The First Woman to Run for President

Everything about the first woman to run for president—her youthful radicalism, her defiance, her willingness to attack, and her ability to absorb criticism—caused followers to flock around her like a prophet. Supporters cheered when she decided that the most famous black man in American would be an ideal running mate, even when he showed no interest in being No. 2.

Critics reviled her for questionable investments, her attitude about extramarital affairs, and her assault on one of the nation's most politically active religious leaders. They also hated her radical ideas on the nature of the family. Mostly, critics reviled her gall to anoint herself a candidate for the White House.

When Victoria Claflin Woodhull ran for president in 1872, she knew she had no chance to win. At the age of 34, she was a year shy of eligibility for the Oval Office. And women did not even enjoy the right to vote.

The long and colorful life of Woodhull offers intriguing clues about the challenges facing women in American politics, including Hillary Clinton. Both Woodhull and Clinton joined the national conversation by taking strong stances on family, labor and women's issues. Both made a lifelong project of finding new ways to communicate with the public. Both got caught in charges and countercharges about sex scandals, were mocked for their spiritual values, and were patronized for their maneuvering in a man's world. Through it all, both changed the possibilities for women everywhere. Hillary's candidacy, however near the end might be, may help transform the landscape for generations to come, building on Woodhull's legacy.

Woodhull, the daughter of a failed mill owner who was run out of town for passing counterfeit money and committing arson, found fame early in life. As a teenager, Victoria and her sister Tennessee performed medicine shows, one year earning more than $100,000 for their act. One contemporary biographer wrote: "She straightened the feet of the lame; opened the ears of the deaf; she detected the robbers of a bank; … she solved psychological problems." After Tennessee got a call to become Cornelius Vanderbilt's masseuse, the commodore gave the sisters inside stock advice that helped them make a small fortune. Vanderbilt also gave them seed money for a newspaper. Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly agitated for a radical platform of reform and published gossip about Wall Street and celebrities.

In January 1871, Woodhull became the first woman ever to address a congressional committee with her claim that Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution—which states that "citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states"—already gave women the vote. Forty-two members of Congress supported the idea. When suffragists met in Washington, Woodhull won lavish praise from the mothers of the movement, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.