Miss Alice's 1920 Campaign

Miss Alice Robertson was a Republican. She had long been interested in politic. Until the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution on August 18, 1920, women could not vote. A month before the ratification, however, she took a trip to visit Senator Warren Harding. Senator Harding was the leading Republican candidate for the presidency that year. Frequently called Miss Alice, she was likely seeking his approval and support in the campaign. Miss Alice's efforts worked.

Miss Alice was a restaurateur. She operated the Sawokla Cafeteria on Fourth Street just north of Broadway. Patrons served themselves and left no tips. A piano player often treated diners during their meals. At the cafeteria, she treated workers as friends.

Miss Alice talked about her restaurant in her Sawokla Cafeteria advertisements she placed in the Muskogee Daily Phoenix almost daily. That is, they never ran on a Sunday because Miss Alice did not believe in working on Sundays.

Pithily, she talked about her business and her customers in these ads. Her china, she said, came from the pottery's second-rate merchandise because the pottery sent its best to the soldiers and sailors during World War I. However, her service to her customers was never second-rate.

Miss Alice's campaigning for office in 1920 caused a change in her advertising. First, she switched to the Muskogee Times-Democrat newspaper. Despite its name, the Times-Democrat favored Republican issues.

In the transition to the new publisher, Miss Alice also changed her theme. She began talking about her views on the League of Nations and the World Court in The Hague, for example. She also described how American fighting men came back from European service wide-awake to the world.

Perhaps railing against not being able to vote before, Miss Alice predicted that women would "do away with rotten politics." Legislation that enriched the wealthy without a fair distribution wasn't for her. Nor were many other injustices for that matter.

Politics, however, was local for the most part in 1920. In addition, sometimes it was direct. One attack was signed simply "Mrs. Democrat." Here is Miss Alice's reply.

"Are you sure you are 'Mrs. Democrat' because in Oklahoma it is not customary for 'Mrs. Democrat' to be afraid or ashamed to use her own name." The tit-for-tat makes fascinating reading during the present campaign season. The long restaurant advertisements covered a lot of topics.

In the end, there was an election landslide. Nationally and locally, party affiliation generally determined the winner. As a result, Miss Alice became Oklahoma's first female member of Congress.