Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor

Nancy Witcher Astor, Viscountess Astor (May 19, 1879 – May 2, 1964) was a socialite politician and a member of the prominent Astor family.

Parliament

The elements of her life thus far would be important to how she ran her first campaign, but the why had largely to do with her husband. He had a promising career in the House of Commons of several years by WWI, but around this time he had to give up his seat. This had been caused by his father?s decision to become a Lord and then his later death. Waldorf tried to get out of being a Lord, but in the meantime the situation led to his wife?s run.

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In this campaign Nancy Astor had several strikes against her. One of these ?strikes? had been her lack of connection with the suffrage movement. Indeed the first woman elected to British Parliament, Constance Markiewicz, said she had been ?of the upper classes, out of touch.? Constance had been in prison for Sinn Fein activities during her election, and other Suffragettes had been imprisoned for arson, so that strike had a fairly positive side. More damaging had been her well known hostility to alcohol and lack of knowledge on the issues. These did not jibe with the people of Plymouth, the district where she ran as a Tory. Perhaps worst of all her tendency to say odd or outlandish things, even early on, sometimes made her look slightly unstable.

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At the same time she also had several elements beneficial to a campaign. These included her work in the war, in charities, vast economic resources for the campaign, and most of all her unusual ability to improvise. Her ability to turn the tables on the hecklers proved especially beneficial. In one incident a man asked her what the Astors had done for them and she responded with "Why Charlie, you know" and later had a picture taken with him. This informal style baffled yet amused the British public. She also rallied the supporters of the current government, had been pragmatic enough to moderate her Prohibitionist views, and used women?s meetings. Those meetings involved just the female voters, and helped her with them by giving them a voice as well as being an excuse to bash men. However when she won her male opponents were kind.

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She then became the first woman to serve in the British Parliament starting the most public stage of her life, where she would be an object of love and hatred to the people. Her presence almost immediately gained attention, both as a woman and as someone who did not follow the rules. Winston Churchill told her a woman being in the Parliament was like one intruding on him in the bathroom, to which she retorted "You?re not handsome enough to have such fears." This was one in a series of back and forths between the two. The most famous being:

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Nancy Astor: "If you were my husband, I'd put arsenic in your coffee."

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Churchill: "If I were your husband, I'd drink it!"

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Years later she used the "arsenic in your coffee line" on Senator Joseph McCarthy to somewhat less successful effect.

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In any event she got called to order on her first day, for chatting with a fellow House member, without knowing she had been the one to cause the commotion. She did try in some ways to minimize the commotion by dressing more sedately than normal for her, and by avoiding the bars or smoking rooms of the men. Although that latter may have just been because she lacked interest in such things.

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At an early point in this career a fellow member named Horatio Bottomley, who felt she rivaled him as he wished to dominate the ?soldier?s friend? issue, sought to ruin her. Therefore he capitalized on the first substantive controversies she caused. Those being her opposition to divorce reform and her efforts to maintain war time alcohol restrictions. He used these things to paint her as a hypocrite in his paper, saying that the divorce reform bill she opposed allowed women to have the kind of divorce she had in America. However a budget crisis and his bitter tone caused the effort to backfire. Later he even ended up in prison for fraud, which made the incident a plus for her in later campaigns.

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Among her early political friendships had been the first female candidates to come after her. These friendships did not begin until she had been in office two years and Ellen Wintringham had been elected. They also could be peculiar as they often involved members of the other parties. The most surprising might have been her friendship with the so called "Red Ellen" Wilkinson a former Communist representative for the Labor Party. She even later proposed creating a "Women?s Party" which the female Labor MPs thought a ridiculous idea as at that point their party had power and promised them positions. She conceded this, but her closeness with women members did dissipate and by 1931 she even grew hostile to female Labor members like Susan Lawrence.

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Unlike most of those women her actual accomplishments in the House of Commons had been relatively minor. She never really held a position of note. Indeed the Duchess of Atholl rose in the Tory Party before she did, and this had largely been as she wished it. If she had a position in the party she would be less free to criticize her party?s government, which had been something she enjoyed. Her main achievement in the House might be that she a bill she sponsored, which increased the alcohol age to eighteen unless the minor has parental approval, passed.

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In fact as before some of her most significant work remained outside the political sphere, although her new position added some weight to these concerns. The most famous had been her support for nursery schools. This had been slightly surprising as the woman who got her involved had been a Socialist named Margaret McMillan who believed her dead sister?s presence still had a role in guiding her. In fact Lady Astor had been initially skeptical, but after that they became close and she used her wealth to aid her efforts.

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These positive traits do not belie the fact her political life showed an element of cruelty and an excessive amount of callousness. Once on hearing of the death of a political enemy she openly expressed her pleasure. On hearing grumbling about this rather than apologize she said ?I?m a Virginian we shoot to kill.? On his maiden speech she told her friend from Virginia, Angus McDonnell, that he ?really must do better than that.? As she had previously criticized him for marrying without her permission, admittedly after he had agreed to get her permission first, this turned him into something of an enemy. She alienated several others with her sharp tongue even in the early days.

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The 1920s as a whole though had been her most positive period in the Parliament. During it she had several affective speeches and created a Bill which passed. Although she had not been the ideal first woman in Parliament her wealth and notable persona added some attention to women in the House. She also worked on bringing more women into the civil service and police force. As well as reforming education and the House of Lords. On top of this she remained popular in the district and well liked in the US. This period of success would not last.

Related Topics:
1920s - House of Lords

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