Red Cross Motor Corps

The 1918 pandemic slowed passage of the 19th Amendment. Just before a deadly second wave of “the great influenza” hit the U.S. in the fall of 1918, women’s suffrage was narrowly voted down in the Senate. Suffragists poised to jump back into campaigning saw their efforts grind to halt. With public gatherings now nearly impossible, they turned to the telephone, letters, and newspaper ads to keep the pressure on politicians.