The first female presidential candidate still matters

Plus: Was Abraham Lincoln gay? |

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By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman ​​It’s possible that 2024 may be the year Americans elect their first female President. That milestone would come more than 150 years after Victoria Woodhull — the first female presidential candidate — ran in 1872. And as Rebecca DeWolf explains in Made by History, the aftershocks of that race are still affecting policy battles today.  Woodhull was a fierce advocate of women’s sexual autonomy, which alarmed traditionalists—including Anthony Comstock, an anti-vice crusader. Woodhull played a role in his decision to push for a stricter ban on mailing anything obscene, an effort that paid off when Congress passed what became known as the Comstock Act. It banned the mailing of lewd and obscene material, including any information on abortion or contraception, as well as any drug or article for abortion or contraceptive purposes. The law provoked a backlash, and the federal courts later limited its reach. Yet Congress never struck down the abortion provisions. Now that the Supreme Court has eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion, some on the right want the next Republican president to begin enforcing the Comstock Act again to severely circumscribe access to reproductive healthcare. DeWolf argues that, as another woman makes reproductive freedom a centerpiece of her presidential campaign, it’s worth recalling the history behind that law and its tie to the first female presidential candidate.               The Dan David Prize, the largest history prize in the world (and a sponsor of Made by History), annually awards $300,000 each to nine early and mid-career scholars and practitioners in historical disciplines, acknowledging their outstanding achievements to date and to support future work. Anyone can nominate a practitioner in the relevant disciplines, and nominations for the 2025 Prize are open until Sept. 30. For more information visit  dandavidprize.org/nominate .

HISTORY ON TIME.COM History Shows Why So Many Voters Think Donald Trump Has the Character to Be President By Barry M. Mitnick / Made by History A 19th century definition of 'character' had more to do with strength than integrity. Read More » History Shows How Dangerous ‘America First’ Really Is By Cyrus Veeser / Made by History In the 1920s and 1930s, the U.S. tried America First. This philosophy helped lead to World War II. Read More » What the Right Gets Wrong About the Ancient History of Gender By Sarah Nooter / Made by History A true classical education—which conservatives claim to venerate—teaches that our origins in gender and sexuality are varied and complex.  Read More » The War on Terror and the Demonization of Student Protests By Richard Beck 'Today, many of our most prestigious universities are making the same mistakes,' writes Richard Beck. Read More » How the Documentary Lover of Men Makes the Case That Abraham Lincoln Was Gay By Olivia B. Waxman The documentary Lover of Men explores Abraham Lincoln's sexuality Read More »

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FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1947: C.S. Lewis BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF The Sep. 8, 1947, cover of TIME “To watch him downing his pint at the Eastgate (his favorite pub), or striding, pipe in mouth, across the deer park, a stranger would not be likely to guess that C. S. Lewis is also a best-selling author and one of the most influential spokesmen for Christianity in the English-speaking world.Since 1941, when Lewis published a witty collection of infernal correspondence called The Screwtape Letters, this middle-aged (49) bachelor professor who lives a mildly humdrum life (“I like monotony”) has sold something over a million copies of his 15 books…C. S. Lewis’ new book, to be published in the U.S. this month, is called Miracles, A Preliminary Study.” Read More » This week in 1997: Princess Diana MARK LENNIHAN / AP The Sep. 8, 1997, cover of TIME "She lived a fabled life and a cautionary tale, a princess of irreducible splendor yet one who bore testimony to the commonality of loneliness and heartbreak. On the day 16 years ago that Charles, the Prince of Wales, married Lady Diana Spencer, the Archbishop of Canterbury declared, here is 'the stuff of which fairy tales are made.' That fairy tale ended even before their divorce was announced, a love story that was false, it was shown, from the very beginning. Diana emerged scathed, but she had other causes to tend to–her sons, the sick, the war-ravaged, her own heart. The marriage was dead, but long live the princess. And now she is gone." Read More » This week in 2010: Israel PHOTOGRAPH BY BARTHOLOMEW COOKE FOR TIME The Sep. 13, 2010, cover of TIME “A restless culture of innovation coupled with the number of brainiacs among the 1 million immigrants who arrived from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s has made Israel a locus for high-tech research and development, its whiz kids leapfrogging the difficult geography to thrive in virtual community with Silicon Valley. All this has combined to make the Palestinian question distant from the minds of many Israelis. And the distance is not only figurative. The concrete wall Israel erected on its eastern side during the second intifadeh sealed out not only suicide bombers but almost all Palestinians. An Israeli Jew can easily pass an entire lifetime without meeting one.” Read More »

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