Editing Woodrow Wilson (section)

==== Prohibition and women's suffrage ====
[[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] developed as an unstoppable reform during World War I, but the [[Presidency of Woodrow Wilson|Wilson administration]] played only a minor role.<ref>James H. Timberlake, ''Prohibition and the progressive movement, 1900–1920'' (Harvard UP, 2013).</ref> The [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighteenth Amendment]] passed Congress and was ratified by the states in 1919. In October 1919, Wilson vetoed the [[Volstead Act]], legislation designed to enforce Prohibition, but his veto was overridden by Congress.<ref>Berg (2013), p. 648</ref><ref>"The Senate Overrides the President's Veto of the Volstead Act" (U.S. Senate) [https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Volstead_Act.htm online]</ref>

Wilson opposed [[Women's suffrage in the United States|women's suffrage]] in 1911 because he believed women lacked the public experience needed to be good voters. The actual evidence of how women voters behaved in the western states changed his mind, and he came to feel they could indeed be good voters. He did not speak publicly on the issue except to echo the Democratic Party position that suffrage was a state matter, primarily because of strong opposition in the white South to black voting rights.<ref>Barbara J. Steinson, "Wilson and Woman Suffrage" in Ross A. Kennedy, ed., ''A Companion to Woodrow Wilson'' (2013): 343–365. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Priscilla_Roberts/publication/295211242_Wilson_Europe's_Colonial_Empires_and_the_Issue_of_Imperialism_In_A_Companion_to_Woodrow_Wilson_ed_Ross_A_Kennedy_Wiley-Blackwell_2013_pp_492-517/links/5be818fa92851c6b27b732d5/Wilson-Europes-Colonial-Empires-and-the-Issue-of-Imperialism-In-A-Companion-to-Woodrow-Wilson-ed-Ross-A-Kennedy-Wiley-Blackwell-2013-pp-492-517.pdf#page=345 online].</ref>

In a 1918 speech before Congress, Wilson for the first time backed a national right to vote: "We have made partners of the women in this war....Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?"<ref name="WWWSM">{{cite web|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/woodrow-wilson-and-the-womens-suffrage-movement-reflection|title=Woodrow Wilson and the Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reflection|date=June 4, 2013|publisher=Global Women's Leadership Initiative Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=March 4, 2017}}</ref> The House passed a constitutional amendment providing for women's suffrage nationwide, but this stalled in the Senate. Wilson continually pressured the Senate to vote for the amendment, telling senators that its ratification was vital to winning the war.<ref>Berg (2013), pp. 492–494</ref> The Senate finally approved it in June 1919, and the requisite number of states ratified the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendment]] in August 1920.<ref>Clements (1992), p. 159</ref>