so supportive. He's on the other side of her. ⁓ And she looks at me now. I want you to know, mean, Jeanne, I've never experienced anything like this in my life. ⁓ Every minute was scripted. We were dealing with the State Department, Scotland Yard, ⁓ Airport Police, Metro Nashville Police, Opryland Police. I mean, it was it was quite the affair ⁓ and everything was scripted.

Jeanne:
Ooh.

Paula:
⁓ and she turns to me and says, ⁓ to see the conservatory. Well, Opryland Hotel is known for their conservatory. And I turned to my friend that we were co-chairs for the Stinner and I said, she wants to see the conservatory. And my friend goes, tell her she's gonna have to change her shoes. ⁓ So I looked at Thatcher ⁓ and I said, Lady Thatcher, we would be happy to show you the conservatory, but you've got to change your shoes. And she goes, I can do that.

Jeanne:
You

Paula:
So we end up ⁓ walking out after the dinner was over and we had 618 people at this dinner and everybody had to be vetted. I mean it was a big deal. It was like a steak dinner practically. ⁓ Okay, so after the dinner was over, she went changed her shoes. We met her and walked back through the conservatory. ⁓ People were just stunned. There were folks pointing going, that's Margaret Thatcher. ⁓
So we had a great time with her. I mean, she was really lovely.

Jeanne:
Okay, so I've never been to the opera land and the conservatory. So I had no idea when you're talking about walking through with shoes. It's conservatory must be. It's huge. Is it just plants, flora fauna? What is it? Yeah, that's a lot of it. It's got water and it's just a very

Paula:
It's huge.
⁓ Yeah, that's a lot of it. It's got water ⁓ and it's just a very beautifully landscaped section of the building. It's a separate section and they decorated throughout various holidays. I mean, it's really, really nice and people sit there, little kids can run around and play and the water, I think they probably have fish, ⁓ but she just wanted to see it, which I thought was interesting. ⁓

Jeanne:
So the third story, what about that one? Preserving women's suffrage is your goal of your life or is your focus on life?

Paula:
Well, Carolyn Yellen had a recurrence of breast cancer and that was why we worked so hard to get the Perfect 36 book finished in 1998 before she died, in 1999. So she asked me to preserve this history and when she died...
I just felt like, you know, that's what I've got to do because it's just ⁓ it's a great story. It's an important story, ⁓ but it truly is ⁓ something that all Americans should know about. ⁓ And there have been so many great historians ⁓ and writers who've written about it. ⁓ And, course, 2020. Now, here's another great story. ⁓ 2020 was the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. So we had big plans for this.

Jeanne:
⁓ Okay. Mm.

Paula:
centennial. ⁓ Nobody realized that a pandemic was coming. ⁓
But here's an interesting parallel in history. ⁓ In 1918, the flu epidemic was running rampant and they had the same foolishness back then that we lived through. ⁓ And ⁓ unfortunately, both Kerry Chapman Catt and Alice Paul, the two great suffrage leaders ⁓ at that time, ⁓ got the flu ⁓ and fortunately they didn't die.
But the parallel between their pandemic, they won despite the pandemic. They managed to get through it. And then in 2020, of course, the world's changed so much, you know, the media and the technology. So we didn't get to celebrate like we would have liked. So that's why I think a lot of people are looking at 2026 with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. So this is important. And of course, I

Jeanne:
That is.
⁓ you

Paula:
to make sure people know about the Declaration of Sentiments because that's really important to what Elizabeth Cady Stanton proposed. So it gives us an opportunity to celebrate and to learn and that's what I think is so great about what Ken Burns has done. In 1999, he did not for ourselves alone. It's three and a half hours about Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and what they did and how they really pioneered a movement and it was a pro-democracy ⁓ movement. Because when this country was founded, democracy was not a consideration. ⁓

Jeanne:
Wow.
That's true. But I don't see in all these stories, and you can keep going and going and going, I'm sure. Are any of these a ⁓ lie? ⁓

Paula:
Already alive?

Jeanne:
Are any a lie? Because they all sound very reasonable.

Paula:
No. ⁓ Actually, Joe Hanover was one of the last because he died in 1984.
and I forget how old he was, he was really up there. Harry Byrne died in 1977 as did Alice Paul. So you you think about it we lived through that and a lot of those folks were around and there were people capturing the history, the oral histories and doing books and that's why Carolyn Yellen's research in 1970 was so significant that she started going to the archives and to

Jeanne:
Mm-hmm.

Paula:
libraries because you'd be amazed what's in a lot of these local libraries. ⁓ You know, people leave family papers. ⁓

Jeanne:
No, but I mean, ⁓ I hate to stop you, but I'm talking about your stories. Are any of these one, two, and three a lie? Because I guess two was hard, but you breezed through that story like it wasn't hard. So which one of these three, one, two, or three, is a lie?

Paula F Casey (8:5.469)
Number two, ⁓ it was damn hard raising the money. ⁓

Jeanne:
Okay. I got it! I'm shocked. I've guessed wrong every time, but money, raising money is always hard. So I thought that's gotta be the one. That's just gotta be the one. Well, let's go. You're so fascinating and so wonderful. And I know we're running out of time, but I want to show people how they can get in touch with you. So, because I know there's more that they want to know. So let's go and...

Paula:
Amen.

Jeanne:
So I'm going to share my screen again to show the folks on the ⁓ Video and then also ⁓ on the Well All right, let's do it again I'm sharing my screen again because I want to know I want you to know how to get in touch with Paula she mentioned a quote that she goes by and she Tried to uncredit herself for it, but I let her
talk about that quote and then tell you how to get in touch with her because you're definitely gonna wanna learn more from her. So ⁓ take it away, Paula.

Paula:
Okay, Carolyn was the one who impressed upon me. ⁓ The suffragists were the greatest politicians the world has ever seen because they won the right to vote without having it. And as I said previously, nobody gave it to them. ⁓ They had to fight for it. And you you wonder ⁓ why ⁓ at the beginning of the country, everybody didn't have the right to vote. And it's because the Constitution was written to favor white men with property. ⁓ And so it's amazing that through the years, ⁓ we have amended the Constitution and expanded voting rights. ⁓ And of course, we're always fighting voter suppression. But the reality is ⁓ our right to vote is enshrined in the Constitution. ⁓ And my call to action for everyone is to register and vote. ⁓ Vote in every election. ⁓ As I said previously, the suffragists did not believe democracy is a spectator sport. You have to participate in your government in order for it to work.And then my media ⁓ hyperlink there was from the Woman's Suffrage Heritage Trail that my friend Jackie Hillman and I co-founded. we've done a lot of, have been in a lot of publications and I've done a lot of podcasts. I love doing podcasts. I just think it's so great because you can learn so much and you meet such great people. ⁓

Jeanne:
Definitely. Well, you're a great person and I appreciate you doing ⁓ this podcast, Project Candor, and that we're getting the truth about the suffrage ⁓ movement and how that felt for the Perfect 36. So thank you, thank you again for joining us. And for those listening, please tune in every week where we have another guest and hopefully we'll have Paula Casey back and we can talk more about what she's doing.

Paula:
Thank you so much. 

Jeanne: Thank you for joining. Bye.