"Fairy Godmother, W.W." (The Suffragist, cover, 4 December 1915)
President Wilson, dressed as a fairy godmother, waves a wand over a pumpkin marked 'Constitutional Amendment' and caged mice marked Senate and House, while Cinderella in rags watches and two 'Proud Voting Sisters' walk by. The tell: a fairy tale frames a political demand as a story the President could finish with a gesture.
The cover of The Suffragist for 4 December 1915, published in Washington, D.C. by the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage for a domestic audience. President Wilson, dressed as a fairy godmother, waves a wand over a pumpkin marked 'Constitutional Amendment' and caged mice marked Senate and House, while Cinderella in rags watches and two 'Proud Voting Sisters' walk by. It presses for a federal amendment. Transfer borrows a fairy tale to frame a political demand as a story the President could finish with a gesture.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- December 4, 1915
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (The Suffragist, Washington, D.C.)
Full record
Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Movement
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Gender and suffrage, Elections and party politics
- Event
- US Woman Suffrage Campaign
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, retrieved October 10, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (published 1915, before 1931); LoC: no known restrictions on publication
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LCCN 2020635504. "Fairy Godmother, W.W." (The Suffragist, cover, 4 December 1915)
