Harris takes a page from the feminist playbook

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By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman

Many observers have pointed to the contrast between the way Hillary Clinton in 2016 leaned into the possibility of becoming the first female president, and the way that Kamala Harris has downplayed the historic potential of her candidacy. But, as Melissa Blair explains in Made by History, even those who approve of Harris’ approach may have missed that in doing so, she is using the playbook that helped secure the biggest gains for the feminist movement in the 20th century.

In the middle of the 20th century, “difference feminists,” who argued that women’s unique attributes — usually tied to motherhood — warranted new rights and opportunities, dominated the fight for women’s equality. Yet, while they made some gains, by relying on the argument that women were inherently different from men, they reinforced the glass ceiling instead of piercing it. That enabled a competing strand of feminist thinking to rise to the fore: equality feminism. This line of thinking argued that women deserve equal rights, not because they're women, but because they're people. Using this argument, the feminist movement made big gains legislatively, in the courts, and in corporate policies. Today, as Blair argues, Harris is relying on this same line of thinking: she says she's running because she wants to be the president for all Americans, not because there is a special historical quality to her candidacy. As the feminist movement proved, this is a savvy strategy — one that is likely to increase Harris’s support.

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A Message from Inside Hotels

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FROM THE TIME VAULT

This week in 1947: Jackie Robinson


ERNEST HAMLIN BAKER
The Sep. 22, 1947, cover of TIME

“Jackie’s idea of a fine way to spend a night off is to go to bed early. He averages ten hours’ sleep…At home, he carefully takes his vitamin pills, spends a lot of time baby-sitting with his nine-month-old son, and according to his wife (whom he met at U.C.L.A.), always has his face buried in a paper. Like most ballplayers, he soaks up every word in every newspaper in town that concerns him and his team. His reader reaction: “Some reporters write nice things about me and mean them, and others write nice things and don’t mean them. I can always tell.”

This week in 1995: Michael Crichton


MICHAEL LLEWELLYN
The Sep. 25, 1995, cover of TIME

“I think of Michael as the high priest of high concept,” says Spielberg. All right, concept: Island. Theme park. Dinosaurs. Adults swallowed whole. Kids in peril. Easy. But who said the author had to give us the history of computers along with it? And chaos theory? Fractal vs. Euclidean geometry? And the workings of a Stegosaurus gizzard? And dna? So much dna it’s a wonder Crichton hasn’t been called as an expert witness in the O.J. trial.”

This week in 2003: Johnny Cash


RUVEN AFANADOR / CORBIS OUTLINE
The Sep. 22, 2003, cover of TIME

“Children of the ’50s remember the startle of his first eminence: the one Southern star who was not a rebellious kid but a grownup with cavernous eyes and a voice to match. Kids of the ’60s recall his pop hits, the TV show he was host of for two years and the easy alliances he formed with musicians beyond country’s borders. The X and next generations know his old songs as if they were standards, and his boldly simple later work–especially Hurt, which was nominated for six MTV awards–as emblems of moral and musical purity, an antidote to the glitz and aggression of teen icons.”

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