NOV 3

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY:November 03, 2024 Ellen Foster, born in Massachusetts, November 3rd 1840. She moved to Iowa with her husband and children in 1869. Five years later, she became one of the nation's first female attorneys, having studied for the bar on her own. Foster co-founded the Women's Christian Temperance Union and headed its legislative department. The state's Republican National Committeeman recruited her to speak for local candidates, and beginning in 1884 she campaigned for the GOP nationwide. She established dozens of Republican Women's clubs, and the Women's National Republican Association elected her its first president. Among her goals was shifting the temperance movement away from partisan politics, so as to prevent third-party Prohibitionists from helping Democrats win close races. Her non-confrontational approach proved effective. "Gentlemen, we do not threaten," Foster said. "No, no, no. We are of you and yours." In 1892, she addressed the Republican National Convention, telling delegates: "We are here to help you, and we have come here to stay." President William McKinley appointed Foster an inspector of military barracks during the war with Spain and then commissioned her to evaluate social conditions in the Philippines. President Theodore Roosevelt sent her to an International Red Cross conference in Russia. He later named her to investigate working conditions of women and children throughout the country. In 1908, she became a special agent of the Department of Justice on conditions for female prisoners at federal prisons.