Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform. Pennsylvania Division

The Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR) was officially founded in Chicago in May 1929 and was led by Pauline Morton Sabin of New York. Sabin, the first woman to serve on the National Republican Committee, had resigned her position because of the dominance of the "dry" faction and the party's support for Prohibition.

The WONPR divided the United States into fourteen regions with regional directors; each state had its own chair. The WONPR National Committee investigated the increase in drunkenness and effect of Prohibition, operated a publicity campaign, created a speakers' bureau, spoke at legislative hearings, and enrolled members.

By 1931, WONPR had 1.5 million members nation-wide. While membership came from all economic levels, locally and nationally prominent women filled leadership positions. This was due less to a desire to indulge "society" women who wanted to start at the top, than to political reality. WONPR leaders had to be women of impeccable community standing who had long been active in local public affairs, in order both to assuage public uneasiness over the appropriateness of women working against prohibition and to counter hysterical dry claims that the organization was dominated by booze-thirsty barflies. WONPR also supported state ratifying conventions to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment.

The Pennsylvania Division of WONPR was formed December 6, 1929 at the home of Elizabeth Conway Clark of Bryn Mawr. Maria N. Dougherty was elected Acting Chairman at that meeting, and elected Chair at the first statewide conference in Harrisburg in 1930. She refused re-nomination in October 1932, and Elizabeth Conway Clark was elected as her successor. During Dougherty's time as Chair, state membership increased from 19 to nearly 100,000 women.

The Pennsylvania Division became involved in two bitterly fought political campaigns during the first year of its existence. The first was the spring primaries of 1930, in which "wet" Republican candidates were defeated. The second campaign was the November 1930 general election, in which Repealists backed John M. Hemphill, Liberal and Democratic candidate for Governor, in opposing "dry" Gifford Pinchot.

After Hemphill lost the election, the Pennsylvania Division turned to a bombardment of Pennsylvania's members in the Congress, and in the General Assembly. Candidates and incumbents were persistently subjected to questionnaires and personal visits from constituents; voting by members of both parties on matters related to WONPR's cause was closely watched, and opponents were called to a strict accounting.

During the 1932 political campaign, the state branches of WONPR held a Repeal Week, which was a week in May devoted to an intensive publicity campaign and a drive for members and funds. During Repeal Week the Pennsylvania Division conducted a tour of buses with amplifying equipment to carry speakers through the southeastern counties of Pennsylvania. The climax of Repeal Week was a revue entitled "The Merry-Go-Round," which proved to be one of the outstanding shows of the year in Philadelphia.

The campaign in Pennsylvania for ratification of the 21st Amendment had been launched early, as part of a political program that included work for the repeal of the Snyder-Armstrong Act, the enactment of an omnibus bill for liquor control, and for passage of the Blaine Resolution. The McClure Bill, providing for a state convention to vote on the 21st Amendment, passed in May 1933. WONPR then proceeded to obtain signatures to the nominating petitions of the Repeal delegates. Before the election of November 7th, three large motor cavalcades were organized to carry speakers and publicity materials into all sections of the state. The election went four to one for ratification.

Both the national and Pennsylvania WONPR were formally disolved in December 1933 after the thirty-sixth state voted for repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.

From the description of Records, 1930-1934. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122648783