Woman of Valor (92 page)

17: FOREIGN DIPLOMACY

1.
Periodic reports on the Birth Control International Centre are in MS-LC, along with copies of some of How-Martyn's correspondence, fund-raising invitations, circulars, etc. On the Geneva Conference budget and expenditures, see M.S. to “Catherine” [sic] B. Davis, Jan. 4, 1928, Clinton Chance to Katherine Bement Davis, Jan. 25, 1928, and Davis to Chance, Mar. 25, 1928, all in Rocky-BSH. “Preliminary Programme of the Seventh International Birth Control Conference,” Sept. 1-5, 1930, in Zurich, including a roster of attendees, is in MS-SS. On the finances see M.S. to Juliet Rublee, June 9, 1930, MS-DC, and M.S. to Abe Stone, May 19, 1931, MS-LC. Dr. Ernest Grafenberg, “An Intrauterine Contraceptive Method,” is in Margaret Sanger and Hannah M. Stone, M.D., ed.
The Practice of Contraception: An International Symposium and Survey. Proceedings of the 7th International Birth Control Conference
. (Zurich: 1930), p. 275. On the legacy of Zurich, also see Berryl Suitters,
Be Brave and
Angry: Chronicles of the International Planned Parenthood Federation
(London: 1973), p. 4. The “porter” quote is from Barbara N. Ramusack, “Embattled Advocates: The Debate Over Birth Control in India, 1920-40,”
Journal of Women's History
1:2 (Fall 1989). Also see: memo, “Edith How-Martyn's Visit to India, 1934-35; E. H-M. to M.S., Jan. 23, 1935, Apr. 1, 1935, Sept. 17, 1935, MS-LC; and Birth Control International Information Centre, News Letter, No. 3, Feb. 1935, International Planned Parenthood Federation Papers, University of Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales, hereafter “IPPF-Cardiff.” My thanks to Esther Katz of the Margaret Sanger Papers Project, who xeroxed the IPPF collection and brought copies to New York.

2.
M. K. Gandhi to M.S., July 8, 1925; M.S. to Dr. Malinibai Sukthanker, July 16, 1924: N.S. Phadke to M.S., June 3, 1926, all in MS-LC. Also see B. Ramusack, “Embattled Advocates,” pp. 34-64. My thanks to Dr. Ramusack for sharing her work with me when it was still in draft.

3.
M.S. to Capt. A. P. Pillay, Dec. 20, 1929; M.S. Krishnamurthi Ayyar to M.S., Oct. 5, 1929; Dr. S. L. Kalra to “Dear Sirs, American Birth Control League,” Aug. 3, 1930; Margaret E. Cousins to M.S., Mar. 14, 1932; M.S. to Rukmini Arundale, Mar. 23, 1933; memo on “Indian Contacts on file in Washington Office, Sept. 7, 1935,” all in MS-LC. (There are two full boxes of Indian correspondence from 1922 to 1935, perhaps 1,000 letters in all.) Also see Margaret Cousins, “Annie Besant: Super-Woman,” an article from
The Theosophist
, Jan. 1934, included in an undated letter from Cousins to Sanger, MSLC; and Ramusack, “Embattled Advocates,” pp. 39-45.

4.
Katherine Mayo,
Mother India: Slaves of the Gods
(New York: 1929). Also see Barbara N. Ramusack, “Catalysts or Helpers? British Feminist, Indian Women's Rights and Indian Independence,” in
The Extended Family: Women and Political Participation in India and Pakistan
, edited by Gail Minault (Columbia, Mo.: 1981), pp. 124-30; and Barbara N. Ramusack, “Sister India or Mother India? Margaret Noble and Katherine Mayo as Interpreters of the Gender Roses of Indian Women,” paper presented at the Seventh Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Wellesley College, June 20, 1987. On Smedley's views, see Janice R. and Stephen R. MacKinnon,
Agnes Smedley: The Life and Times of an American Radical
(Berkeley: 1988), p. 127. A recent perspective on Mayo's influence is in Elisabeth Bumiller,
May You Be the Mother of a Hundred Sons: A Journey Among the Women of India
(New York: 1990), pp. 21-22.

5.
A.S. to M.S., Oct. 30, 1928, MS-LC; MacKinnon and MacKinnon,
Agnes Smedley
, pp. 132-33.

6.
A.S. to M.S., Nov. 21, 1929. Also see letters for June 13, Oct. 12, and Dec. 6, 1929, all in MS-LC; MacKinnon and MacKinnon,
Agnes Smedley
, pp. 134-46.

7.
A.S. to M.S., Jan. 3, May 2, 1932; M.S. to A.S., Jan. 29, 1931, Jan. 26, 1932, all in MS-LC.

8.
M.S. Journal, “Russia 1934,” MS-SS, pp. 3-15. At Smith also see Grant Sanger's handwritten journal of the trip, especially the “July 22, Moscow,” entry which reports on the sorry state of the abortion clinics, and also on a meeting with an expatriate American anarchist, identified as “Dr. Kavinoky's father, an old friend of MS.” Sanger reported on the trip in one of the only articles she contributed during these years to the
Birth Control Review
. Margaret Sanger,”Birth Control in Soviet Russia,”
BCR
2:9 (June 1935), p. 3. Sanger sent greetings for publication on the occasion of Bloor's birthday in 1942. See FBI file clipping, July 7, 1942.

9.
M.S. to His Excellency, the Honorable Sao-Ke Alfred Sze, Feb. 16, 1935, MS-LC.

10.
E.H-M. to M.S., Aug. 23, 1935; M.S. to Marian Paschal, an assistant to Doris Duke, who helped fund the trip, Aug. 13, 1935; according to “News from Margaret Sanger,” Mar. 1936, MS-LC, additional funds were provided by Juliet Rublee and by a Mrs. Elmhurst and a Mrs. Robert P. Bass. Press release, “Leader of International Birth Control Movement to Vist India,” Nov. 20, 1935; Florence Rose to Anne Kennedy at Holland-Rantos Company, Oct. 14, 1935, all in MS-LC. For the Rockefeller contributions, see M.S. to Arthur Packard, Oct. 23, 1935, and A.P. to M.S., Sept. 15, 1936, Rocky-RG2. Examples of the press coverage include Julian Huxley, “Birth Control's Greatest Propagandist,”
Times
Nov. 11, 1935, and “Birth Control Has Vital Contribution to Make,”
The Bombay Chronicle
, Nov. 23, 1935, clippings in MS-LC. A staff memo summarizing American press coverage of Sanger's return from India in May 1936 said 377 papers in 43 states carried stories, MS-LC.
Much of my information about the India trip comes from an interview with the late Anna Jane Phillips Shuman in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1976. My thanks to Elaine Light for arranging it.

11.
“News from Margaret Sanger,” Letter No. 1, London, Eng., Nov. 1935; itinerary for Sanger and Phillips, Oct. 16, 1935, both in MS-LC. The Wells quote was reprinted in
Round the World for Birth Control
, a pamphlet issued by the Birth Control Information Center in London, n.d. (1937), copy in MSSS. M. J. Akbar,
Nehru: The Making of India
(New York: 1989) is a good recent biography.

12.
“News from Margaret Sanger,” Letter No. 2, Dec. 9, 1935, and Letter No. 4, Mar. 1936; India scrapbook; Mrs. S. O. Mukerjee, secretary of All India Women's Conference, to M.S., Nov. 26, 1935, and M.S. to Mukerjee, Nov. 20, 1935; memo, “Resolutions passed by All-India Women's Conference and Women's Indian Association,” 1935; M.S. to “Greetings Everybody, Jan. 2, 1936,” all in MS-LC. The Sanger Journal in MS-SS also contains extensive lists of contacts in India and handwritten notes and observations about the country. Finally, see M.S. to H. E., Feb. 2, 1936, MS-SS.

13.
M. K. Gandhi to M.S., handwritten invitation, Nov. 12, 1935, and M.S. to M.K.G., Nov. 27, 1935, MS-LC; M.S. Diary, Wardha, Dec. 2, 1935, MS-SS; “Gandhi and Mrs. Sanger Debate Birth Control,”
Asia
26: 11 (Nov. 1936), pp. 698-702, copy in MS-LC; M.S. to Dr. Maurice Newfield, Dec. 4, 1935, MS-LC. Also see B. Ramusack, “Embattled Advocates,” pp. 50-52

14.
Sanger Journal, “Notes on India,” pp. 22, 27, MS-SS; M.S. “India Diary,” 272 pages, MS-LC; M.S. to Margaret Cousins, July 16, 1935, and M.C. to M.S., Aug. 27, 1935; M.C. to M.S., May 15, 1936; Dr. K. Choudhury to M.S., Dec. 12, 1935; Florence Rose to Mohamaya Debi, Dec. 16, 1935; Florence Rose to M. O. Varghese, Dec. 18, 1935; Philip Stoughton (manufacturer of foam powder) to Dr. Pillay, Jan. 6, 1936; Dr. G. S. Melkote, Indian Medical Assocation, to M.S., Jan. 7, 1936; M.S. to Dr. Pillay, June 9, 1936; M.S. departure letter for publication in Indian newspapers, Feb. 1, 1936; clippings on Gandhi interview from
The New York Times
, Dec. 29, 1935, the
Washington
Post
, Jan. 2, 1936, and many other papers; all in MS-LC. Also see the Sanger-How-Martyn correspondence, 1937-39, in MS-SS, and B. Ramusack, “Embattled Advocates,” pp. 57-59.

15.
Anna Jane Phillips to Adelaide Pearson, Mar. 8, Mar. 27, 1936, MS-LC; M.S. to Juliet Rublee, Apr. 1, 1936, MS-DC; Dorothy Brush reminiscences, in “Our M.S.,” MS-SS. Charles Brush shared his recollection of the trip with the author in an interview in New York on Oct. 16, 1985. My thanks to him and his wife, Ellen.

16.
Shidzue Ishimoto,
Facing Two Ways: The Story of My Life
with Introduction and Afterword by Barbara Molony (New York: 1925, reprint ed. Stanford, Cal.: 1984), esp. p. 229; Shidzue Kato,
A Fight for Women's Happiness: Pioneering the Family Planning Movement in Japan
(Tokyo: 1984), pp. 50-74, esp. p. 52. (Ishimoto was divorced and remarried during World War II and took the name of her second husband.) Also see Malia Sedgewick Johnson, “Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in Japan, 1921-1955,” doctoral dissertation, University of Hawaii, 1987, pp. 74-78. My special thanks to Taki Katoh, daughter of Shidzue Kato, for sending me materials and talking to me in New York in June, 1988, when her mother was ill and could not be interviewed as planned in Tokyo. Olive Richard, in her interview with Jacqueline Van Voris, recalled that the “Margaret Sanger” contraceptive kits were still being sold when she visited Tokyo in 1959, p. 13.
The history of Ishimoto's experience in Japan is chronicled in her correspondence with Sanger, which is preserved in MS-LC. See, for example, S.I. to M.S., Apr. 5, 1923, Apr. 7, 1924, Oct. 12, 1929, June 5, 1931. There are scattered additional letters from this period in MS-SS.

17.
Ishimoto,
Facing Two Ways
, pp. 237-310; Kato,
Women's Happiness
, pp. 65-74; Johnson, “Birth Control Movement in Japan,” pp. 78-85. S.I. to M.S., Aug. 8, 1930, Mar. 8, 1931, Nov. 20, 1931; M.S. invitation for tea at Willowlake in honor of Ishimoto, Nov. 28, 1932; correspondence with William B. Feakins, Margaret's lecture agent, in regard to booking Ishimoto as a lecturer, Apr. 11, 1932; S.I. to M.S., April 12, 1934; M.S. to S.I., with congratulations and enclosing copies of book reviews, Sept. 12, 1935; correspondence of Gladys Smith and Ishimoto, relating to Ishimoto book tour arranged by Margaret's staff, 1937; all in MS-LC.

18.
The quotes respectively are from “Remarks of Margaret Sanger,” Tokyo clinic, 1937; S.I. to M.S., Sept. 18, 1937, both in MS-LC; and S.I. to M.S., Jan. 11, 1938, MS-SS. Also see M.S. to S.I., Mar. 22, 1937, re: the Clyde contribution; S.I. to Florence Rose, Aug. 16, 1937, re: the danger of talking about birth control; Arata Ishimoto to M.S., Jan. 2, 1938, about his mother's arrest; M.S. to S.I., Jan. 2, 1938, enclosing American newspaper clippings about the arrest; and S.I. to Florence Rose, Feb. 23, 1938, and July 5, 1938, being forced to cease all birth control activity. The Sanger Journals at MS-SS contain long handwritten notes on Japan in 1937, see esp. pp. 14-17.

19.
A.S. to Florence Rose, Sept. 19, 1937, MS-LC. M.S. to Arthur Packard, July 4 and July 16, 1937, and A.P. to M.S., July 9, 1937, Rocky-RG 2, documents the expenditure in China. Sanger FBI file: memorandum, Jan. 27, 1937, along with miscellaneous correspondence with Juliet Rublee from this period in MS-SS reveals Margaret's conflicting views about peace and war. The Buck speech is in the Sanger correspondence with Pearl Buck in MS-SS. Margaret subsequently got Florence Rose a job with East-West. See also, P.B. to M.S., Sept. 24, 1944, in which she says that Sanger's coming to her was “a miracle,” and Dec. 28, 1950, in which she talks about closing down East-West. Pearl Buck,
To My Daughters with Love
(New York: 1967) is a book about female sexuality and gender relations that incorporates all of Margaret's philosophies.

20.
A.S. to M.S., June 10, 1941, MS-LC, has Sanger's handwritten note that she sent $500 to Mrs. Selwyn-Clarke of the Hong Kong Eugenics League. Also see Sanger FBI file: Agents' reports on Smedley dated Apr. 24, 1945, Jan. 28, 1946, Apr. 28 and May 25, 1950; security check memorandum on Margaret Sanger Slee, Feb. 12, 1952, with quotation from an ad Margaret signed in
The Daily Worker
, Aug. 20, 1947, opposing measures to repress the rights of members of the American Communist Party; and memo about Oliver Edmund Chubb, containing his testimony at the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, Aug. 20, 1951.

21.
M.S. to Mrs. M. A. Pyke, secretary, National Birth Control Association, June 3, 1938, IPPF-Cardiff; M.S. to E.H-M., Feb. 1, 1938, and E. H-M. to M.S., Sept. 6, 1939, June 20, 1940, Sept. 6, 1940, MS-SS.

22.
The initial quotes are from M.S., “Woman of the Future,” an undated 15-page manuscript prepared for the Century of Progress Exhibition, MS-SS. The speech also condemned domestic policies that kept contraception illegal, despite a spiraling rate of illegal abortion. For an earlier exposition of these themes, also see Margaret Sanger,
The Pivot of Civilization
(New York: 1922), and Dorothy Dunbar Bromley, “This Question of Birth Control,”
Harper's Monthly
160 (Dec. 1929), pp. 34-35.

18: FROM BIRTH CONTROL TO FAMILY PLANNING

1.
The quoted material is from Ettie Rout to M.S., Apr. 10, 1935, MS-SS;
American Medicine
41 (1935), pp. 167-70 and
Journal of the American Medical Association
106 (1936), both cited in David Kennedy,
Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger
, (New Haven: 1970), p. 241. Also see “Summary of Polls on Birth Control,” Dec. 8, 1936, MS-LC; Henry F. Pringle, “What do the Women of America Think?”
Ladies Home Journal
55 (Mar. 1938), pp. 14-15 +, clipping in MS-SS, along with a press release from the BCCRB dated Feb. 17, 1938. Finally, Susan Ware,
Holding Their Own: American Women in the 1930s
(Boston: 1982), p. 7.