The History of NFRW

The story of Republican women's clubs begins many years before women even had the right to vote. Inspired by the Republican Platform of 1872, which said: "The Republican Party is mindful of its obligation to the loyal women of America for their noble devotion to the cause of Freedom ...," Republican women’s clubs were off and running. In fact, the oldest such club on record was founded in Salt Lake City in the early 1870s.

Hundreds of independent Republican women’s clubs grew up around the nation in the years to come.  For example, there were 140 clubs in Indiana alone by the late 1930s.  In 1938, Marion Martin, assistant chairman of the Republican National Committee, called a meeting at the Palmer House in Chicago to organize these clubs into a national organization.

States in which Republican women’s clubs were organized on a "statewide" basis - with 60 percent of their counties organized - sent delegates and alternates to that meeting with a request to affiliate with such an organization.  The delegates adopted rules governing the establishment of a National Federation of Republican Women’s Clubs, with the following purposes:

"to foster and encourage loyalty to the Republican Party and the ideals for which it stands - to promote education along political lines - to encourage closer cooperation between independent groups and the regular party organization, which are working for the same objectives, namely sound government - to promote an interchange of ideas and experiences of various clubs to the end that the policies which have proven particularly effective in one state may be adopted in another - and to encourage a national attitude and national approach to the problems facing the Republican Party."

Eleven states became the charter states of NFRW - California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  At the age of 31, Joyce Arneill of Denver, Colo., was elected the first president of the Federation, and the organization began to grow.

At the time of NFRW’s founding, three states - Maryland, Virginia, and Alabama - had not even ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting suffrage to women. T he campaign of 1936 had re-elected Franklin D. Roosevelt over Alf Landon with only two states - Maine and Vermont - going Republican.  There were only six Republican governors, 89 Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, and 16 in the Senate.

And yet National Federation of Republican Women - born in a climate of defeat - grew in size and strength, providing a vehicle for women concerned with the direction of our government.
 

NFRW places the resources of its members firmly behind the Republican Party’s efforts to:

·         Elect Republican candidates to public office

·         Train campaign leaders and volunteers

·         Recruit women candidates for public office

·         Educate the members on legislative issues

·         Promote the principles of the Republican Party

·         Support Republican legislative policies

In working toward these goals, NFRW concentrates its efforts in the areas of education, communication, legislative action, candidate recruitment, campaigning and fund-raising.

Where

NFRW's national headquarters is located at:

124 N. Alfred Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Telephone: (703) 548-9688 Fax: (703) 548-9836
E-mail: mail@nfrw.org Web site: www.nfrw.org

Capsule History

With the encouragement of Republican National Chairman John D.M. Hamilton, the NFRW was organized under the direction of Marion E. Martin, then assistant chairman of the Republican National Committee and national committeewoman for Maine. The original organizational meeting took place in Chicago on Nov. 4, 1937, when 38 of the women members of the Republican National Committee met to discuss the “desirability” of federating.

The organization originally was known as the National Federation of Women’s Republican Clubs of America (NFWRC), but the name was changed in January 1953 to the National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW).

Charter Members

The original 11 statewide Federations that organized as charter members in 1938 were California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The 13 additional states represented by 75 individual clubs were Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. To be considered “statewide” at that time, a state Federation or club had to have members in 60 percent of the counties of that state. (Later this rule was changed to cover either 50 percent of the counties or 75 percent of the state’s congressional districts.)

 The objective of the Federation, established in the Bylaws, was "to promote a wider knowledge of principles and policies of the Republican Party."  Its goal, also, was to cooperate with the County and State Central committees to help elect Republican candidates to office.